[Firefox Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Activity Stream on New Tab Page

In this tutorial, we are going to share a small trick to reveal hidden secret “Activity Stream” feature in Mozilla Firefox web browser which will replace the default new tab page with a brand new page consisting of small thumbnails of top websites and the search box.

Following screenshot shows this hidden secret new tab page containing activity stream live in action:

Activity_Stream_New_Tab_Page_Mozilla_Firefox.png

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This secret new tab page looks very clean and modern. If you click on the small gear “Settings” icon present on the new tab page, it opens a sidebar which allows you to enable/disable the search box, top websites list and top stories from Pocket service on new tab page:

Customize_Activity_Stream_New_Tab_Page_Mozilla_Firefox.png

You can just select/deselect the available checkbox to show/hide the elements on new tab page.

If you hover mouse cursor over a thumbnail, it reveals a 3-dots (…) icon on the top-right side of the thumbnail. When you click on the icon, it shows a few options such as pin, open in a new window, open in a new private window, dismiss and delete from history:

Activity_Stream_New_Tab_Page_Thumbnail_Options_Mozilla_Firefox.png

You can remove any particular website thumbnail from the page by selecting Dismiss option.

If you also want to enable this hidden secret activity stream on new tab page, following steps will help you:

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NOTE: Currently this new tab page can only be activated in Firefox Nightly builds. It’ll be a part of upcoming Photon UI.

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “I accept the risk!” button.

2. Now type newtab in Search filter box and it’ll show some result in the window.

3. Double-click on browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.enabled preference and it’ll change its value to true. Alternatively, you can right-click on the preference and select Toggle option.

Enable_Activity_Stream_New_Tab_Page_Mozilla_Firefox.png

That’s it. Now click on new tab icon or press Ctrl+T keys together to launch new tab page and you’ll get the brand new “new tab” page with activity stream enabled.

PS: Sometimes you may need to open new tab page 2 times to get this new activity stream new tab page.

In future if you want to restore default new tab page, set the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.enabled preference to False again.

Also Check:

[Firefox Tip] Restore Classic New Tab Page in Mozilla Firefox

[Firefox Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Compact New Tab Page

Published in: Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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