Firefox users, we’ve got tips for you. The Mozilla team has gathered some of our favorite tricks to help you get the most out of your browser – from customizing the look of Firefox and managing tabs, to watching videos on the sly and staying cozy while gaming. Let’s dive in.

For the cozy gamer

Our senior web UX designer, Elise, loves a cozy game. She finds player guides on her desktop during the day and accesses them on her phone at night through Firefox tab syncing. That way, she doesn’t have to leave her late-night gaming cocoon. 

Read more: Firefox tips and tricks for gamers

For the creative

Being a content creator is fun but demanding. For Steve, Mozilla’s video lead, Firefox features like the eyedropper tool, the built-in PDF editor and picture-in-picture come in handy.

Read more: Firefox tips and tricks for creatives

For the online shopper

Fakespot social producer Hannah is an eBay hawk, a casual Amazon browser and a Sephora VIB insider. Her tips, of course, include avoiding unreliable product reviews with Fakespot. She shares other tricks like how to discreetly shop for gifts online and finding deals without manually searching for coupon codes.

Read more: Firefox tips and tricks for online shopping

For the minimalist

As Mozilla’s blog editor, I do a lot of reading and research, so a minimal browser helps me stay focused. I have a step-by-step guide to turn Firefox into a distraction-free workspace.

Read more: Transform Firefox into the ultimate minimalist browser

For the tab maximalist

Tyler, a global product marketing manager at Mozilla, may not keep 7,000 tabs open. But you can find her with 50+ tabs open across multiple Firefox windows on any given day. From closing duplicate tabs to searching for that one tab you lost in the haystack, here’s her list of tricks to manage tabs.  

Read more: Top 5 Firefox features for tab maximalists

For the newshound

It’s Alex’s job as recommendations editor to find great content for users across Mozilla’s products. He uses Pocket to save and organize articles, plus a number of extensions to stay productive. Alex’s background in journalism also makes him particularly keen on Mozilla’s commitment to security and privacy in making products, including Firefox. 

Read more: Firefox tips and tricks for journalists

For the college student

As a master’s student, Gian has spent too much time searching online for free PDF editors – giving out his email address or downloading dubious software so that he can annotate lecture notes, complete projects and more. Enter Firefox’s built-in PDF editor.

Read more: Streamline your schoolwork with Firefox’s PDF editor

There are endless ways to make Firefox your own, however you choose to navigate the internet. We want to know how you customize Firefox. Let us know and tag us on X or Instagram at @Firefox.

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Fill out applications and forms effortlessly

Remember those days when you had to print a form, fill it out and then scan it back into your computer? I know, tedious. With Firefox’s PDF editor, you can fill in forms online directly from your browser. Just open the PDF in Firefox on your smartphone or computer, click the “text” button, and you’re all set to type away. It’s a gamechanger for all those scholarship applications and administrative forms, or even adult-life documents we consistently have to fill. 

Highlight and annotate lecture slides for efficient note-taking

I used to print my professors’ lecture slides and study materials just to add notes. Now, I keep my annotations within the browser – highlighting key points and adding notes. You can even choose your text size and color. This capability not only enhances my note-taking, it saves some trees too. No more losing 50-page printed slides around campus. 

Sign documents electronically without hassle

Signing a PDF document was the single biggest dread I had as a millennial, a simple task made difficult. I used to have to search “free PDF editor” online, giving my personal information to make an account in order to use free software. Firefox makes it simple. Here’s how: Click the draw icon, select your preferred color and thickness, and draw directly on the document. Signing documents electronically finally feels like a 21st century achievement. 

Easily insert and customize images in your PDFs

Sometimes, adding an image to your PDF is necessary, whether it’s a graph for a report or a picture for a project. Firefox lets you upload and adjust images right within the PDF. You can even add alternative text or alt-text to make your documents more accessible, ensuring everyone in your group can understand your work.

There are endless ways to make Firefox your own, however you choose to navigate the internet. We want to know how you customize Firefox. Let us know and tag us on X or Instagram at @Firefox.

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The post Streamline your schoolwork with Firefox’s PDF editor appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Picture-in-Picture allows a video to be played in a separate, small window, and still be viewable when you switch tabs or away from the Firefox browser.

To use it on videos longer than 45 seconds, hover your mouse over to see a small Picture-in-Picture button. Click the button to pop open a floating window so you can keep watching while working in other tabs.

You can also right-click on a video and select “Watch in Picture-in-Picture.” (This will work on shorter videos like the one below.)

Move the video around your screen and drag the corner to shrink or enlarge it. If you need to mute it, just tap the speaker icon on the right.

Check it out. Just don’t blame us if you end up with a gold for procrastination instead of getting that monthly report done.

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The post Picture-in-Picture lets you watch videos while ‘working’ appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

I am a tab maximalist. On any given day, you can find me with 50+ tabs open across multiple windows on Firefox. Having this many tabs open can seem chaotic, but rest assured there is a method to the madness.

As a global product marketing manager at Mozilla, a large part of my job is to think critically about various inputs, synthesize and pass information from one team to another. Unsurprisingly, one of my guilty pleasures is being the first to provide a resource when in group conversation (e.g. a link to an insight or framework). These are not just any links. These are links to tabs that have been open for weeks… months … that I can recite like the alphabet.

Now, I may not keep 7,000 tabs open, but I do know five features that can help you manage yours… however many your heart desires.

1. Pinned Tabs

Pinned Tabs are my go-to for keeping essential tabs easily accessible. By pinning tabs, they stay in a fixed position on the left side of the tab bar, saving space and preventing accidental closure. I pin my active work and resources like documents in development, recent insights or my favorite playlist. Unlike bookmarks, which are great for long-term link storage, I use pinned tabs for resources I need to access frequently throughout the day but don’t need to hold onto for longer than a month or two. They also offer reduced page load times since they are technically still open in the tab bar and less likely to be unloaded  when your memory is low. 

To try it out, just right click on the tab you want to pin, and choose “Pin Tab” from the menu.

2. Search tabs

Having several pinned tabs can also become overwhelming. That’s when the search tabs feature becomes a lifesaver. When I need to find a specific tab among the dozens I have open, I can search for any open tab by typing a keyword into the address bar. This feature saves me from endlessly navigating tabs and quickly locating the exact information I need, ensuring I stay efficient and productive.

Click the “List all tabs” button in the tab bar, then choose “Search Tabs” from the menu.

3. Pocket integration

If you are a tab maximalist, you probably need a place to get away from the noise. Pocket is a great escape, like your own personal library. Luckily, Pocket is integrated directly into Firefox, allowing me to save articles, videos, and web pages for later. When I need to take a beat from work, this is the perfect place to catch up on my favorite topics – which currently includes House of Dragons fan theory and recaps. This doesn’t fit easily into my workday though, so it is great to revisit later when I have the time to dive into the rabbit hole.

Hit the “Save to Pocket” button in the toolbar.

4. Close duplicate tabs

Close duplicate tabs is exactly as it sounds, a handy feature that can detect and close duplicate tabs with a simple right click. As of Firefox 127, this feature is directly integrated into the browser for greater ease of use. With this feature, I avoid the clutter and confusion of having multiple tabs open for the same webpage. It’s a small but powerful tool that keeps my browser organized and streamlined. It is no wonder why this was a top requested feature from our community. For those moments when my tab habits become unwieldy, this feature is a real lifesaver.

To try it out, just right click on the tab you want to pin, and choose “Close Duplicate Tabs.”

5. Multi-Account Containers 

If you have interests you want to keep private, Multi-Account Containers are for you. They allow you to separate different browsing activities into different containers, enhancing privacy and organization. Click here for a quick tutorial on using Multi-Account Containers.

For a tab maximalist, this is a game-changer. With Multi-Account Containers, you can keep your tabs organized by context, making it easier to find what you need without the clutter of unrelated tabs.

With these features, I hope you explore your greatest curiosities and become the most efficient version of yourself. Never lose a link again. Be a maximalist with Firefox.

There are endless ways to make Firefox your own, whether you’re a tab maximalist, a minimalist or however you choose to navigate the internet. We want to know how you customize Firefox. Let us know and tag us on X or Instagram at @Firefox. 

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The post Top 5 Firefox features for tab maximalists appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

At Mozilla, we work hard to make Firefox the best browser for you. That’s why we’re always focused on building a browser that empowers you to choose your own path, that gives you the freedom to explore without worry or compromises. We’re excited to share more about the updates and improvements we have in store for you over the next year.

Bringing you the features you’ve been asking for

We’ve been listening to your feedback, and we’re prioritizing the features you want most.

