Overview

Why Yako exists, what it does, and how to make it yours.

Yako was created because I was fed up with major browsers showing ads, news, clickbait, and other unwanted content whenever I opened a new tab. It kept distracting me from the reason I opened the tab in the first place.

Bonjourr was the perfect new tab replacement, and I had been a happy user for many years. With Yako, I wanted to bring the best of Bonjourr together with some special sauce for Microsoft 365 power users, admins, and developers: built-in ready-made links to Microsoft portals, admin centers, and cloud services.

Yako integrates with MSPortals.io and Microsoft Cloud Logos. I was thrilled to collaborate with fellow Aussies Adam Fowler from MSPortals.io and Loryan Strant from Microsoft Cloud Logos on these integrations.

Views

Yako gives you three distinct views from the same new tab page:

  • Classic - A clean start page with backgrounds, clock, quick links, notes, and customization.
  • MSPortals.io - A searchable directory of Microsoft admin portals, powered by the MSPortals.io community project.
  • cmd.ms - A command-line style interface for jumping to Microsoft portals and blades with cmd.ms shortcuts.

The integrated search bar provides instant suggestions from a catalog of 900+ Microsoft portals sourced from cmd.ms and MSPortals.io. Find portals by name, URL, or category, then press Enter or select a result to open it.

Main interface

Yako is designed around quick access from your new tab page. It keeps the page calm, useful, and focused on the Microsoft tools you actually need.

The page also has a custom right-click menu on most of the interface. Use it to add quick links, open relevant settings, and adjust parts of the page without hunting through the full settings panel. If you need the browser's default context menu, use Alt + right click.

Settings

Open Settings by selecting the settings icon in the bottom-right corner, pressing Esc while the page is focused, or using the right-click context menu.

Yako keeps advanced options available without making the first-run experience overwhelming. Turn on Show all settings at the top of the settings panel when you want to see every option.

If you hide the settings icon, the bottom-right corner remains clickable so you can still get back to Settings.

Tab appearance

You can customize the browser tab title and tab icon from Settings. The title is limited by the browser, and the icon field is intended for short emoji-style values where supported.

Browser support for custom tab icons varies. Firefox may render emoji icons differently, and some Chromium-based browsers do not expose the same level of new tab customization.

Quick Links are the shortcuts shown on the Classic new tab page. By default, Yako includes popular Microsoft portals such as Entra, Intune, Microsoft 365 Admin Center, Azure, and Defender.

You can edit a link by right-clicking it, or by long-pressing on touch devices. Links can be renamed, moved, deleted, assigned custom icons, and organized into groups or pages depending on your layout.

  • Add links manually or from the built-in portal catalog
  • Choose display styles such as large, medium, small, inline, or text
  • Use Microsoft Cloud Logos-powered icons for Microsoft services
  • Rearrange links by dragging

Clock and date

Yako includes a clean clock and date display with digital and analog modes. You can show seconds, choose 12 or 24 hour time, pick from multiple analog clock styles, add world clocks for multiple time zones, and customize the date format.

Greetings

Set your name and Yako can greet you throughout the day with messages such as Good morning, Good afternoon, and Good evening.

Backgrounds

Yako supports solid colors and local image or video backgrounds. Local files are stored by the browser for the current device and are not synced between devices because browser extensions cannot safely sync local file data.

You can adjust background blur, brightness, positioning, and related visual settings to keep the page readable while still making the new tab feel personal.

Dark mode

Yako supports automatic dark mode that follows your system preference. You can also set it to always on, always off, or switch based on time of day.

Notes

Notes use a small Markdown-compatible syntax for common note-taking patterns. Add these characters at the start of a line to format it:

  • # for a large heading
  • ## for a medium heading
  • ### for a small heading
  • - for a list item
  • [ ] for an unchecked task
  • [x] for a checked task

While editing notes, use Ctrl or Cmd with Shift and numbers 1 through 5 to apply the heading, list, and task formats quickly.

Page layouts

Page layouts control where widgets appear on the Classic view. You can choose single, double, or triple column layouts, then use the layout toolbox to adjust widget placement, width, spacing, and alignment.

Layout options apply to the current layout, so you can keep different arrangements for different column modes.

Custom CSS

For advanced customization, Yako includes a CSS editor with syntax highlighting. You can adjust fonts, colors, spacing, layouts, and other interface details. See CSS Snippets for ready-made examples.

Settings management

Export your settings to a JSON file when you want a backup, need to move your setup to another browser, or want to share a known-good configuration. Importing a settings file reloads Yako with those settings applied.

Browser sync can keep settings aligned between devices that use the same browser profile. Local files, such as uploaded backgrounds and local icons, are not synced by browsers.

Privacy

Yako only requires the storage permission. It collects no data, has no account system, and does not send personal information. Portal and icon data is fetched from getyako.com so the extension can stay up to date without contacting multiple upstream projects at runtime. For details, see the Privacy Policy.

Opera

Opera does not allow extensions to directly replace its new tab page. If you use Opera, the practical workaround is to use a separate new tab redirect extension that points to a custom page, or use a Chromium-based browser such as Brave or Vivaldi that supports Chrome Web Store extensions more directly.