[Firefox Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Menu Option to Show Bookmarks Toolbar on New Tab Page Only

SUMMARY: This trick will work in Mozilla Firefox 84.0 and later versions only. Once applied, you’ll be able to customize Bookmarks Toolbar display options. You can set Bookmarks Toolbar to always show, always hide or show on New Tab page only. After applying this tip, you’ll be able to select these options by right-clicking on titlebar or tab bar and then selecting Bookmarks Toolbar menu options as shown in following screenshot:

If you select “Only on New Tab” option, Bookmarks Toolbar will be shown on new tab page only and as soon as you open a web page, Bookmarks Toolbar will disappear automatically.

PS: You can also select these new options using Menu bar. Press ALT key and then go to “View -> Toolbars -> Bookmarks Toolbar” menu in Menu bar.

By default, you can either always show or always hide Bookmarks Toolbar (also known as Favorites bar) in Firefox web browser. You can right-click on titlebar or tab bar and check or uncheck “Bookmarks Toolbar” option to add or remove Bookmarks Toolbar to Firefox UI.

TIP: In newer versions of Firefox (version 84.0 and later), you can use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+B to quickly show/hide (toggle) Bookmarks Toolbar.

Now Mozilla team is working on adding new functio0nality to Bookmarks Toolbar appearance in Firefox. In future Firefox versions, users will be able to set Bookmarks Toolbar to show on New Tab page only.

Fortunately, the functionality is already present in Firefox 84.0 version but at the moment, it’s disabled by default. Interested users need to manually activate and enable it.

Mozilla tam has provided a hidden preference/flag to turn on new Bookmarks Toolbar visibility options. It has been named as 2H2020 Bookmarks design update.

If you also want to try out this new feature right now, following steps will help you:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “Accept the Risk and Continue” button. It’ll open Firefox’s hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

2. Now type 2020 in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

The preference value is set to false by default, which means the new visibility options developed for Bookmarks Toolbar are deactivated and disabled in Firefox.

3. To activate and enable new Bookmarks Toolbar display options, double-click on browser.toolbars.bookmarks.2h2020 preference and set it to true. Alternatively, you can click on the Toggle icon given next to the preference name.

4. You might need to restart Firefox to apply changes. If you have opened multiple tabs and you don’t want to lose them, you can restart Firefox without losing tabs using methods given in following tutorial:

[Tip] How to Restart Mozilla Firefox Without Losing Tabs

That’s it. Restart Firefox browser and right-click on titlebar or tab bar and you’ll see new Bookmarks Toolbar customization menu activated in context menu.

Now you can select Always, Never or Only on New Tab options to show, hide or show bookmarks toolbar on new tab page only, respectively.

BONUS TIP:

When we select Always, Never or Only on New Tab options given in Bookmarks Toolbar menu, it modifies following preference/flag in about:config page:

browser.toolbars.bookmarks.visibility

You can manually change value of this flag to always, never or newtab.

Also Check:

[Tip] Always Show or Hide Bookmarks Toolbar on New Tab Page and Everywhere in Mozilla Firefox

[Firefox Tip] Hide or Remove “Other Bookmarks” Folder from Bookmarks Toolbar

[Tip] Create Bookmark to Direct Open Firefox Library Page in a Tab

[Tip] The Best Working Method to Get Classic Address bar in Mozilla Firefox