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The parts of the Internet Explorer window include the title bar, window controls, menus, navigation buttons, address bar, tabs, optional toolbars, web-page display area, scrollbars, and status information. The exact arrangement depends on the Internet Explorer version and settings; Internet Explorer 11 is legacy software, so current compatibility work belongs in Microsoft Edge’s Internet Explorer mode.
Internet Explorer was a graphical Windows web browser that combined ordinary Windows application controls with browser-specific navigation, page-display, organization, and feedback tools. A screenshot labeled only “Internet Explorer” is incomplete evidence because Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 did not use identical layouts.
This guide describes the common parts of the desktop Internet Explorer window, identifies optional or version-dependent elements, and explains why an older classroom diagram may look different from an Internet Explorer 11 screenshot.
Key takeaways
- The Internet Explorer window has four functional layers: standard Windows controls, browser navigation and commands, optional organization bars or side panels, and the web-page content area.
- Internet Explorer 11 used a combined address-and-search field called One Box instead of the separate search box found in some earlier layouts.
- Internet Explorer 11 hid the Menu Bar, Favorites Bar, Command Bar, and Status Bar by default, but users could restore them from the toolbar context menu or Alt+V > Toolbars.
- Explorer Bars such as Favorites, History, and Search were auxiliary browser panes, not ordinary web-page tabs and not Windows File Explorer windows.
- Internet Explorer toolbars were customizable bands, so controls could be rearranged, hidden, or placed behind a chevron when the window was too narrow.
- The Internet Explorer 11 desktop application is retired and out of support; Microsoft recommends Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge for sites that still require legacy compatibility.
What are the parts of the Internet Explorer window?
The parts of the Internet Explorer window are best understood by separating the browser frame from the web page. The title bar and minimize, maximize, restore, and close buttons belong mainly to Windows. The address bar, navigation buttons, tabs, and command bars belong to Internet Explorer. The browser pane displays the website itself, while scrollbars and the status bar help the user move through and interpret the page.
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[Title bar: page title and window controls]
[Menu Bar] [Navigation buttons] [Address bar / One Box] [Tabs]
[Favorites Bar, Links Toolbar, or Command Bar — optional]
[Explorer Bar or sidebar] [Web-page display area] [Vertical scrollbar]
[Status information, security zone, zoom control] [Horizontal scrollbar]
The diagram is conceptual rather than a screenshot of one release. A particular Internet Explorer version might hide one or more bars, place them in a different order, combine controls, or omit a feature altogether.
Which controls belong to the Windows window frame?
The title bar and window buttons are standard Windows application controls. Internet Explorer used them as part of its outer frame, but these controls were not unique to the browser.
Title bar
The title bar identifies the current browser window and commonly displayed the title of the active page together with browser or document information. The exact wording depended on the Internet Explorer release, Windows version, and page being viewed.
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Minimize, maximize, restore, and close buttons
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Minimize | Hides the Internet Explorer window on the taskbar without closing it. |
| Maximize | Expands the window to fill the available desktop. |
| Restore | Returns a maximized window to its previous size. |
| Close | Closes the current browser window. |
These buttons can appear in educational diagrams because they are visible parts of the application window, but they should not be confused with browser commands such as Back, Refresh, or Home.
What does the Internet Explorer menu bar do?
The Menu Bar provides text-based access to browser commands that may not have a visible toolbar button. Classic menus commonly included File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, and Help.
The Menu Bar was often visible in older Internet Explorer layouts. In Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft hid the Menu Bar in the simplified default interface along with several other nonessential bars. Microsoft documents the available restoration methods in its Internet Explorer 11 interface guidance.
In a legacy Internet Explorer 11 installation, a user could restore the Menu Bar by right-clicking an empty area near the toolbar and selecting Menu Bar. The alternative keyboard route was Alt+V to open View, then Toolbars, followed by the desired bar.
