[Tip] Enable Opera Style “Tab Manager Menu” in Mozilla Firefox Tab Bar

This tutorial will help you in activating and enabling a hidden secret “Tab Manager” or “Tab Menu” feature in Mozilla Firefox web browser which can be used to see a drop-down list of all running tabs in Firefox window.

This feature exists in Opera web browser since long time and now Mozilla developer team has decided to bring it to Firefox browser.

This feature is not enabled by default and interested users can enable it by turning on a preference/flag using the advanced configuration “about:config” page. This feature can be activated in Firefox newer versions only. We told you about this trick in UPDATE 140 in our exclusive Firefox Nightly Updates topic when Firefox 73.0 version was under development and testing.

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PS: Tab Manager Menu exists in Firefox since long time but the drop-down arrow icon appears only when there are lots of tabs opened in Firefox window and there is less space available on tab bar to display all opened tabs. This new tweak forces Firefox to always show Tab Manager Menu in tab bar even if a single or very few tabs are opened in Firefox window.

Following screenshot shows the new Tab Manager menu live in action in Mozilla Firefox web browser:

Tab_Manager_Menu_Drop_Down_List_Mozilla_Firefox_Tab_Bar.png

You can see a new drop-down arrow icon or button added to the main tab bar. When we click on the drop-down arrow, it displays a list of all opened tabs in Firefox window. You can select or click on any tab entry to immediately switch to that tab. You can also search within tabs or re-open closed tabs.

If you also want to activate and enable this new feature in Mozilla Firefox, 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 tabmanager in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

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browser.tabs.tabmanager.enabled

The preference value is set to false by default, which means the Tab Manager feature is disabled and not displayed in Firefox.

3. To activate and enable Tab Manager Menu, double-click on browser.tabs.tabmanager.enabled preference and set it to true. Alternatively, you can click on the Toggle icon given next to the preference name.

Enable_Tab_Manager_Menu_Mozilla_Firefox_Tab_Bar.png

You’ll 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 now you’ll see new Tab Manager menu added to titlebar or tab bar.

PS: If you decide to remove the Tab Manager Menu in future, reset the value of above mentioned preference to False.

Also Check:

[Firefox Tip] Disable Tabs Drag-n-Drop Feature to Move to New Window

[Tip] Enable New Redesigned Address bar “Megabar” in Mozilla Firefox

New Working Method to Remove “What’s New” Gift Icon from Firefox Toolbar

[Firefox Tip] Restore Green Padlock Icon for Secure HTTPS Websites in Address bar

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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