Agreed. It's annoying. I wish it would automatically disappear after a second or two. It feels like the devs have made significant changes to way downloads work, imo for the worse, and they're using every possible means to rub our noses in it. :) It would be helpful if they would have a re-think about these changes and/or make them a bit more customisable via settings options.

Ethan, since posting I thought I'd try removing the Download icon from the toolbar. [right click - Customize - drag icon down away from the toolbar] Without the icon on the toolbar, it does not show the downloads list. Without the download icon on the toolbar, you can still access downloads fairly easily by pressing Control - J

Note to developers; I'd still like to have the show/hide option and the download icon on the toolbar

Enter about:config in the URL bar and set browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel = false.

WARNING: Changing preferences through this interface not officially supported Hidden settings edited using the about:config tool are explicitly not supported, which means that Mozilla makes no guarantees they will be supported in the future, or that Mozilla will fix them if they break. Mozilla does not test these preferences, and will not in the future. That includes security and performance testing which these preferences may affect.

[Warning added by moderator]

Thank you Ty,

I'm not quite confident enough to mess with config files. It actually sounds rather easy, but if anything went wrong I'd be completely out of my element!!!!!

I am sure there used to be an option in settings or preferences. Maybe it will be resurrected soon.

Hi, Your Downloads panel and Library keep track of the files you download while using Firefox. Learn to manage your files and configure your download settings, in the following link you will find all the necessary information to be able to manage your downloads Where to find and manage downloaded files in Firefox

I'm not quite confident enough to mess with config files. It actually sounds rather easy, but if anything went wrong I'd be completely out of my element!!!!!

Actually, no need to open files:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the preference to switch the value from true to false

General background article on the new download workflow in Firefox 98: How file downloads are handled in Firefox version 98 and above.