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The navigation toolbar contains browser controls for moving through pages, loading pages, opening the home page, and accessing saved locations. The exact buttons varied by version, customization, installed add-ons, and available window width.
| Button or control | Purpose | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Back | Returns to the previous page in the current browsing history. | A drop-down arrow, where present, could list recently visited pages in the current history sequence. |
| Forward | Moves forward through browsing history after the user has gone back. | The button is commonly unavailable until a backward navigation has occurred. |
| Refresh | Requests the current page again. | The command name varied; some versions or tooltips used Reload-like wording. |
| Stop | Attempts to stop the current page or resource from loading. | It was most useful while loading and could share a location with Refresh in some versions. |
| Home | Opens the configured home page. | The destination depended on the user’s Internet Options settings. |
| Favorites | Opens or manages saved web locations. | The button and its placement were not identical in every release. |
Microsoft describes the Internet Explorer-style toolbar as a customizable rebar containing multiple toolbar bands, including a standard toolbar. That structure explains why two screenshots of Internet Explorer can show different button orders or different visible controls; the Microsoft toolbar documentation also notes that controls could be hidden behind a chevron when the available width was insufficient.
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What is the Internet Explorer address bar?
The address bar displays the URL of the current page and accepts a new web address. A user could type a complete address such as an HTTP or HTTPS URL and press Enter to navigate to it.
The address-bar drop-down could show previously entered addresses, Favorites, browsing suggestions, or AutoComplete results. The available suggestions depended on browsing history, typed entries, Favorites, search configuration, and organizational policies. Microsoft describes address AutoComplete as suggesting possible matches while a user types web addresses.
Was the Internet Explorer address bar also a search box?
In Internet Explorer 11, the address bar also served as a combined search-and-address field known as One Box. A full URL was treated as a web address, while text that did not look like a valid URL could be sent to the selected search provider, subject to configuration and intranet behavior. Microsoft documents this combined behavior in its IE11 interface documentation and its guidance on searching and receiving browsing suggestions in Internet Explorer.
Earlier Internet Explorer layouts were more likely to show a separate search box. Therefore, the statement “Internet Explorer has a search box” is version-dependent rather than universally correct.
How do tabs work in Internet Explorer?
Tabs allow multiple web pages to be open within one Internet Explorer window. A tab generally displayed a page title and possibly a site icon, while common tab controls included New Tab, Close Tab, and tab switching.
Tabbed browsing became a central feature of the later Internet Explorer interface. The exact placement of the tab bar, the appearance of the New Tab control, and additional tab-list controls varied by release. Microsoft’s contemporary Internet Explorer 11 product material describes multiple tabs as part of the browser experience.
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The Favorites Bar and Links toolbar provide quick access to saved web locations, but their names and behavior varied among Internet Explorer versions.
| Interface element | Main function | Visibility |
|---|---|---|
| Favorites Bar | Provides one-click access to saved Favorites, feeds, or links. | Optional; Internet Explorer 11 hid it by default but allowed users to enable it. |
| Links toolbar | Displays saved links as buttons or text links. | Optional and version-dependent. |
Older educational materials may use “Favorites toolbar” and “Links toolbar” inconsistently. The safest label is the term used by the specific Internet Explorer version or screenshot being described. Microsoft identifies the Links toolbar and other standard browser bars and explains that browser bars could be shown or hidden from the View menu.
What is the Internet Explorer Command Bar?
The Command Bar provides browser commands such as printing, page tools, safety features, and related actions. The Command Bar is not the same as the navigation toolbar: both could coexist, but they grouped different types of controls.
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Internet Explorer 11 hid the Command Bar by default. A user could right-click the toolbar area and enable Command Bar, or use Alt+V > Toolbars > Command Bar. The command’s availability and exact appearance depended on the desktop Internet Explorer configuration.
What is the web-page display area?
The web-page display area, also called the browser pane, document area, content area, or viewport, displays the active website. Text, images, forms, videos, and interactive page content appear in this area.
The web page is not the same thing as the Internet Explorer window. Browser chrome—such as the title bar, address bar, tabs, and toolbars—surrounds or accompanies the page. This distinction matters when labeling a diagram: the browser pane is the area showing website content, while the controls above and around it belong to the browser application.
How do scrollbars help you move around a web page?
Scrollbars move through content that is larger than the visible browser pane. The vertical scrollbar moves up and down; the horizontal scrollbar moves left and right when the page is wider than the available display area.
A scrollbar was not guaranteed to appear in every screenshot. Its visibility depended on page dimensions, window size, browser settings, and the page’s layout. A page that fit completely in the available area might show no scrollbar, while a wide or long page could show one or both.
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The Status Bar displays temporary browser information, such as page-loading progress, the destination of a link under the pointer, connection or document status, security-zone information, and, in later versions, zoom controls. Microsoft’s Windows design documentation uses Internet Explorer as an example of a status bar showing page-loading progress.
The Status Bar was hidden by default in Internet Explorer 11’s simplified layout. To restore it, right-click the toolbar area and select Status Bar, or use Alt+V > Toolbars > Status Bar. Microsoft lists both methods in its IE11 interface instructions.
What is the security-zone indicator?
Internet Explorer associated websites with security zones such as Internet, Local intranet, Trusted sites, and Restricted sites. The status area could show the current zone or related security information, but the exact visual indicator and its placement changed by version and configuration.
Security-zone settings were available through Tools > Internet Options > Security. A screenshot should not be expected to contain a clearly labeled zone name if the relevant status information was hidden or presented differently.
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What does the zoom control do?
The zoom control enlarges or reduces the displayed web page without necessarily changing the underlying page content. In later Internet Explorer versions, the zoom control commonly appeared in or beside the lower-right portion of the status bar. Its exact appearance and location should be labeled according to the version shown.
What are Explorer Bars and Internet Explorer sidebars?
An Explorer Bar is an auxiliary browser pane that displays content beside, or sometimes below, the main web-page area. Common examples included Favorites, History, and Search; older releases also offered features such as feeds or channels.
Microsoft describes Explorer Bars as child-window display areas that commonly appeared vertically on the left side of the browser pane, although they could also appear horizontally below it. The Explorer Bar documentation explains this auxiliary-pane model.
An Explorer Bar is not the same as a normal web-page tab and is not the Windows File Explorer application. An Explorer Bar remains part of the browser’s interface while the main document area continues to display the active page. Internet Explorer’s browser bars could be shown or hidden from the View menu; Microsoft lists Search, Favorites, and History among the standard bars in its browser-bar reference.
What is the information or notification bar?
The Information Bar, also called a notification bar in some explanations, displayed notices requiring attention. Possible messages concerned blocked pop-ups, downloads, ActiveX or add-on activity, security settings, compatibility, or protected mode.
The Information Bar was conditional rather than a permanent part of every Internet Explorer window. Its wording and location varied substantially by release, security settings, page behavior, and installed components. A diagram should label it only when the relevant version or screenshot actually shows it.
Why do Internet Explorer screenshots have different toolbar arrangements?
Internet Explorer’s toolbar area was built from separate bands rather than one fixed strip. Microsoft describes a rebar structure containing commonly used bands such as the Menu Bar, Standard Toolbar, Links Toolbar, and Address Toolbar in its Internet Explorer-style toolbar reference.
Users could move or customize bands, and controls that did not fit in the available width could be placed behind a chevron menu. A crowded screenshot can therefore reflect customization or a narrow window rather than a different Internet Explorer edition. The same browser version can display different arrangements.
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How did the Internet Explorer layout change by version?
The broad functions remained recognizable, but default visibility and control grouping changed over time. The following matrix is a practical identification guide, not a substitute for a version-specific screenshot.
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| Interface element | IE6 and earlier-style layouts | IE7–IE10 | IE11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menu Bar | Commonly visible | Available and sometimes hidden | Hidden by default in the simplified layout |
| Standard or navigation toolbar | Common | Common | Common, with changed arrangement |
| Separate search box | More likely | Common in some configurations | Replaced by the combined address/search field |
| Tabs | Not present in the earliest layouts | Central feature | Central feature |
| Favorites Bar | Available | Available | Hidden by default but can be enabled |
| Command Bar | Available | Available | Hidden by default but can be enabled |
| Status Bar | Commonly visible | Commonly available | Hidden by default but can be enabled |
| Explorer Bars | Favorites, Search, History, and other options | Available | Dependent on legacy components and configuration |
| Zoom control | Version-dependent | Common in later versions | Common in later desktop layouts |
When identifying a historical screenshot, record the Internet Explorer version, Windows version, desktop or touch-oriented layout, visible optional bars, and signs of customization. A diagram of an older toolbar-heavy release should not be presented as an exact diagram of IE11.
How do you show hidden toolbars in Internet Explorer 11?
In legacy desktop Internet Explorer 11, hidden toolbars could be restored from the toolbar context menu or the View menu.
- Open the desktop version of Internet Explorer, where it is still available on the relevant legacy system.
