Summary

Tabbed browsing in Mozilla Firefox lets you load web pages in a separate area of the same window called a "tab". Opening web pages in tabs instead of a completely separate window allows you to switch between them quickly and easily. In this article, we will discuss the basic tips and tricks associated with Firefox tabs.

Tips and Tricks

1. Open a new blank tab: To open a new blank tab, click File menu and select New Tab. If you prefer to use keyboard shortcuts, hold the CTRL key, press T once and release the CTRL key.

2. Open a link in a new tab: To open a link in a new tab, simply right-click the link and choose Open Link in New Tab. The other way to open a link in a new tab is to hold CTRL key when you click on it.

3. Switch to new tabs immediately: To enable Firefox to immediately switch to the new tab, click Tools -> Options and under the Tabs tab, place a checkmark in front of When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately and click OK. To disable immediate switching to new tabs, just make sure this option is unchecked.

4. 
   Close tabs: To close a tab, simply click the close button (X) on the tab. You can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + W to close the current tab. If you want to close all but the current tab, right-click on the current tab and click Close Other Tabs from the context menu.

5. Re-open a tab: If you accidentally closed a tab and want to re-open it, open History menu, place your mouse pointer over Recently Closed Tabs and from the menu that appears, click the tab name you want to reopen. To open the last closed tab using the keyboard, hold CTRL and SHIFT keys together, press T once and then, release CTRL and SHIFT keys.

6. Cycle between tabs: Easily cycle between all of the open tabs using the keyboard shortcuts CTRL + TAB and CTRL + SHIFT + TAB. From the current tab, go to the next tab by holding down the CTRL key, pressing TAB key once and then, releasing the CTRL key. To go back to the previous tab, hold down CTRL and SHIFT keys together, press TAB key once and then, release CTRL and SHIFT keys.

7. Set as startup page: To set a tab as your browser's startup page, drag and drop that tab on top of the Home icon in the toolbar. Firefox will display a confirmation dialog, click YES and your startup page be set up to the tab you dragged.

8. 
   Bookmark 'em all: If you have a set of tabs currently open that you want to bookmark in one go, do one of the following:
   • Hold CTRL and SHIFT keys together, press D once and then, release CTRL and SHIFT keys.
   • Click Bookmarks menu and select Bookmark All Tabs. Firefox will prompt for the name of the new folder in which all of these bookmarks will be saved. Type the name and click Add Bookmarks. This trick is very useful if you have a lot of tabs open and you don't want to waste your time bookmarking them individually.
     

9. Tabbed set of home pages: You can define a set of tabs as your home page. Load the pages in separate tabs in your browser window, and bookmark them all as described in Bookmark 'em all. Click Tools -> Options and under the General tab, click Use Bookmark. Choose the bookmark folder you've just created and click OK. Make sure you've the Show my home page option selected and click OK again.

10. Tab Previews: Tab previews feature is introduced with Firefox version 3.6. To enable tab previews:

    • Open a new tab and in the address bar, type about:config and press ENTER key.
    • Firefox may display a message at this stage warning you that you are about to change advanced settings. Click I'll be careful, I promise!.
    • Now, in front of Filter:, type browser.allTabs.previews. Firefox will find and display this setting in the list below.
    • If the value is set to false, right-click the setting and click Toggle to change it to true.
    • Repeat the same process but this time type browser.ctrlTab.previews and make sure its set to true too.
    • Restart Firefox.

After restarting, Firefox will add a new button to the right side of the area where tabs are displayed. When clicked, this button displays a translucent window containing the thumbnail previews of all of the open tabs. Clicking on any thumbnail will make the associated tab active.

The other setting, browser.ctrlTab.previews, enables Firefox to display tab thumbnail previews and quickly flip through them using CTRL + TAB key.

Keyboard Shortcuts Discussed

1. CTRL + T — To open a new tab
2. CTRL + click on a link — To open the link in a new tab
3. CTRL + W — To close the current tab
4. CTRL + SHIFT + T — To re-open the last closed tab
5. CTRL + TAB — To go to the next tab
6. CTRL + SHIFT + TAB — To go to the previous tab
7. CTRL + SHIFT + D — To bookmark all tabs