Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars

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Firefox's toolbars provide easy access to common features. This article explains how you can customize those toolbars to make Firefox work the way you do.

How do I show and hide the different toolbars?

It's your browser — most toolbars can be shown or hidden depending on your needs:

  1. To show or hide a toolbar, Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Menu Bar and check or uncheck it in the pop-up menu.
  • Menu Bar: This is the top toolbar that contains the browser menus (File, Edit, Help, etc.).

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  1. To show or hide a toolbar, Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Tab Strip and check or uncheck it in the pop-up menu.
  • Menu Bar: This is the top toolbar that contains the browser menus (File, Edit, Help, etc.). On Windows Vista and 7, the menu bar is hidden by default and its features are contained in the Firefox button. If the Menu Bar is hidden, you can temporarily show it by pressing the Alt key.
  • Menu Bar: This is the top toolbar that contains the browser menus (File, Edit, Help, etc.). Hiding the Menu Bar will make the Firefox button appear which contains a simplified menu.
  • Tab Strip: This is where your tabs are displayed — it can't be hidden. By default, the Tab Strip is above the Navigation Toolbar. If you want it below, Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Tab Strip and uncheck Tabs on Top. For more information, see How to make the new Firefox look like the old Firefox
  • Navigation Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains website navigation buttons, the Location Bar, the Search Bar, the Home button and the Bookmarks button.
  • Bookmarks Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder bookmarks (for more info see, Bookmarks Toolbar - Display your favorite websites at the top of the Firefox window). On new installations of Firefox, the Bookmarks Toolbar is hidden by default.
  • Add-on Bar: This toolbar is located at the bottom of the Firefox window and contains buttons associated with your extensions (if they are made available by the add-on developer). See The Add-on Bar gives you quick access to add-on features for more information.

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How do I customize or rearrange toolbar items?

You can easily add, remove and rearrange items in Firefox's toolbars.

  1. Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Tab Strip, select Customize...Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Menu BarNavigation Toolbar, select Customize... and the Customize Toolbar window will open.
  2. Drag, drop and rearrange items. For an explanation of each item, see Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars.
    • To add an item to a toolbar, drag it from the Customize Toolbar window onto the toolbar where you want it to appear.
    • To remove an item from a toolbar, drag it to the Customize Toolbar window.
    • To move an item in a toolbar, drag it where you want it to appear.
  3. When you are finished making changes, click Done to close the Customize Toolbar window.


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Try it out: Go ahead and experiment with different arrangements for your toolbars. You can always restore the default toolbar settings by clicking the Restore Default Set button in the Customize Toolbar window.

Icon appearance options

At the bottom of the Customize Toolbar window, there are additional options for changing the appearance of the icons in your toolbars:

  • Show: From the Show drop-down menu, you can choose what to display in the toolbars — Icons, Text, or Icons and Text together. By default, Firefox just shows Icons.
  • Use Small Icons: Check this option to make the toolbar smaller.

How can I add extra toolbars?

There's enough space in existing toolbars to add many items. However, if you need more space or you'd like to do something like make a toolbar for a special purpose, you can add a toolbar like this:

  1. Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Tab Strip, select Customize...Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on an empty section of the Menu BarNavigation Toolbar, select Customize... and the Customize Toolbar window will open.
  2. At the bottom of the Customize Toolbar window, click the Add New Toolbar button and the New Toolbar window will open.
  3. In the New Toolbar window, enter a name for your toolbar and click OK to close the window.
  4. Add items to the toolbar as described above. If you don't add items to the toolbar in this step it will not be created.
  5. When you are finished adding items to the toolbar, click Done to close the Customize Toolbar window.

Your new toolbar will appear below the Navigation Toolbar.

Try it out: Go ahead make yourself a new toolbar. You can always remove any extra toolbars by clicking the Restore Default Set button in the Customize Toolbar window.

I'm having problems with toolbars disappearing or resetting

For help troubleshooting problems with toolbars, see these articles: