Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings
Revision Information
- Revision id: 53140
- Created:
- Creator: Michael Verdi
- Comment: WIP - Don't approve, removed content for fx16 and lower, reworded "firefox services" to "social features", put steps above "what does the reset feature do" section
- Reviewed: No
- Ready for localization: No
Revision Source
Revision Content
Over time Firefox can develop problems like slowness, crashing, unwanted toolbars and more. Troubleshooting and fixing these issues can be difficult and time consuming. The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information.
How do I reset Firefox to its default state?
- Click the menu button
, click , and select .
- Click then in the confirmation window that opens. Firefox will close to refresh itself.
- When finished, a window will list your imported information. Click the button. Firefox will open.
- Select whether you want Firefox to restore all or some windows and tabs, and click the button.
Note: There's a Refresh Firefox button in the Firefox Troubleshoot Mode window, if you can't start Firefox normally. You can also do a manual refresh by creating a new profile and transferring your important data to the new profile.
What does the reset feature do?
All of your Firefox settings and personal information are stored in your profile folder. The reset feature works by creating a new profile folder for you while saving your most important data.
Firefox will keep the following data:
- Bookmarks
- Browsing history
- Passwords
- Cookies
- Web form auto-fill information
- Bookmarks
- Browsing history
- Passwords
- Cookies
- Web form auto-fill information
- Personal dictionary
- Bookmarks
- Browsing history
- Passwords
- Open windows and tabs
- Cookies
- Web form auto-fill information
- Personal dictionary
The following items and settings will be restored or removed:
- Extensions and themes: Although they can be incredibly helpful, some extensions and themes can cause problems. If you need to reinstall important extensions, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox for help.
- Open tabs, windows and tab groups: The reset process will close all open websites. Since your bookmarks and browsing history are saved you should still be able to easily return to your favorite sites. See Where can I find my bookmarks? and Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox for more info. Also, since your cookies are saved, you shouldn't be logged out of any websites you were logged in to before the reset.
- Site-specific preferences, search engines, personal dictionary, download history, DOM storage, security certificate settings, security device settings, download actions, plugin MIME types, toolbar customizations and user styles are also not saved. See the Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data article for more information about these.
- Extensions and themes: Although they can be incredibly helpful, some extensions and themes can cause problems. If you need to reinstall important extensions, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox for help.
- Open tabs, windows and tab groups: The reset process will close all open websites. Since your bookmarks and browsing history are saved you should still be able to easily return to your favorite sites. See Where can I find my bookmarks? and Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox for more info. Also, since your cookies are saved, you shouldn't be logged out of any websites you were logged in to before the reset.
- Site-specific preferences, search engines, personal dictionary, download history, DOM storage, security certificate settings, security device settings, download actions, plugin MIME types, toolbar customizations and user styles are also not saved. See the Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data article for more information about these.
- Facebook Messenger for Firefox will be removed.
- Extensions and themes: Although they can be incredibly helpful, some extensions and themes can cause problems. If you need to reinstall important extensions, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox for help.
- Open tabs, windows and tab groups: The reset process will close all open websites. Since your bookmarks and browsing history are saved you should still be able to easily return to your favorite sites. See Where can I find my bookmarks? and Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox for more info. Also, since your cookies are saved, you shouldn't be logged out of any websites you were logged in to before the reset.
- Site-specific preferences, search engines, personal dictionary, download history, DOM storage, security certificate settings, security device settings, download actions, plugin MIME types, toolbar customizations and user styles are also not saved. See the Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data article for more information about these.
- All social features, like Facebook Messenger for Firefox will be removed.
- Extensions and themes: Although they can be incredibly helpful, some extensions and themes can cause problems. If you need to reinstall important extensions, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox for help.
- Open tabs, windows and tab groups: The reset process will close all open websites. Since your bookmarks and browsing history are saved you should still be able to easily return to your favorite sites. See Where can I find my bookmarks? and Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox for more info. Also, since your cookies are saved, you shouldn't be logged out of any websites you were logged in to before the reset.
- Site-specific preferences, search engines, download history, DOM storage, security certificate settings, security device settings, download actions, plugin MIME types, toolbar customizations and user styles are also not saved. See the Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data article for more information about these.
- All social features, like Facebook Messenger for Firefox will be removed.
- Extensions and themes: Although they can be incredibly helpful, some extensions and themes can cause problems. If you need to reinstall important extensions, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox for help.
- Site-specific preferences, search engines, download history, DOM storage, security certificate settings, security device settings, download actions, plugin MIME types, toolbar customizations and user styles are also not saved. See the Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data article for more information about these.
- All social features, like Facebook Messenger for Firefox will be removed.
Note: After the reset is finished, your old Firefox profile information will be placed on your desktop in a folder named "Old Firefox Data." If the reset didn't fix your problem you can restore some of the information not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. See Copying files between profile folders for instructions. If you don't need this folder any longer, you should delete it as it contains sensitive information.