Firefox Community Forum

Sorry if this is addressed elsewhere but I could not find it. After a recent update Firefox (Windows 11) started each website file download (mostly pdfs) at the Downloads folder. Previously, it would start at the most recent folder to which I downloaded a file. Since nearly all of my downloads are in a few neighboring folders way down the folder tree, I now have a ton of navigating to do for every single download. This is not sustainable. I have done a lot of Googling and investigated several suggested changes to about:config. I changed browser.download.folderList from 1 to 2. I made sure that browser.download.useDownloadDir is false. No effect. Any other suggestions? I am considering abandoning Firefox altogether. It has issues with some parts of the Medicare website. And an earlier update seemingly eliminated my ability to set a particular web page (Google) for new tabs, due to which I often wait a while for the page to appear, then realize I must click on Home. I like Firefox , but too many issues are accumulating and I can't seem to find solutions. Thanks for any help.

Today Firefox updated in my laptop (I have Windows 11) to its current 157.0 version, I found out that when I download something (and it is saved in my Downloads folder), whenever I want to upload ANYTHING to any other website I can upload something, the path somewhat gets stuck in the Downloads folder. ANYTHING.

I closed Firefox, thinking this was probably an error or something similar since it updated, I open again. I try to upload anything, the last path it remembers is exactly the one from where I'm uploading a file, but it's the same in every website I am using (instead of Firefox remembering the paths from each website I have used, for example, it would normally be Documents in "y", a random folder in Documents in "z", but now it's Documents in y, z, etc.). And then, I decide to download something... and then it gets stuck in the Downloads folder again. And it gets reset as I close and open Firefox.

I dunno what to do, haha. It's very annoying, because it's extra clicks... and then the path getting defaulted to Downloads if I'm downloading something, like saving an image.

This is probably a bug... as I didn't have this problem yesterday, and coincidently! This just started happening as Firefox updated to 157 (I also tested this in another profile I have for testing purposes - it's exactly the same behavior). I might have to report this as a bug.

I don't even know where to look at to "restore" this, I have searched a bit (if that's located in about:config), but frankly? I have found nothing, and those options I see suggested elsewhere are empty fields or I have to add them in the config flags? I also don't know about coding, tbh.

Is there a way to fix this or wait until Mozilla recognizes it might be a bug?

Can you please enlighten me on the internal protocol FF follows when downloads are set to "Always ask you were to save files"? I want that dialog to always default to the previously used folder, but it only does that about 70% of the time (in my guesstimation). The rest of the time it randomly decides it doesn't want to do that and it will pop up the Windows Downloads folder instead.

Sometimes it will do that even right in the middle of a mass-download session where I'm downloading, say, 15 items, doing the right-click/save thing, and after 10 items in which the Save-to dialog has defaulted to the folder I want, it will suddenly decide that it wants to go back to Windows Downloads, and because I'm on autopilot with my keystroke routine, I might go through all 5 final downloads before I notice that it's not saving to the right folder anymore. This is EXTREMELY annoying.

What prompts my current post is that I've just started another session of about 10-15 downloads, but this time I'm five files in and FF is still refusing to default to my desired folder. It's not uncommon for it to take two tries before the folder I want sticks, but not five. It's now officially way uncool to continue navigating there every single damn time.

So please tell me why this happens.

And no, please don't recommend that I temporarily change the default downloads folder and just set it to permanently download there, then change it back to "Always ask" after each session. First, that's an unworthy kludge. Second, I always change the filenames of downloaded files--if nothing else, I always remove underscores or spaces to conserve filename length because I've been severely bitten by that limitation once too many times. Therefore I must use the "Always ask" dialog. It's why I don't usually use Downthemall, fab piece of software though it be.

TIA. NB: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1591345 is a similar question but answer offered no help. Also after 5 more file downloads during my current session in which FF continues to never default to the previously used folder, I've just given up and stopped downloading for now.

If I go to save something from within Firefox (on MacOS desktop browser), if I try to forward delete some characters, nothing happens. I can go to the address bar and forward delete characters within a URL, but doesn't appear that I can do so in other dialog boxes within Firefox. I've verified issue persists in debug mode as well as standard mode (and just re-freshed firefox within the last day and thought that had resolved the issue until realizeing forward delete will still work in URL field, but not in firefox dialog boxes like the save as window when downloading something.

Copying this from a Reddit post as I have the same issue and looking for a solution:

Recently in the past month or so, the Del/Delete key has stopped working in Firefox's Save As dialog box popup. Literally every other key works fine system-wide, and Del works in everything but Firefox's Save As box.

To elaborate... Opening up the Save As box for anything in Firefox—a page, a file, an image, etc.—and trying to use the Del key to delete characters in the filename field just doesn't work. Backspace works fine, all other keys work fine.

The only way to get Del to work in that scenario is by pressing Shift+Del instead, which is odd because it didn't used to be like that.

I know the obvious answer is "Just don't use the Del key to edit a filename when saving files in Firefox" or "Use the backspace key insted", but I've been doing it this way for so long that it's pure muscle memory at this point.

I've tested/confirmed that the Del key stops working this way in regular Firefox, private windows, and troubleshooting mode, so I don't think it's an issue with addons or extensions. I can't pinpoint anything else on the system that might be causing it either; it really does seem to be an inherent Firefox issue that's suddenly popped up.

I haven't changed anything in Firefox Browser settings. But when I open a bank statement, it is opening in the firefox browser, not in Acrobat. For years it opened in Acrobat. I checked Firefox Settings - Downloads for .pdf and it is still set to open them in Acrobat application. I have toggled the options, but still will not open in Acrobat. I have rebooted PC and tried again, still not opening the .pdf in Acrobat. Please advise what I should do Thank you

I have a new MacBook Pro M5, with MacOS Tahoe Version 26.5.2, and currently running Firefox 153.0. Over the past few days, I've noticed that the Fn-Delete (forward delete) is not working in the file name field when downloading a file from the internet. Fn-Delete is working everywhere else.

I'm not certain if this started when I set up the new computer, updated the MacOS or updated Firefox. I'm pretty sure all have occurred within the past couple weeks.

Thanks.

Dear Developer,

Please add an option in Settings to select a default external download manager (e.g. 1DM+, ADM, etc.) for all downloads. Currently, Firefox shows the "Download file with" chooser every time. It would be much more convenient if users could enable an "Always use selected external downloader" option, so downloads are sent directly to the chosen app without displaying the chooser each time. This would make downloading faster and provide a smoother user experience. Thank you for considering this feature.❤

Hi everyone,

I am currently using Firefox on Fedora (KDE Plasma) and looking for a way to automatically route downloaded files into specific folders based on their file extensions.

For example, if I download a '.stl' or '.blend' file, I want it to automatically go to '~/3d/downloaded', and if it is a '.gguf' file, it should go to '/models'.

Since native application settings only allow choosing one global download folder, using third-party browser extensions feels like a security risk as they require broad file system access(This concern might be unnecessary since I don't know how to decide an extension is safe or not.). On the other hand, running a background automation script (like inotify-tools) feels like an unnecessary workaround for a feature that could be native(I solved it via this method for now).

Is there a built-in way or a hidden config in about:config to achieve this by file type? If not, do you think it is worth opening a feature request on Mozilla Bugzilla for native file-extension-based download routing?