I have been using Firefox for quite sometime now and still there are features that I haven’t uncovered yet. Quite often I come across a useful feature that I was not aware of. I would like to share those tips as and when I learn about them. Here are a few Firefox tips which can speed up your browsing and make it more enjoyable. Hopefully, there would be at least a couple of tricks that you didn’t know of before.

1. Search sites with Keywords: Go to any site with a search field, right click search box and select ‘Add a keyword for this search…’. The add bookmark box will open. Give it a name and short keyword - ‘DQ’ for Digital Quest, for example.

   

   In future if you want to search Digital Quest for something, say ‘firefox tips’, you can now do so by just typing ‘dq firefox tips’ into the firefox address bar (mind you, not in the search bar).

2. Assign Keywords to Bookmarks: To speed up locating a bookmark, go to Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks…, right click the one you want and select properties. Enter a short text string in the keyword field.

   

   For example if you bookmark Digital Quest and set the keyword as ‘dq’, then to access this site simply type the string, ‘dq’ (without the quotes) into the address bar and hit enter.

3. Navigate Tabs quickly: Press Ctrl+Tab to jump from tab to tab (left to right), or Ctrl+shift+tab (right to left). When you get to the last tab it will jump back to the first one. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl and a number corresponding to the tab you want. For instance, pressing Ctrl+3 will open up the third tab.
4. Type Quicker URLs: Type the name ( not the address) of a site you want to visit in the address bar and press Ctrl+Enter. This will add http://www. before the text and .com after it and automatically load the site. Shift+Enter adds http://www. and .net, and Ctrol+Shift+Enter adds http://www. and .org. If you hold down Alt at the same time it will load the site in a new tab.
5. Quick Word Search: If you want to search for a word or phrase you found on a website, select the text and drag and drop it into the Firefox address bar. Alternatively, you can highlight the phrase, right-click it, and select ‘Search Google for’ (If you have set some other search engine in your search box, the text will vary). If you set the search bar for Amazon or eBay you can use this method to quickly look up products.
6. Multiple Bookmarking: You can bookmark multiple open tabs in a single folder by going to bookmarks, then selecting ‘Bookmark all tabs’. If you save this folder to the bookmarks toolbar, clicking on the link will display all the bookmarks in a drop down list. You can do the same with a folder created from existing bookmarks.
7. Delete Addresses: Sometimes you may want to delete a particular address but would not want to clear the whole history. To do that click on the down arrow in the address bar and you will see a list of recently accessed sites. To remove a particular site from the list, highlight it by moving your mouse cursor over the address and press the Delete key.
8. Get Instant Downloads: Right-click the navigation toolbar (above the address bar) and select customize. This will bring up a box containing icons. Drag and drop the downloads icon to the toolbar. Now whenever you want to download something simply drag the link to the button to begin.
9. Launch multiple homepages: Firefox can be set to open multiple pages (in individual tabs) when it starts up, or if you click the home icon.

   

   Load all the pages you want the browser to open, go to tools/options and select use current pages.

10. Caret Browsing: Press F7 to toggle caret browsing on or off. This places a cursor where you click, letting you select text from a website using your keyboard (Shift+Arrow Keys), similar to how you could select text in a word document.
11. Save Audio and Video clips: If you want to save a picture or a video/audio but can’t because it is protected, right-click the page you are viewing and select ‘View Page Info’ (or Tools>Page Info). Click the media tab, find the file you want and click on ‘Save as’.
12. Quick Google Search: If you type a search query directly into the Firefox address bar (’Digital Quest’ for example) and press enter, firefox will perform an ‘I’m feeling lucky’ search and take you straight to the first page found by Google. This search is performed in Google irrespective of whatever search engine you have chosen for the search box.
13. Viewing Images: You can view a picture from a website on its own by right-clicking it and selecting view image. Hold down Shift key when you do this and the graphic will open in a new window. Hold down Ctrl key (or click the mouse wheel) and it will open ina new tab.
14. Make a Live Bookmark: Firefox makes use of RSS feeds to create live bookmarks, which change dynamically and show the latest links and stories. You can create a live bookmark from any site with an RSS feed by clicking the orange icon that appears in the address bar (if the site provides RSS feeds).
15. Stop Gif Animations: If you are annoyed by some of the gif animations that play endlessly, then just press ‘Esc’ key and the GIF file will stop moving.
16. Open new tabs: There are more than one way to open a new tab in firefox. You can go to file/new tab, press Ctrl-T, Click a link while holding down the Ctrl key or right-click a link and select ‘Open link in new tab’. You could also double-click on an empty space on the tab bar. There is yet another way - you can also drag a link to the tab bar. If the tab bar is full, you can drag the link on to the small down arrow at the end of the tab bar.
17. Find Words and Links:You probably know that pressing the / key brings up the Quick Find box in Firefox (at the bottom left of the page). Enter a word or words into this box and it will search the page as you type. If you press ‘ instead, it will open up the find box but only search for keywords in links.

You can find more posts on Firefox tips and tricks here.

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