Hi PeaceLoveBananas, if you set browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus to false, then when you click in the address bar and it's empty (or you delete the URL) and press the down arrow key on the keyboard, you should get the classic list displayed by the old "Show History" button instead of the Top Sites from the new tab page. Does that work on yours?

If you want a button -- hey, convenience matters -- and you don't mind it being on the main part of the toolbar instead of in the address bar, I created an add-on you could check out:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/show-history-top-sites-button/

Now that you've mentioned it, clicking on the address bar and pressing the down arrow on my keyboard does work. But I should say that using the dropdown button was far quicker and more convenient. I guess I'll try out your add-on then.

If you do decide to use the add-on, let me know of any improvements you'd like to see.

So after another update openViewOnFocus seems to have been removed completely. And now when I click on the address bar when it's empty I get nothing at all. Is there a way to restore the old dropdown menu with frequently visited urls from history? At this point I don't really care about a button anymore, I just want to be able to click on my address bar and get the dropdown menu.

Hi PeaceLoveBananas, in Firefox 78 there is a new preference with a checkbox on the Preferences page, in the section where you tell Firefox whether to show Bookmark, History, and Open Tab matches (this one is labeled "Top Sites"). Did that get unchecked? (Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox)

Having that checked (set to true) will auto-open the list when the cursor enters the bar. If auto-opening is disabled, then pressing the spacebar will drop the list.

I realized this thread is incomplete and I may need to test the beta to confirm something.

When you have the default behavior of the list dropping down automatically when you click anywhere in the address bar, it normally shows the first 8 Top Sites from the Firefox Home / new tab page.

You can curate that list directly on the new tab page, removing, adding, pinning, unpinning, rearranging, etc. This article has the steps: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

In Firefox 75-77, you could switch the automatic list to the classic frequently visited URLs list by turning off the Top Sites section of the new tab page to signal to Firefox to make the switch. See: Customize your New Tab page to hide or display content. However, that doesn't work in Firefox Nightly (future Firefox 79) so now I'm not sure about Firefox 78 beta.

I've checked the "Top Sites" preference and the dropdown list now shows me the pinned sites from my new tab page. But that's not what I'm looking for, unfortunately. I want it to show me the old frequently visited urls list.

I've tried your add-on and it's good (gave it 5 stars). But I still would love to be able to get the list by clicking on the address bar :(

Ok, so clicking on the address bar and pressing spacebar opens the old frequently visited urls list. Not really the solution I was looking for but still something.

I've checked the "Top Sites" preference and the dropdown list now shows me the pinned sites from my new tab page. But that's not what I'm looking for, unfortunately. I want it to show me the old frequently visited urls list.

Yes, for some reason, although frequently visited URLs feed into the Top Sites list on the New Tab page, the order isn't the same as the "spacebar" list. There is some secret sauce to the order of that list.

By the way, Firefox 79 will allow more than 8 Top Sites on the automatic list, so at least there is progress on that front.