Simple Firefox Tips and Tricks (Some of Which You Might Not Know…)

Firefox logoI 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.

  • http://maklan.blogspot.com/ MakLaN

    nice info..

  • http://maklan.blogspot.com MakLaN

    nice info..

  • http://www.doczayus.com/ DocZayus

    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!

  • http://www.doczayus.com DocZayus

    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!

  • Dizzley

    This was worth it to learn spacebar=PageDown and shift-spacebar=PageUp.

    I thought I already knew everything about Firefox!

  • Dizzley

    This was worth it to learn spacebar=PageDown and shift-spacebar=PageUp.

    I thought I already knew everything about Firefox!

  • http://www.apnaonline.ca/ Geoserv
  • http://www.apnaonline.ca Geoserv
  • http://blog.robert-lemos.de/ Robert Lemos

    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 :(

  • http://blog.robert-lemos.de Robert Lemos

    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 :(

  • http://miramardesign.com/ miramardesign

    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.

  • http://miramardesign.com miramardesign

    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.

  • TJ

    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.

  • TJ

    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.

  • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

    @TJ: That’s a good one. I didn’t know that.

  • http://maketecheasier.com Damien Oh

    @TJ: That’s a good one. I didn’t know that.

  • Jason

    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.

  • Jason

    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.

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  • Chuck

    He forgot Ctrl T. It will open a new tab

  • Chuck

    He forgot Ctrl T. It will open a new tab

  • Sayne

    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).

  • Sayne

    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).

  • DublD

    Yeah, and ctrl-shift-T reopens your last-closed tab.

  • DublD

    Yeah, and ctrl-shift-T reopens your last-closed tab.

  • DublD

    Don’t forget that ctrl-[1-9] shifts to tab 1-9.

  • DublD

    Don’t forget that ctrl-[1-9] shifts to tab 1-9.

  • laki

    awesome tips! my favourite is the alt+enter (duplicate current tab) but it doesn’t work for me :/

  • laki

    awesome tips! my favourite is the alt+enter (duplicate current tab) but it doesn’t work for me :/

  • fbalfe

    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

  • fbalfe

    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

  • abutes

    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

  • abutes

    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

  • Steven

    I didn’t see this one, which is a better “boss key”: Ctrl-W closes the current tab.

  • Steven

    I didn’t see this one, which is a better “boss key”: Ctrl-W closes the current tab.

  • Harlan

    Dont forget to drop the favicon icon on the bookmarks button!

  • Harlan

    Dont forget to drop the favicon icon on the bookmarks button!

  • http://ittechtalk.net/ redson

    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.

  • http://ittechtalk.net redson

    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.

  • marcos

    the ctrl + f4 is also ctrl + w.

  • marcos

    the ctrl + f4 is also ctrl + w.

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  • http://blog.800hightech.com/ 800HighTech

    Some cool tips, its amazing how everyone finds their own favorite tweaks in firefox.

  • http://blog.800hightech.com 800HighTech

    Some cool tips, its amazing how everyone finds their own favorite tweaks in firefox.

  • GTL

    You can use the esc key to stop the animation of animated gifs.

  • GTL

    You can use the esc key to stop the animation of animated gifs.

  • Nik

    You can click on an opened tab with the middle button to close it.

  • Nik

    You can click on an opened tab with the middle button to close it.

  • http://reviewsmyfavourite.blogspot.com/ Mony

    Drag and drop in Firefox and Restoring Toolbar configuration after Firefox crashes is quite useful to me. Thanks for the list.

  • http://reviewsmyfavourite.blogspot.com Mony

    Drag and drop in Firefox and Restoring Toolbar configuration after Firefox crashes is quite useful to me. Thanks for the list.

  • http://retec30.stumbleupon.com/ Alen

    Nice tips.

  • http://retec30.stumbleupon.com/ Alen

    Nice tips.

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  • Nick

    I knew about most of them =P
    Didn’t know about the click and drag items though, very nice

  • Nick

    I knew about most of them =P
    Didn’t know about the click and drag items though, very nice

  • AK

    on address bar for preset prefix and suffix
    www —- com ctrl+enter

    www —- com (in new tab) [ctrl]+[alt]+[enter]

    www —- org [ctrl]+[shift]+[enter]

    www —- net (in new tab) [alt]+[shift]+[enter]

    www —- net [shift]+[enter]

    [Alt]+[Enter] function as command to open given address in a new tab try putting a full address or just click your current page address and press [alt]+[enter] it will copy the page in a new tab… and yeah [left mouse click] three times will select the whole line for your like [left mouse click] twice can select a whole word.

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