Simple Firefox Tips and Tricks (Some of Which You Might Not Know…)
I have used Firefox browser for a long time and I always think that I know all the features inside out. When I was told of the following seemingly simple but useful tricks, I know I was wrong. Some of you power users may have already known these tricks, and if you know of any other Firefox tips and tricks, feel free to share it.
1) Drag and drop
There are many things that you can drag and drop in Firefox.
- Drag the favicon of any site to your home icon to set it as the home page.
- Drag a hyperlink (or image) to the new tab icon to open the link in a new tab.
- Drag a download link (or image file) to the download icon to instantly download the file.
- Drag a highlighted word to the search bar (beside the address bar) will bring you to the Google search result page for that word. If you drag the highlighted word to the address bar (and press enter), Firefox will perform a Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” search
2) Keyboard shortcut
Other than the usual shortcut keys such Ctrl + T:open new tab, Ctrl + N: open new window etc, here are some not-so-well-known, but useful, shortcut keys:
- Ctrl + Enter: Insert www and .com to the address bar. If you enter “about” in the address bar and press Ctrl + Enter, the browser will load the “www.about.com” page
- Ctrl + +/- : Increase/decrease the font size
- Spacebar: Page down, same function as pressing “Pg Dn” (This is one great shortcut key that I didn’t know till now…think I should just bang my head to the wall)
- Shift + Spacebar: Page up, same function as pressing “Pg Up”
- Alt + Enter: Duplicate the current tab
3) Mouse shortcut
- Ctrl + scroll up/down: Increase/decrease the font size (same as the Ctrl ++/-)
- Click a hyperlink with the middle button (or scrollwheel) opens the link in a new tab
- Shift + scroll up/down: Navigate between the next and previous page
4) Bookmark keyword search
If you set a keyword for your bookmark, you can easily open the bookmark simply by typing the keyword in the address bar.
To set keywords for your bookmark, right click the bookmark and select properties. You should see a ‘keyword‘ field where you can enter your keyword.
5) about:config
There are tons of configuration that you can edit to tweak the browser performance. Type about:config in the address bar to show the configuration. More information on how to modify the value.
6) Restoring Toolbar configuration after Firefox crashes
If your Firefox crashes and you find that all your toolbars setting are jumbled up or not displayed properly (especially the web developer toolbar), just go to View-> Toolbars -> Customize. Select “Restore Default Set”. Everything will be restored to the default state.
Slow computer? Try Auslogics BoostSpeed!
Enjoyed the article? Subscribe to Make Tech Easier today to get your daily updates of technology tutorials, tips and tricks.
4 pingbacks/trackbacks (Click to open)
- Web Wednesday #10: Ten Fun (and Somewhat Useful?) Things Online | Shai Coggins
- Misbehaving Monkey » Blog Archive » Simple Firefox Tips and Tricks (Some of Which You Might Not Know…) - Make Tech Easier
- Yet more firefox sites « Liquor and Guns
- Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts | Your Home PC Helpdesk
[Click to close]25 Responses
nice info..
Reply
Shift + scroll up/down: Navigate between the next and previous page
Didn’t know this one.
It sure will come in handy!
Thanks for sharing, Thumbs up to you!
Reply
This was worth it to learn spacebar=PageDown and shift-spacebar=PageUp.
I thought I already knew everything about Firefox!
Reply
Stumbled!
Great list.
Added to TopStumbles:
http://www.topstumbles.com/software/simple-firefox-tips-and-tricks-some-of-which-you-might-not-know-make-tech-easier/
Reply
I got another:
Alt & Mous Scroll up / scroll down: scrolling the page line by line.
You may have set your mouse to scroll 3 lines each turn, nur with ALT in Firefox you just scroll 1 line. Nice for reading longer texts.
I didn’t know the drag&drop-features for word higlighting, everything else wasn’t new for me :(
Reply
An addendum to the middle-click links to open in new tab is that you can middle click the tab to close (you don’t have to reach to the red x)
Quick tip for when your boss walks up.
Reply
Here’s one extra: The ctrl + enter adds the www and .com to the name, but shift + enter adds www and .net to the name.
Reply
@TJ: That’s a good one. I didn’t know that.
Reply
In response to Damien and TJ, if you press ctrl+shift+enter it adds the www. and .org
Pressing Ctrl+K in a tab goes to the search bar next to the address bar.
Reply
He forgot Ctrl T. It will open a new tab
Reply
Addendum to the addendums about ctrl-enter – type your word, press ctrl-alt-enter, and it opens in a new tab with www and .com appended. (or of course, shift-alt-enter for .net. ctrl-shift-alt-enter doesn’t seem to work, but that may be a good thing, my hand hurts from trying).
Reply
Yeah, and ctrl-shift-T reopens your last-closed tab.
Reply
Don’t forget that ctrl-[1-9] shifts to tab 1-9.
Reply
awesome tips! my favourite is the alt+enter (duplicate current tab) but it doesn’t work for me :/
Reply
laki:
You probably just had a single page with no tab. If you don’t have the tabs visible the alt+enter doesn’t work. Open new tab , go to a website, press alt+enter and bob’s your mother’s brother
Reply
this one I use the most….
add the plugin mousegestures and u can navigate, open, close webpages just using the right mouse button…
its really cool
Reply
I didn’t see this one, which is a better “boss key”: Ctrl-W closes the current tab.
Reply
Dont forget to drop the favicon icon on the bookmarks button!
Reply
To open link in new tab, point to that link then use Ctrl+left mouse click will open that in new tab. You can also use mouse scroll to open in new tab.
To close particular tab, use Ctrl + F4
To clear private data, use Ctrl+Shift+Del
To enable/disable caret browsing, use F7. by enabling it, we can select texts by keyboard.
Reply
the ctrl + f4 is also ctrl + w.
Reply
Some cool tips, its amazing how everyone finds their own favorite tweaks in firefox.
Reply
You can use the esc key to stop the animation of animated gifs.
Reply
You can click on an opened tab with the middle button to close it.
Reply
Drag and drop in Firefox and Restoring Toolbar configuration after Firefox crashes is quite useful to me. Thanks for the list.
Reply
Nice tips.
Reply