[Tip] Enable Fully Automatic and Silent Download Feature in Firefox

If you want to have a silent and fully automatic download experience in Mozilla Firefox browser where you click on a download link and Firefox starts downloading the file without interrupting you and showing any Download panel flyout in toolbar, this article will help you.

In newer versions of Mozilla Firefox web browser, when you click on a download link present on a website, Firefox starts downloading the file without asking for confirmation. But to notify the user about the download process, Firefox automatically opens the Download panel flyout present on its toolbar as shown in following screenshot:

If you don’t like this feature and want to disable the automatic Download flyout opening upon downloading a file, you can turn off this behavior by modifying a hidden secret preference/flag.

Once you modify the preference mentioned in below steps, Firefox will no longer open Download panel flyout and keep downloading the file without any interruption.

This tip will be useful for advanced users who know which file they are trying to download and don’t want to receive download notifications.

Following steps will help you in enabling the fully automatic or silent download experience in Firefox web browser:

1. Open 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 OpenPanel in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

The preference value is set to true by default, which means Firefox will show the download panel flyout as soon as you start downloading a file.

3. To force Firefox to NOT open download panel flyout automatically, double-click on browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel preference and set it to false. Alternatively, you can click on the Toggle icon given next to the preference name.

That’s it. Now try to download a file in Firefox browser and you’ll get a complete silent experience. No more automatic download panel opening in Firefox.

PS: To restore default settings and enable automatic download panel flyout again in Firefox, set the above mentioned preference to true.

BONUS TIP:

If you want to restore classic download confirmation prompt back in Firefox, following article will help you:

[Tip] Restore Classic Download Confirmation Prompt in Mozilla Firefox