How to use Firefox containers

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  • Revision id: 259724
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  • Creator: Marcelo Ghelman
  • Comment: Organization; template for context menu
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Firefox's containers let you separate your browsing activities into color-coded tabs for banking, work and personal browsing. These built-in containers allow users to always open new tabs in containers of their choosing for a more private browsing experience. Each container is isolated from the others, so you can access sites logged into different accounts. This article explains how to enable and use the Firefox containers manager to open containers from the main browser interface quickly.

containerTabs

Note: To make the most of Firefox containers, you need to install the Multi-Account Containers extension, which adds advanced container management options and allows for greater customization of containers.

Enable Firefox containers

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (select Preferences on older macOS versions).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. In the General panel, scroll down to the Tabs section.
  3. Make sure the box next to Enable Container Tabs is checked.
Note: Containers are disabled in Private Browsing windows and when Never Remember History is selected in your privacy settings.

Open a new tab in a container

You can open a tab in a container from the containers panel.

  1. Right-clickHold down the Control key while you click or long-click the New Tab button.
  2. Select a container in the list.
    containersNewTab

Open a link in a new container tab

You can open a link in a new tab on the same or a different container.

  1. Right-clickHold down the Control key while you click any link to open the context menu.
  2. Select Open Link in New Container Tab.
  3. Select the desired container.
    container right-click menu

Manage your containers

There are two ways to get to the containers manager.

  • Open the containers manager from the Settings:
    1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (select Preferences on older macOS versions).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
    2. In the General panel, scroll down to the Tabs section.
    3. Click the Settings button next to Enable Container Tabs.
  • Open the containers manager from the New Tab button:
    1. Right-clickHold down the Control key while you click or long-click the New Tab button.
    2. Select Manage containers in the containers panel.

Always show the container selection panel

You can make the container panel appear when you click the New Tab button, instead of just opening a No Container new tab.

  1. Open the containers manager (see above).
  2. Check the box next to Select a container for each new tab.
    selectContainerNewTab

How are Firefox containers and Multi-Account Containers related?

Firefox containers and Multi-Account Containers are complementary features that help you keep your online activities organized. While both options allow you to separate your browsing into different container tabs, Firefox containers is a basic built-in feature that allows you to always open new tabs in containers.

On the other hand, Multi-Account Containers is an extension developed by Mozilla that optimizes Firefox containers and unlocks its full potential, offering additional features such as site assignments and integration with Mozilla VPN. For more information, see Multi-Account Containers.

Note: These two features work together, you need to enable both to make the most of all the features available.