- Right-click the toolbar heading or an empty area of the toolbar.
- Enable the desired option, such as Menu Bar, Favorites Bar, Command Bar, or Status Bar.
The keyboard route is Alt+V to open View, then Toolbars, and then the bar to toggle. For example, Microsoft documented C for Command Bar, F for Favorites Bar, and S for Status Bar in the relevant menu sequence.
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How do you restore a missing Status Bar?
- Right-click the toolbar area.
- Select Status Bar.
- If the context menu is unavailable, press Alt+V, choose Toolbars, and select Status Bar.
If a bar cannot be restored, the cause may be a different Internet Explorer version, organizational policy, disabled legacy component, customized layout, or a screenshot that does not depict desktop Internet Explorer 11.
Quick reference: Internet Explorer window parts
| Part | Main function | Usually permanent or optional? |
|---|---|---|
| Title bar | Identifies the window or active page. | Windows frame; normally present. |
| Window controls | Minimize, maximize, restore, or close the window. | Windows frame; normally present. |
| Menu Bar | Provides text-based commands. | Available but may be hidden. |
| Back and Forward | Moves through browsing history. | Core browser controls, with version differences. |
| Refresh and Stop | Reloads a page or stops loading. | Core browser controls, with state-dependent display. |
| Address Bar | Displays and accepts a web address. | Core browser control. |
| Search field or One Box | Submits searches in versions that support the function. | Separate field is version-dependent; IE11 combines it with the address bar. |
| Tabs | Holds multiple pages in one window. | Later-version browser feature. |
| Favorites or Links Bar | Provides quick access to saved links. | Optional. |
| Command Bar | Provides printing, page, safety, and related commands. | Optional. |
| Browser pane | Displays the web page. | Core content area. |
| Scrollbars | Moves through content outside the visible area. | Appears when page dimensions require it. |
| Status Bar | Shows progress and contextual browser information. | Optional or hidden by default in IE11. |
| Security-zone indicator | May show the page’s Internet Explorer security zone. | Version- and configuration-dependent. |
| Zoom control | Changes displayed page magnification. | More common in later versions. |
| Explorer Bar | Shows Favorites, History, Search, or related content in an auxiliary pane. | Optional. |
| Information Bar | Displays security, download, pop-up, or add-on notices. | Conditional. |
Is Internet Explorer still supported?
Internet Explorer should be treated as retired legacy software rather than a current general-purpose browser. Microsoft permanently disabled the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application through Edge updates on certain versions of Windows 10, and ordinary web browsing should use a supported browser instead.
For a website or business application that requires older Internet Explorer behavior, Microsoft provides Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer mode is a compatibility feature inside Edge; it is not the same thing as reinstalling or continuing to use the unsupported Internet Explorer desktop application.
For classroom materials, archival screenshots, and legacy-software documentation, it is still useful to label the controls accurately. The label should include the version whenever possible, and the article or worksheet should state which bars are optional rather than implying that every Internet Explorer window looked the same.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important difference between older Internet Explorer layouts and Internet Explorer 11?
The most important difference is that Internet Explorer 11 combined address entry and web searching in One Box and hid the Menu Bar, Favorites Bar, Command Bar, and Status Bar by default. Earlier layouts were more likely to show separate search and address controls and several visible toolbar bands.
Is the Explorer Bar the same as Windows File Explorer?
No. An Explorer Bar is an auxiliary pane inside Internet Explorer that could show Favorites, History, or Search beside or below the main web page. It is not the separate Windows File Explorer application.
Why is the Internet Explorer Status Bar missing?
The Status Bar may be hidden, especially in Internet Explorer 11’s simplified layout. In legacy desktop IE11, right-click the toolbar area and select Status Bar, or use Alt+V, choose Toolbars, and select Status Bar.
Should I use Internet Explorer to open an old website?
No. Internet Explorer is retired and out of support. For legacy compatibility, use Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge when the required website and Windows configuration support that feature.
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The Bottom Line
The parts of the Internet Explorer window are not identical across every release. Identify the Windows frame, browser controls, optional bars, web-page pane, and status or scrolling areas separately; for IE11, remember One Box and the hidden-by-default toolbars. For current legacy compatibility, use Edge’s Internet Explorer mode rather than unsupported Internet Explorer.