• Productivity boosters like
  • Tab Grouping, Vertical Tabs, and our handy Sidebar will help you stay organized no matter how many tabs you have open — whether it’s 7 or 7,500. 
  • Plus, our new Profile Management system will help keep your school, work, and personal browsing separate but easily accessible. 
• Customizable new tab wallpapers that will let you choose from a diverse range of photography, colors, and abstract images that suits you most. 
• Intuitive privacy settings that deliver all the power of our world-class anti-tracking technologies in a simplified, easy-to-understand way.
• More streamlined menus that reduce visual clutter and prioritize top user actions so you can get to the important things quicker.

Continuous work on speed, performance and compatibility

Speed is everything when you’re online, so we’re continuing to work hard to make Firefox as fast and efficient as possible. You can expect even faster, smoother browsing on Firefox, thanks to quicker page loads and startup times – all while saving more of your phone’s battery life. We’ve already improved responsiveness by 20 percent as measured by Speedometer 3, a collaboration we’ve spearheaded with other leading tech companies. And in that collaborative spirit, we’re also working with the Interop project to make it easy for people to build sites that work great across all browsers. We value your support in our efforts to improve cross-browser compatibility which is why we’ve added new features to easily report when websites aren’t working quite right; this feedback is critical as we look to address even small functionality issues that affect your day-to-day online experience.

Making the most of your time online — without sacrifice

Ensuring your privacy is core to everything we do at Firefox. Unlike other companies, who ask you to exchange your data in order to do even basic, everyday things online — you don’t have to give up your personal information to get a faster, more efficient browser experience with Firefox. Reading a news story in a different language or signing a form for school or work shouldn’t require you to give up your privacy. So, we’ve worked hard to make things like translation and PDF editing in Firefox happen locally on your device, so you don’t have to ship off your personal data to a server farm for a company to use it how they see fit — to keep tabs on you, sell your information to the highest bidder, or train their AI. With Firefox, you have a lot of choice — but you don’t have to choose between utility and privacy. Your data is secure, and most importantly, just yours.

We are approaching the use of AI in Firefox — which many, many of you have been asking about — in the same way. We’re focused on giving you AI features that solve tangible problems, respect your privacy, and give you real choice.

We’re looking at how we can use local, on-device AI models — i.e., more private — to enhance your browsing experience further. One feature we’re starting with next quarter is AI-generated alt-text for images inserted into PDFs, which makes it more accessible to visually impaired users and people with learning disabilities.

Join us on this journey

Our progress is driven by a vibrant community of users and developers like you. We encourage you to contribute to our open-source projects and to engage with us on Mozilla Connect or Discourse, and check out our recent AMA on Reddit. Your participation is crucial in shaping what Firefox becomes next.

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Fast forward to today and that’s… basically what I do as a recommendations editor for Mozilla. It’s my job to think hard about what makes great content and how we should deliver it to users across all our products, including Firefox. I’m particularly passionate about amplifying incredible, impactful journalism, because I’ve also been a working journalist (and not, alas, a chemist). Before joining Mozilla, I was a senior editor at The Week magazine and a reporter for American City Business Journals, but Firefox has always been an indispensable part of my life as a reporter and editor. Here’s why. 

Pocket

Pocket has been part of my workflow for so long, I don’t really know what I’d do without it. I’ve used it to research countless articles over the years. The Firefox extension makes it outrageously easy to save just about anything you see on the internet to your personal library. And if you’re a tags sicko, you can really go to town. Whenever you save an article, just give it a tag. I created my own tagging system for story ideas, research for articles in progress, great work from other writers I admire, and recipes, because you know, reporters also have to eat. 

Tab management

If it’s your job to be extremely online, you probably have strong opinions about tabs and tab management. I love Pinned Tabs for keeping tabs (sorry) on the ones that really matter. Also, you can’t close them accidentally when it’s time to declare tab bankruptcy (the OneTab extension is great for wiping the slate clean). Firefox’s Browser Sync also makes it easy to send tabs from one device to another, so you don’t lose your place on whatever you’re working on when it’s time to switch from desktop to smartphone or tablet. 

Extensions

Pocket and OneTab aren’t the only extensions worth calling out. Firefox has a huge library of add-ons. I’m partial to productivity extensions. A thing I love about journalists is that we’re interested in everything, unfortunately that also makes us highly distractible. I use a Pomodoro timer built into my browser for breaking up my work into manageable chunks and staying on task. Nobody likes the sound of a deadline whooshing past. 

