Pop-up blocker settings, exceptions and troubleshooting
Revision Information
- Revision id: 58554
- Created:
- Creator: Michael Verdi
- Comment: fx29 screenshots
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: Verdi
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: Yes
- Readied for localization:
- Readied for localization by: Verdi
Revision Source
Revision Content
This document explains all of the settings available in Mozilla Firefox for controlling pop-ups.
Table of Contents
What are pop-ups?
Pop-up windows, or pop-ups, are windows that appear automatically without your permission. They vary in size but usually don't cover the whole screen. Some pop-ups open on top of the current Firefox window, while others appear underneath Firefox (pop-unders).
Firefox allows you to control both pop-ups and pop-unders through the Content panel in the Settings window. Pop-up blocking is turned on by default, so you don't have to worry about enabling it to prevent pop-ups from appearing in Firefox.
When blocking a pop-up, Firefox displays an information bar (if it hasn’t been previously dismissed — see below), as well as an icon 
in the location bar.
- The image "Popup1 29 Lin" does not exist.
When you click either the button in the info bar or the icon in the location bar, a menu is displayed with the following choices:
- (show the blocked pop-up)
Pop-up blocker settings
To access the pop-up blocker settings:
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and select (select on older macOS versions).Click the menu button and select .
- Select the panel.
In the content panel:
- Block pop-up windows: Uncheck this to disable the pop-up blocker altogether.
- : This is a list of sites that you want to allow to display pop-ups.
The dialog has the following choices:- Allow: Click this to add a website to the exceptions list.
- Remove Site: Click this to remove a website from the exceptions list.
- Remove All Sites: Click this to remove all of the websites in the exceptions list.
Pop-ups not being blocked
Is the pop-up coming from Firefox?
The pop-up may not actually be coming from Firefox. You can determine where the pop-up is coming from by the appearance of the window.
- If you see the location bar with the little bookmark star in the pop-up window, the pop-up is coming from Firefox. Another good indication is the Firefox logo or the orange Firefox button on Windows 7 in the top left corner of the windowAnother good indication on Linux is if you see the text "- Mozilla Firefox" at the end of the title bar.
- If that's not what you see, you may have malware on your computer that causes the pop-ups. For help, see Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.
- If you see the location bar with the site identity button (a globe, padlock or warning triangle) in the pop-up window, the pop-up is coming from Firefox.
- If that's not what you see, you may have malware on your computer that causes the pop-ups. For help, see Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.
Is the pop-up blocker on and enabled for this site?
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and select (select on older macOS versions).Click the menu button and select .
- Select the panel.
- Make sure the Block pop-up windows checkbox is checked.
- To the right of Block pop-up windows, click the button. A dialog will appear that shows all the sites that are allowed to show pop-ups.
- If the site that's opening pop-ups is in the list, select it and press .
- Click Close the Allowed Sites - Pop-ups window.
- Close the page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved. .
Is the pop-up shown after a mouse click or a key press?
Certain events, such as clicking or pressing a key, can spawn pop-ups regardless of if the pop-up blocker is on. This is so that Firefox doesn't block pop-ups that websites need to work.
Is it a true pop-up window?
Sometimes ads are designed to look like windows, but really aren't. Firefox's pop-up blocker can't stop these ads.