Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars
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- Revision id: 11167
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- Creator: Michael Verdi
- Comment: Lots of revisions, new headings, screenshots for all OSs
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Firefox's toolbars provide easy access to common features. This article explains how you can customize those toolbars to make Firefox work the way you do.
Table of Contents
How do I show and hide the different toolbars?
It's your browser — most toolbars can be shown or hidden depending on your needs:
- Menu Bar: This is the top toolbar that contains the browser menus (, , , etc.). To hide the Menu Bar, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Menu Bar and uncheck .
- Navigation Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains website navigation buttons, the Location Bar, the Search Bar and the button. To hide the Navigation Toolbar, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Menu BarNavigation Toolbar and uncheck .
- Tab Strip: This is where your tabs are displayed — it can't be hidden.
- Bookmarks Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder bookmarks (for more info see, Bookmarks Toolbar - Display your favorite websites at the top of the Firefox window). To hide the Bookmarks Toolbar, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Menu BarNavigation Toolbar and uncheck .
- Menu Bar: This is the top toolbar that contains the browser menus (, , , etc.). On Windows Vista and 7, the menu bar is hidden by default and its features are contained in the button. You can switch between the button and the traditional menus by right-clicking on an empty section of the Tab Strip and unchecking or checking . You can also make this switch temporarily by pressing the Alt key.
- Menu Bar: This is the top toolbar that contains the browser menus (, , , etc.). You can switch between the traditional menus and the button by right-clicking on an empty section of the Tab Strip and unchecking .
- Tab Strip: This is where your tabs are displayed — it can't be hidden. By default, the Tab Strip is above the Navigation Toolbar. If you want it below, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Tab Strip and uncheck . For more information, see How to make the new Firefox look like the old Firefox
- Navigation Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains website navigation buttons, the Location Bar, the Search Bar, the button and the button. To hide the Navigation Toolbar, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Tab Strip and uncheck .
- Bookmarks Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder bookmarks (for more info see, Bookmarks Toolbar - Display your favorite websites at the top of the Firefox window). On new installations of Firefox, the Bookmarks Toolbar is hidden by default. To show the Bookmarks Toolbar, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Tab Strip and check .
- Add-on Bar: This toolbar is located at the bottom of the Firefox window and contains buttons associated with your extensions (if they are made available by the add-on developer). To show or hide the Add-on Bar, right-clickcontrol-click on an empty section of the Tab Strip and check or uncheck . See The Add-on Bar gives you quick access to add-on features for more information.
How do I customize or rearrange toolbar items?
You can easily add, remove and rearrange items in Firefox's toolbars.
- Right-clickControl-click on an empty section of the Tab Strip, select Right-clickControl-click on an empty section of the Menu BarNavigation Toolbar, select and the Customize Toolbar window will open.
- Drag, drop and rearrange items. For an explanation of each item, see Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars.
- To add an item to a toolbar, drag it from the Customize Toolbar window onto the toolbar where you want it to appear.
- To remove an item from a toolbar, drag it to the Customize Toolbar window.
- To move an item in a toolbar, drag it where you want it to appear.
- When you are finished making changes, click to close the Customize Toolbar window.
Try it out: Go ahead and experiment with different arrangements for your toolbars. You can always restore the default toolbar settings by clicking the button in the Customize Toolbar window.
Icon appearance options
At the bottom of the Customize Toolbar window, there are additional options for changing the appearance of the icons in your toolbars:
- Show: From the Show drop-down menu, you can choose what to display in the toolbars — Icons, Text, or Icons and Text together. By default, Firefox just shows Icons.
- Use Small Icons: Check this option to conserve screen space.
How can I add extra toolbars?
There's enough space in existing toolbars to add many items. However, if you need more space or you'd like to do something like make a toolbar for a special purpose, you can add a toolbar like this:
- Right-clickControl-click on an empty section of the Tab Strip, select Right-clickControl-click on an empty section of the Menu BarNavigation Toolbar, select and the Customize Toolbar window will open.
- At the bottom of the Customize Toolbar window, click the button and the New Toolbar window will open.
- In the New Toolbar window, enter a name for your toolbar and click to close the window.
- Add items to the toolbar as described above. If you don't add items to the toolbar in this step it will not be created.
- When you are finished adding items to the toolbar, click to close the Customize Toolbar window.
Your new toolbar will appear below the Navigation Toolbar.
Try it out: Go ahead make yourself a new toolbar. You can always remove any extra toolbars by clicking the button in the Customize Toolbar window.
I'm having problems with toolbars disappearing or resetting
For help troubleshooting problems with toolbars, see these articles: