Cheatsheets:Firefox
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Quick reference for smart people — part of our dev cheatsheets collection.
Firefox is a free and open-source web browser by the Mozilla Foundation. This cheatsheet covers what most people reach for every day: the address bar, keyboard shortcuts, and the built-in about: pages.
Basic example: the address bar
The address bar is both a URL field and a search box — it guesses what you mean as you type:
| You type | What happens |
|---|---|
wikibase.ronzz.org |
navigates there; the scheme (https://) is filled in for you
|
ronzz wiki |
searches with your default engine; suggestions from history, bookmarks and open tabs drop down as you type |
@wikipedia firefox |
searches Wikipedia directly — @ lets you pick a search engine
|
^ronzz |
only browsing history (^)
|
*ronzz |
only bookmarks (*)
|
%ronzz |
only open tabs (%)
|
#ronzz |
only titles and bookmark tags (#)
|
Press Ctrl+K / Cmd+K first to force the next thing you type to be a search.
Keyboard shortcuts
Tabs and windows
| Action | Windows / Linux | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| New tab | Ctrl+T |
Cmd+T
|
| New window | Ctrl+N |
Cmd+N
|
| New private window | Ctrl+Shift+P |
Cmd+Shift+P
|
| Close tab | Ctrl+W |
Cmd+W
|
| Close window | Ctrl+Shift+W |
Cmd+Shift+W
|
| Reopen closed tab | Ctrl+Shift+T |
Cmd+Shift+T
|
| Next / previous tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab |
Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
|
| Tab 1–8, last tab | Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+8, Ctrl+9 |
Cmd+1 … Cmd+8, Cmd+9
|
Navigation and search
| Action | Windows / Linux | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Address bar | Ctrl+L (also Alt+D) |
Cmd+L
|
| Search the web | Ctrl+K |
Cmd+K
|
| Find in page | Ctrl+F |
Cmd+F
|
| Find next / previous | Ctrl+G / Ctrl+Shift+G |
Cmd+G / Cmd+Shift+G
|
| Reload | Ctrl+R or F5 |
Cmd+R
|
| Hard reload (skip cache) | Ctrl+Shift+R |
Cmd+Shift+R
|
| Stop loading | Esc |
Esc
|
| Back / forward | Alt+← / Alt+→ |
Cmd+[ / Cmd+]
|
| Full screen | F11 |
Ctrl+Cmd+F
|
| Reader view | F9 |
Cmd+Option+R
|
Page actions
| Action | Windows / Linux | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Bookmark this page | Ctrl+D |
Cmd+D
|
| Bookmarks sidebar | Ctrl+B |
Cmd+B
|
| Bookmarks toolbar (show/hide) | Ctrl+Shift+B |
Cmd+Shift+B
|
| Library (bookmarks manager) | Ctrl+Shift+O |
Cmd+Shift+O
|
| History | Ctrl+H |
Cmd+Shift+H
|
| Downloads | Ctrl+J |
Cmd+J
|
| Add-ons manager | Ctrl+Shift+A |
Cmd+Shift+A
|
| Save page as | Ctrl+S |
Cmd+S
|
Ctrl+P |
Cmd+P
| |
| Zoom in / out / reset | Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0 |
Cmd++ / Cmd+- / Cmd+0
|
Developer tools
| Action | Windows / Linux | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Toggle developer tools | F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I |
Cmd+Option+I
|
| Web console | Ctrl+Shift+J |
Cmd+Option+K
|
| Inspect element | Ctrl+Shift+C |
Cmd+Option+C
|
| Page source | Ctrl+U |
Cmd+U
|
| Screenshot the page | Ctrl+Shift+S |
Cmd+Shift+S
|
Mouse shortcuts
- Middle-click a link — opens it in a new tab (in the background).
- Middle-click a tab — closes it.
- Right-click a tab → Pin Tab — collapse it to a small icon; pinned tabs stay after restart.
- Right-click a tab → Mute Tab — silence that tab's audio.
- Drag a tab to reorder it; drag it out of the window to open a separate window.
Syncing user data and configs between devices
See official docs
about: pages
Type these in the address bar like a URL:
| Page | What it is |
|---|---|
about:config |
advanced preference editor (see below) |
about:addons |
extensions and themes |
about:preferences |
settings; jump to a pane with a fragment: #privacy, #search, #sync
|
about:logins |
saved passwords |
about:downloads |
download history |
about:processes |
task manager — CPU and memory per tab and extension (about:performance on older versions)
|
about:support |
troubleshooting info; includes the Refresh Firefox reset button |
about:profiles |
manage profiles (create, launch, rename) |
about:debugging |
debug add-ons, service workers, or Firefox itself |
about:memory |
memory reports |
about:networking |
network connections and diagnostics |
about:sessionrestore |
pick which tabs to restore after a crash |
about:config quick wins
about:config edits preferences by hand — search for a name, then toggle or set a value.
| Preference | What it does |
|---|---|
browser.privatebrowsing.autostart |
true = always start in private mode
|
dom.security.https_only_mode |
true = upgrade every connection to HTTPS
|
browser.urlbar.suggest.searches |
false = stop search-engine suggestions in the address bar
|
browser.tabs.warnOnClose |
false = close a multi-tab window without asking
|
browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser |
false = stop the "make Firefox default" prompt
|
general.useragent.override |
set a custom user-agent string (e.g. to masquerade as another browser) |
Gotcha: changes apply immediately and are not validated — a wrong value can break Firefox. Reset any preference with the ↺ button, and if things go wrong, use Refresh Firefox on
about:support.
Command line
Flags work on all platforms; on Windows the executable is firefox.exe, on macOS run open -a Firefox --args ….
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
firefox -new-window URL |
open URL in a new window |
firefox -new-tab URL |
open URL in a new tab |
firefox -private-window [URL] |
open a private window (URL optional) |
firefox -P "profile" |
start with a specific profile |
firefox -CreateProfile name |
create a new profile |
firefox -ProfileManager |
open the profile picker |
firefox -safe-mode |
start with add-ons and hardware acceleration off (troubleshooting) |
firefox --headless --screenshot out.png URL |
render a page to an image without opening a window |