The 5 Best Firefox Tips for Beginners
Reading Time: 4 minutesTake your browsing experience to the next level with these beginner-friendly Firefox tips.
Firefox is one of the best and most popular browsers you can use. Whether you use it to get your work done or just like to browse through the web, Firefox offers a lot of features that can improve your browsing experience.
Of course, not all of us know where to begin. If you just started out using Firefox and don’t know all the powerful features you can use, keep reading. Here we’ll show you the best tips to get you started.
1. Get a Warning Message Before Closing All Tabs
Have you ever accidentally closed a browser losing all your open tabs? Not only is it annoying, but it can quickly kill your productivity.
Fortunately, Firefox has a simple trick to avoid these mistakes. You can make your browser ask you to confirm you want to close all your tabs, so you won’t lose any important information. This is how:
- Open Firefox and click the menu button in the top right corner of your screen.
- Select Settings.
- Make sure you select General on the left side menu.
- Under Tabs, click Confirm before quitting with ⌘Q or Confirm before closing multiple tabs. The message you have will depend on the operating system you’re using.
- Once you’re done, you can close the settings page.
If you use a Mac computer, you’ll only get the warning message if you press the Mac keyboard shortcut Command + Q. Meaning that if you close the app by clicking the X button in the top left corner of your screen, you’ll automatically close the app without warning.
On the other hand, Windows users will get a warning message no matter how they close the app. You can use a Windows keyboard shortcut like Alt + F4 or click the X in the top right corner of your screen, and you’ll still receive a warning message.
2. Take a Screenshot
There are many reasons why you should switch to Firefox, including the ability to take screenshots. Firefox lets you take a screenshot of whatever is on your browser in seconds.
Moreover, Firefox lets you take different types of screenshots. For instance, you can capture a specific part of a page or take a screenshot of the full page.
To take a screenshot, you need to right-click on an empty part of a page and then select Take Screenshot. Next, drag or click on any part of a page to select the region you want to take a screenshot of. Alternatively, you can also click Save full Page or Save visible in the top right corner. After you take the screenshot, you’ll be able to see a preview of your screenshot, and you can select to Copy the screenshot or to Download it to save it on your computer.
If you want to take quicker screenshots, you can use the shortcut Command + Shift + S on macOS or Control + Shift + S on Windows.
And, of course, if you don’t like taking screenshots with your browser, you can also use other screen-capturing tools for Firefox.
3. Use Dark Mode
Nowadays, almost every app offers a dark mode, and Firefox is no exception. You can quickly switch between light and dark modes by following these steps:
- Click the menu button in the top right corner of your screen.
- Scroll down and select Settings
- Make sure you click General on the left side menu.
- Scroll down and, under Language and Appearance, select the color you want to use.
You can click on Light, Dark, and Automatic if you want Firefox to match your computer settings. Keep in mind that doing this will change Firefox’s appearance, but it’ll also change the color of any website that supports dark mode. If you do select Automatic, make sure you enable and customize dark mode on Windows 11 too.
4. Customize Your Toolbar and Overflow Menu
What would be the point of using a browser if you can’t customize it however you want? The good news is that Firefox lets you customize your toolbar with just a few clicks. This is what you need to do:
- Click the menu button in the top right corner of your screen.
- Scroll down and select More Tools.
- Select Customize Toolbar.
A new window will open with all the items you can use on your toolbar. To customize it, all you need to do is drag and drop the items to wherever you want. You can also drag any items to your overflow menu—the menu in the top right corner of the browser.
When you finish customizing your toolbar, click Done at the bottom of your screen. And, if you don’t like what your toolbar looks like after the changes, you can click Restore Defaults to go back to the original toolbar.
5. Customize Your Shortcuts
When you open a new tab on Firefox, you’ll see a list of the websites you save or visit right before the search bar. If you want, you can customize these shortcuts and change the title, URL, and even the image.
All you need to do is open a new tab and hover your mouse over the shortcut you want to change. Then, click the three-dot button in the top right corner of the shortcut and select Edit.
You can then change the title and URL or click Use a custom image to change the icon on your shortcut. Once you’re done, click Save.
If you want to see more shortcuts on Firefox, all you need to do is click the menu button and then go to Settings > Home > Shortcuts and click 1 row to show more rows of shortcuts. And if you want to take it one step further, you can click Sponsored shortcuts to disable them.
Master Firefox
These are only some of the best tips to master Firefox on your Mac or Windows computer. Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg; if you want to take your experience to the next level, you can also install some Firefox add-ons to increase your productivity.