Pop-up blocker settings, exceptions and troubleshooting

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  • Revision id: 102784
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  • Creator: AliceWyman
  • Comment: added section on Mozilla surveys - see discussion
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  • Reviewed by: John99
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This document explains all of the settings available in Mozilla Firefox for controlling pop-ups.

What are pop-ups?

Pop-up windows, or pop-ups, are windows that appear automatically without your permission. They vary in size but usually don't cover the whole screen. Some pop-ups open on top of the current Firefox window, while others appear underneath Firefox (pop-unders).

Firefox allows you to control both pop-ups and pop-unders through the Content panel in the Settings window. Pop-up blocking is turned on by default, so you don't have to worry about enabling it to prevent pop-ups from appearing in Firefox.

When blocking a pop-up, Firefox displays an information bar (if it hasn’t been previously dismissed — see below), as well as an icon pop-up-icon-win pop-up-icon-macPopup-blocked.png in the location bar.

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popup-win7Popup mac1Popup lin1

When you click either the Settings button in the info bar or the icon in the location bar, a menu is displayed with the following choices:

  • Allow/Block pop-ups for this site
  • Edit Pop-up Blocker OptionsPreferences
  • Don't show info bar when pop-ups are blockedDon't show this message when pop-ups are blocked
  • (show the blocked pop-up)
Blocking pop-ups may interfere with some websites: Some websites, including some banking sites, use pop-ups for important features. Blocking all pop-ups disables such features. To allow specific websites to use pop-ups, while blocking all others, you can add specific websites to the list of allowed sites.
Blocking pop-ups doesn't always work: Although Firefox blocks most pop-ups, some websites may show pop-ups using uncovered methods, even when blocked.

Pop-up blocker settings

To access the pop-up blocker settings:

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the Content panel.
popup-options-win7Popup mac2Content Popup Win7 Fx23Block popups Mac Fx 23Block popups Linux Fx 23pop-up options 38

In the content panel:

  • Block pop-up windows: Uncheck this to disable the pop-up blocker altogether.
  • Exceptions: This is a list of sites that you want to allow to display pop-ups.
86c0e1094489ddd5611008de57d0afed-1260046952-121-3.pngpopupblocker-exceptions-en-mac.pngPopup lin2Allowpopupsites

The dialog has the following choices:

  • Allow: Click this to add a website to the exceptions list.
  • Remove Site: Click this to remove a website from the exceptions list.
  • Remove All Sites: Click this to remove all of the websites in the exceptions list.
Note: Blocking pop-ups may not always work and may interfere with some websites. For more information, see the What are Pop-ups? section above.

Pop-ups not being blocked

Is the pop-up coming from Firefox?

The pop-up may not actually be coming from Firefox. You can determine where the pop-up is coming from by the appearance of the window.

  • If you see the location bar with the little bookmark star in the pop-up window, the pop-up is coming from Firefox. Another good indication is the Firefox logo or the orange Firefox button on Windows 7 in the top left corner of the windowAnother good indication on Linux is if you see the text "- Mozilla Firefox" at the end of the title bar.
Popup Win3 Popup mac3Popup lin3
Popup2 29 WinPopup2 29 MacPopup2 29 Lin

Is the pop-up blocker on and enabled for this site?

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the Content panel.
  3. Make sure the Block pop-up windows checkbox is checked.
  4. To the right of Block pop-up windows, click the Exceptions... button. A dialog will appear that shows all the sites that are allowed to show pop-ups.
  5. If the site that's opening pop-ups is in the list, select it and press Remove Site.
  6. Click CloseClose the Allowed Sites - Pop-ups window.
  7. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Is the pop-up shown after a mouse click or a key press?

Certain events, such as clicking or pressing a key, can spawn pop-ups regardless of if the pop-up blocker is on. This is so that Firefox doesn't block pop-ups that websites need to work.

Is it a true pop-up window?

Sometimes ads are designed to look like windows, but really aren't. Firefox's pop-up blocker can't stop these ads.

fake-popup-win7Popup mac4

Mozilla surveys

When you visit a Mozilla website, sometimes you'll see a pop-up asking you to participate in a survey. The only third-party that Mozilla ever uses for surveys is SurveyGizmo, which has been vetted by our legal and privacy teams. The Firefox pop-up blocker doesn't block these pop-ups.