How to Activate Full Screen Mode in IE9

It can be toggled on and off with a few easy steps

screenshot of a web page in IE9
by Scott Orgera
Scott Orgera is a former writer who covering tech since 2007. He has 25+ years experience as a programmer and QA leader, and holds several Microsoft certifications.
Updated November 10, 2019

Internet Explorer 9 lets you view web pages in full screen mode, hiding all elements other than the main browser window itself. This includes tabs and toolbars among other items. It can be toggled on and off using one of the two below methods.

This tutorial is only intended for users running the Internet Explorer 9 Web browser on Windows operating systems. But, one of these techniques will work with any browser including Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, or most other browsers in Windows.

Toggle Full Screen Mode Using the Gear Icon

If you want to toggle full screen mode on or off, open your IE9 browser and select the "gear" icon, located in the upper right-hand corner of your browser window. When the drop-down menu appears, select File > Full Screen.

Toggle Full Screen Mode Using F11

There's also a keyboard shortcut for full screen mode. You can press F11 instead of toggling the feature on or off in the menus. To disable the mode and return to your standard IE9 window, simply press the F11 key again. This technique also works with Internet Explorer 11, as well as most web browsers.