Privacy and the Mozilla Manifesto

I think all reporters know the value of confidentiality and transparency. I’ve always liked that Firefox takes privacy seriously and isn’t hoovering up my browsing data to sell to the highest bidder and works overtime to protect users from predatory tracking practices by bad actors. This next thing isn’t a feature so much, but at a time when newspaper firms are being gobbled up and gutted by unscrupulous hedge funds and when other platforms are pivoting away from promoting journalism, it’s nice to know that Mozilla doesn’t work like the rest of big tech. We don’t work for shareholders, we work for users. Firefox is first and foremost a really, really good browser, but I also sleep better at night knowing that we’re trying to build a healthier internet, and journalism can’t thrive without that. 

There are endless ways to make Firefox your own, whether you’re a journalist, a creative, a gamer, a minimalist, a shopper or however you choose to navigate the internet. We want to know how you customize Firefox. Let us know and tag us on X or Instagram at @Firefox. 

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The post Firefox tips and tricks for journalists appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Recently, we shared our 2024 priorities for Firefox on Mozilla Connect, our dedicated space for engaging our community. It’s where we exchange ideas, gather feedback and spark discussions to shape future product releases. Eager to reach more of the community, the Firefox team hosted a two hour Ask Me Anything on Reddit.

The AMA had a great turnout of Firefox supporters keen to discuss topics like videos for new releases, performance enhancements and feature suggestions like automatic tab discarding. Here are some highlights: 

User interface and productivity enhancements 

Our community is enthusiastic about several upcoming features designed to improve productivity and customization. Our Tab Groups team is hard at work creating a better experience for people who need to manage many tabs. Additionally, we are also exploring modernizing a place where you’ll have access to better tools for viewing your browser history and bookmarks and providing a better interface for organizing tabs and windows across devices.

Performance and compatibility improvements 

Speed and efficiency remain top priorities. For Android users, enhancements focus on improving performance, battery life and adding new features. Site isolation (Fission) is also in progress for Android to boost security.

Media and accessibility features 

To enhance media playback, we’re exploring a contributor patch — a piece of code submitted by an external developer — for Picture-in-Picture (PiP) autoplay, a feature that allows video content to play in a small, resizable window that stays on top of other windows, which will automatically open a Picture-in-Picture window when navigating away from a media tab. On the accessibility front, we’re expanding our translation feature to include more languages, with new packages and support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in our pipeline.

We want to hear from you 

This was our first AMA in a while, and we’re interested in what you think. Did you find the AMA helpful? Was there anything we missed? How often should we host these sessions? Let us know by filling out this survey. If you missed the AMA, you can still check it out here.

These insights and feedback from our community are instrumental in guiding our efforts to make Firefox the best browser experience possible. Stay tuned for more on our next AMA as well as updated. Join us on Mozilla Connect to keep the conversation going!

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The post Engaging with our Firefox community: Highlights from our recent AMA  appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Firefox has privacy at its core, making it a great choice for those who want to minimize online tracking. It’s also easy to customize and make your own. 

Personally, as someone who does a lot of reading and research as Mozilla’s blog editor, a minimal browser helps me stay focused. Here’s how I configured Firefox into a distraction-free workspace.

Step 1: A clean slate every time you open Firefox or a new tab

• Click the cog icon in the right corner.
• Switch off the toggle buttons.
• Click “Manage more settings.” 
• For both “Homepage and new windows” and “New tabs,” select “Blank page.”
• Under Firefox Home Content, uncheck all the boxes.

Step 2: Customize the toolbar

• On the menu, go to View > Toolbars > Customize Toolbar… 
• Drag icons from the toolbar into the overflow menu.
• In the bottom left corner, uncheck the Title Bar box.
• Click Manage themes and enable the minimal theme of your choice (I picked the Light Theme).
• On the menu, go to View > Toolbars > Bookmarks Toolbar > Never Show.

Step 3: Learn these shortcuts

If you choose to hide your bookmarks and the icons for new tab, new windows and reload for a cleaner toolbar, you can still use those functions through keyboard shortcuts:

• New window: command + N
• New tab: command + T 
• Reload: command + R
• Show and hide bookmarks: Command + shift + B

Step 4: Declutter web pages with Reader View

If Reader View is available for a page, you’ll see the Reader View icon in the address bar. Clicking it will remove videos, background images and other extra elements on web pages.

There are endless ways to make Firefox your own, whether you’re a minimalist, a gamer, a creative, a shopper or however you choose to navigate the internet. We want to know how you customize Firefox. Let us know and tag us on X or Instagram at @Firefox. 

