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Switch to tab with %: painful keyboard key press/release combination

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Shadow110

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I love the firefox Feature to quickly switch to an opened tab; especially when there are many opened tabs. The method is as follows:

1. Type Ctrl-L to access the address bar

2. Type "% " in the address bar by pressing Shift+5 (on a US keyboard) followed by a space. This restricts the search to only opened tabs (no bookmark and search engine results).

3. Type a query that identifies an opened tab (for instance, "mail" almost always identifies my gmail tab).

4. Use Tab to select the tab of choice, and hit Enter to switch.

This feature is really nice when many opened tabs are opened. However, the key combination that I use to use the feature is really painful. I have to press Ctrl+L, then release Ctrl (otherwise % will not show up), then press Shift+5 to produce a "%", then hit space, then release Shift (otherwise shift kills the switch to open tab feature), then type the query.

This sequence of key presses/releases is very painful for my fingers; it's very hard to touch/type this sequence without making mistakes. I have to explicitly think about the sequence of key presses/releases and using the feature ends up slowing me more than anything.

Am I missing something and is there a better way to use the switch to type feature only using the keyboard?

Is it possible to create a new shortcut that performs steps 1. and 2. above?

I love the firefox Feature to quickly switch to an opened tab; especially when there are many opened tabs. The method is as follows: 1. Type Ctrl-L to access the address bar 2. Type "% " in the address bar by pressing Shift+5 (on a US keyboard) followed by a space. This restricts the search to only opened tabs (no bookmark and search engine results). 3. Type a query that identifies an opened tab (for instance, "mail" almost always identifies my gmail tab). 4. Use Tab to select the tab of choice, and hit Enter to switch. This feature is really nice when many opened tabs are opened. However, the key combination that I use to use the feature is really painful. I have to press Ctrl+L, then release Ctrl (otherwise % will not show up), then press Shift+5 to produce a "%", then hit space, then release Shift (otherwise shift kills the switch to open tab feature), then type the query. This sequence of key presses/releases is very painful for my fingers; it's very hard to touch/type this sequence without making mistakes. I have to explicitly think about the sequence of key presses/releases and using the feature ends up slowing me more than anything. Am I missing something and is there a better way to use the switch to type feature only using the keyboard? Is it possible to create a new shortcut that performs steps 1. and 2. above?

Modified by fkjeowmre

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