Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Download Manager list losing items after 8-9 days

  • 9 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by HughAS

more options

System set-up - Windows 8 (using Classic Shell - desktop looks like Windows XP). Firefox 25.0.1. All-in-One sidebar. Download Manager Tweak. Purchased new computer with Windows 8 installed in August 2013, so no previous version of Windows on computer. Exact problem is that items in the All-in-One sidebar Download Manager list are disappearing from the list when they are 8-10 days old. The items are NOT being removed from the list held in the Download History list at the same time so I can still track my download history which is fortunate. Testing has established that the Download Manager Tweak is not the cause of the problem. Firefox-Tools-Options-Downloads-Download Manager window settings does not stop the problem, whether the items are ticked with long dates and big numbers or unticked. Problem did not exist on my previous computer using Windows 7, but has been happening on new computer since purchase. Disappearance of items happens when All-in-One sidebar is not on display - i.e. Download Manager list is not on show.

System set-up - Windows 8 (using Classic Shell - desktop looks like Windows XP). Firefox 25.0.1. All-in-One sidebar. Download Manager Tweak. Purchased new computer with Windows 8 installed in August 2013, so no previous version of Windows on computer. Exact problem is that items in the All-in-One sidebar Download Manager list are disappearing from the list when they are 8-10 days old. The items are NOT being removed from the list held in the Download History list at the same time so I can still track my download history which is fortunate. Testing has established that the Download Manager Tweak is not the cause of the problem. Firefox-Tools-Options-Downloads-Download Manager window settings does not stop the problem, whether the items are ticked with long dates and big numbers or unticked. Problem did not exist on my previous computer using Windows 7, but has been happening on new computer since purchase. Disappearance of items happens when All-in-One sidebar is not on display - i.e. Download Manager list is not on show.

Chosen solution

Hi Cor-el,

Very many thanks for your response. Sorry about the delay in responding and thanking you. I was scouring around to find which software was 'tidying' up the lists. I think I did find it, but then what happened? Firefox upgrade 26 changed the whole ball game and has completely clobbered the entire scenario. Download Manager Tweak is not compatible with Firefox 26. I am trying out Download Panel Tweak but I currently can't get it to work. As with other comments regarding upgrades to Firefox, the useful add-ons that I use seem to be getting fewer and fewer with compatibility problems with later versions of Firefox, so might investigate Chrome.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (9)

more options

i recommended to you > Internet Download manager is a amazing software to use and it fasting your download speed up to 500% !!

more options

Hi omartamtom, Thanks for your effort in replying. However, your suggestion bears absolutely no relevance to the query posted. The problem does not relate to the speed of downloads.

more options

Hi HughAS,

Thank you for contacting Mozilla Support. Since the history of all downloads is only being kept for the last 8-9 days.

That is about the default value for the setting in about:config : Please check out more about this option on the MozillaZine about:config entries [Browser.history expire days]

To change this it is possible to go to

  1. about:config in the url bar the click "I will be careful I promise"
  2. Search for "Browser.history"
  3. and set the value to the number of days to remember

Please let us know how this goes for you and we can help others with the same issue. If this does not help please also post back.

more options

The browser.history_expire_days pref hasn't been supported since the move from Firefox 3 to Firefox 4 versions (i.e. it is only in Firefox 3 and older), so you wont find this pref on the about:config page and it won't have any effect and if it exists do a reset via the right-click context menu.

Current Firefox versions do not have date restriction for keeping history and that includes the download history.


If you lose history items then you may have cleanup software scheduled to run every 8 days if it happens regularly, so check the settings in such software and also do a check for scheduled tasks.

more options

Chosen Solution

Hi Cor-el,

Very many thanks for your response. Sorry about the delay in responding and thanking you. I was scouring around to find which software was 'tidying' up the lists. I think I did find it, but then what happened? Firefox upgrade 26 changed the whole ball game and has completely clobbered the entire scenario. Download Manager Tweak is not compatible with Firefox 26. I am trying out Download Panel Tweak but I currently can't get it to work. As with other comments regarding upgrades to Firefox, the useful add-ons that I use seem to be getting fewer and fewer with compatibility problems with later versions of Firefox, so might investigate Chrome.

more options

See also this extension:

Firefox manages downloads in the Downloads folder in the Library (History > Show All History)

  • Downloads are treated as history items: clearing history removes included download items and vice verse.
  • When downloads are in progress you see an animated download button on the Navigation Toolbar showing an estimate of the remaining time
  • The Download button gets a green highlight once all download are finished to make you aware that new downloads are available.
  • Pause and Resume can be found in the right-click context menu of an item.

You can display the new Downloads Manager in a tab by opening the about:downloads page and you can consider to open this page in a separate window.

Modified by cor-el

more options

Hi Cor-el,

Thank you very much for your latest posting on this subject.

Just in case others may be browsing this, I thought I ought to mention another problem I had which I solved myself which is connected to the problem mentioned.

With the later Firefox upgrades, the Download panel has been altered and no longer performs as it used to. Some add-ons to the later version show images displaying the Download Button on the Navigation Bar. I could not find how to achieve this as the Download Button was not in the Customise options. A little experimenting established that if the Download Button is being used in the All-in-One Sidebar (AiOS) then the Download Button is not available in the Customise options. For anyone reading this, and requiring the Download Button on the Navigation Bar, remove the customisation of the Download Button from AiOS and the Download Button will appear in the Customise options for the Navigation Bar.

Does anyone know of an add-on to the Download Panel (Download Button on either the Navigation Bar or AiOS) that will automatically open 'Show all Download' when the Download Button is selected?

Also, another add-on anywhere which would mimic the option in the now incompatible Download Manager Tweak to delete both the history and the file linked with the history? Download Manager Tweak gave the user the option to delete history, file(s) downloaded, history and file(s) downloaded on each line in the history list?

more options

If you do not see an item on a toolbar and in the toolbar palette then click the "Restore Default Set" button to restore the default toolbar setup.

You can check for problems caused by a corrupted localstore.rdf file if the above didn't help.

more options

Hi Cor-el,

I did try the restore default option, but it didn't work as the Download Button didn't appear as available as it was being used in AiOS.