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The post Transform Firefox into the ultimate minimalist browser appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Our commitment to these principles guides us as we begin small-scale tests of our first generative AI features in Firefox Nightly. Grounded in Mozilla’s years of research and advocacy for building trustworthy AI, our approach has been intentional and methodical. 

Earlier this month, we announced a pioneering AI-powered accessibility feature: local alt-text generation for images within PDFs. By generating alt-text locally on your device, Firefox ensures your data remains private. As we develop it further and learn from the deployment, our goal is to enable users with screen readers to better understand images that would otherwise be inaccessible. We will continue to invest in local models that enhance user experience without compromising privacy. 

Whether it’s a local or a cloud-based model, if you want to use AI, we think you should have the freedom to use (or not use) the tools that best suit your needs. With that in mind, this week, we will launch an opt-in experiment offering access to preferred AI services in Nightly for improved productivity as you browse. Instead of juggling between tabs or apps for assistance, those who have opted-in will have the option to access their preferred AI service from the Firefox sidebar to summarize information, simplify language, or test their knowledge, all without leaving their current web page. 

Our initial offering will include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, HuggingChat, and Le Chat Mistral, but we will continue adding AI services that meet our standards for quality and user experience.

Providing choice in AI services is important for many reasons. First, you should be able to choose the service that works best for you, and not be locked into a single provider. Second, all of these models are still being developed and improved. None are perfect, and each has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Offering options gives people an opportunity to experiment with many services to find the one that’s most helpful in solving the problem they have. AI is an ingredient that can make your experience better; it doesn’t need to replace the tools you already know and love. 

While testing various services, we’ll also look for ways to improve the market overall. We’ll call out practices we want to improve, from copyright to consent to privacy, and give Firefox users the information they need to make informed decisions about the AI tools they choose to use.  

At Firefox, we strive to create a better internet for all and empower you to choose what that means for yourself. In everything we do — from challenging the status quo by pushing the industry toward better privacy practices, to creating better performance benchmarks across all browsers and prioritizing user experience — we aim to shape a future of browsing that helps you choose a better, more personal and meaningful internet.

Thank you for being part of this exciting journey.

Ian Carmichael, SVP of Firefox

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The post Choose how you want to navigate the web with Firefox appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Working at Mozilla has taken my shopping habits to new heights. I feel armed with information and shortcuts and have a world of add ons at my fingertips. Keep reading for more on Fakespot and other hacks to shop smarter on Firefox. 

Fakespot

Download Fakespot’s add on to find out if product reviews are reliable. Let Fakespot’s AI technology sort through hundreds and thousands of reviews and detect unreliable reviews and potential scammers. Fakespot is available on all my favorite retailers — Amazon, eBay, Sephora,Best Buy, Home Depot, and more. If you’re shopping on Amazon, don’t forget to sort products by review reliability — or cut through the clutter altogether and hide products with potential fake reviews. Don’t sleep on Fakespot’s technology to detect the reliability of reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp as well. 

Three easy ways to use Fakespot today: 

1. Download Fakespot on desktop and let it get to work. 
2. Go to fakespot.com and copy and paste your product into the Fakespot analyzer. 
3. Download the Fakespot app on your mobile device and start securely shopping . 

Use AI to detect fake reviews and scams

Add to Firefox

Shopping extensions

Add your favorite shopping extension for deals and savings. There are nearly 2,000 shopping extensions available, offering cash back and finding any not-so-obvious savings across a variety of sites. They’re perfect for anyone looking to stretch their budget without the hassle of manually searching for coupon codes. (As always the case with third-party software, make sure you trust the developer before installing.)

Credit card autofill

For those moments when you’re shopping from bed and you’re too exhausted to get up and grab your wallet from across the room (just me?) — Firefox lets you automatically fill in your saved information for payment methods. Don’t worry, your CVV number is not saved so keep that safe in your mind. Follow the steps here to use this feature.

Private browsing mode

Looking for gifts? Firefox’s private browsing mode with enhanced tracking protection has you covered. It erases your browsing history and any tracking cookies from websites once you close the window, so your gift ideas stay hidden from those you’re shopping for. 

There are endless ways to make Firefox your own, whether you’re a shopper, a gamer, a creative, a minimalist, a (tab) maximalist or however you choose to navigate the internet. We want to know how you customize Firefox. Let us know and tag us on X or Instagram at @Firefox. 

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The post Firefox tips and tricks for online shopping appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.