Firefox

Using Tabbed Browsing

Tabbed browsing enables you to open several web pages in a single Firefox window. Each page appears in a separate tab.

When you start Firefox for the first time, you see a single window with two tabs displayed. Firefox will show the "Welcome to Firefox" page and default start page.

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Setting Up Tabbed Browsing

To set up tabbed browsing, follow these steps:

  1. Click the following menu command: Tools > Options for Mac OS X, or Edit > Preferences on Linux and Windows.
  2. In the Options window, click the Tabs icon.
  3. Under New pages should be opened in, click a new tab.
  4. Check the following options:
    • Always show the tab bar
    • When I open a new tab, switch to it immediately
  5. Click OK.
  • Note: you can always right-click a link and choose "Open Link in New Tab" or "Open Link in New Page" regardless of the above settings.

Opening a New Tab

You can open a new tab using any of the following techniques:

  • Use this menu command: File > New Tab.
  • Press Ctrl+T on Windows and Linux, or CMD+T (⌘+T) on Mac OS X.
  • Double-click an empty space in the Tab Bar.
New tabs will open immediately to the right of the current tab in Firefox 3.6 and later. In earlier versions of Firefox, the tab would be opened to the right of all open tabs.

Opening a Link in a New Tab

To open a link in a new tab, do one of the following:

  • If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, click the wheel while pointing to a link.
  • Drag the link and drop it on an empty space in the Tab Bar.

    Note: If only one web page is open, the Tab Bar may be hidden. See Setting Up Tabbed Browsing above for information on how to turn on the Tab Bar.

  • Drag and drop the link on a tab to open the link in that tab.
  • Right-click the link, then select Open Link in New Tab.
  • To open a link in a new tab from the Location Bar, type the URL, then press Alt+Enter.

Moving Tabs Within a Window

Tabs appear in the order in which you open them. This may not always be what you want.

To move a tab to a different location in the Firefox tab bar, simply drag it there using your mouse. While you are dragging the tab, Firefox displays a small indicator to show where the tab will be moved. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to move tabs within a window.

Moving Tabs Between Windows

You can move tabs between windows or create a new window with a single tab by dragging the tab off the tab bar.  Firefox will create a new window with just that tab.  You can move tabs between windows by dragging tabs from the tab bar in one window to the tab bar to another.  If you drag away the only tab in a window, Firefox will close that window.

Bookmarking a Set of Tabs

To bookmark a set of tabs, do either of the following:

  • Click the following menu command: Bookmarks >Bookmark All Tabs.
  • Press Ctrl+Shift+D.

Opening a Set of Bookmarks in Tabs

To open a set of bookmarks in tabs, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Bookmarks menu, then click a bookmark folder.
  2. In the sub-menu, click Open All in Tabs; or

    If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, click the wheel while pointing to the folder.

Setting Multiple Home Pages as Tabs

Instead of using only one web page as your home page, you can set up a collection of home pages using multiple tabs. 

To set up multiple tabbed  home pages, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to a page that you want to include in your collection of home pages.
  2. Open a new, blank tab, then navigate to another page that you want to include.
  3. Continue opening tabs and navigating to pages until you have set up the entire collection.
  4. Click the following menu command: Tools > Options.
  5. Click the Main icon.
  6. Under Startup, click Use Current Pages.

Now, whenever you start Firefox or click the Home button on the Navigation toolbar, Firefox displays the entire collection of tabbed home pages. 

Closing Tabs

To close a single tab, do any of the following:

  • Click the Close Tab button

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  • Press Ctrl+W.
  • If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, click the wheel while pointing to a tab.
  • Click the following menu command: File > Close Tab.

To close all tabs except the current one, right-clickhold down the Ctrl key while you click the tab, then click Close Other Tabs.

If you close the last tab in a window, FIrefox will close the window.

Restoring Closed Tabs

Firefox tracks the tabs that you have recently closed. To restore one or all closed tabs, follow these steps:

  1. Click the following menu command: History > Recently Closed Tabs.
  2. Do any of the following:
    * Click the name of the tab that you want to re-open.
    * Click Open All in Tabs to restore all of the closed tabs.
    * Press Ctrl+Shift+T to open each tab one by one in reverse order.

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