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How do I restore the drop-down arrow in the address bar

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The new version of Firefox has removed the drop-down arrow from the address bar, a feature I use several times a day.

Previously, there was a way to restore this by setting a number of "browser.urlbar" options to "False." However, these are currently set at False.

Please advise. Without the drop-down arrow, Firefox is not useful at all.

The new version of Firefox has removed the drop-down arrow from the address bar, a feature I use several times a day. Previously, there was a way to restore this by setting a number of "browser.urlbar" options to "False." However, these are currently set at False. Please advise. Without the drop-down arrow, Firefox is not useful at all.

Valgt løsning

Hello,

  • Type about:config in url bar and press enter.
  • Ignore the warning and click on Accept and Continue.
  • Search for these 4 in preferences and set them to true.
  • browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus
  • browser.urlbar.update1
  • browser.urlbar.update1.interventions
  • browser.urlbar.update1.searchTips

Hope it helps. Thank You.

Les dette svaret i sammenhengen 👍 1

All Replies (11)

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hello For now though, Firefox users may make the following configuration changes to get the old address bar back:

  1. Load about:config in the browser's address bar.
  2. Confirm that you will be careful.
  3. Search for the following preferences and set them all to FALSE
  • browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus
  • browser.urlbar.update1
  • browser.urlbar.update1.interventions
  • browser.urlbar.update1.searchTips
  • browser.urlbar.update1.view.stripHttps

4.Restart the Firefox web browser.

Note that update2 preferences are already present but disabled at this point in time.

A second option, one that will resolve most of the changes even if Mozilla removes the preferences listed above, is to make modifications using a userChrome.css file

Here is how that is done:

  1. Load about:config in Firefox.
  2. Confirm that you will be careful.
  3. Set the preference toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to TRUE to enable the loading of the userChrome.css file when Firefox starts.
  4. Load about:support in Firefox.
  5. Click on "open folder" next to user profile.
  6. Close Firefox.
  7. If you don't see a folder named chrome, create it.
  8. Open the folder.
  9. If you don't see a file named userChrome.css, create it.
  10. Paste the following content into the file, save it, and start Firefox.

/* based on https://old.reddit.com/comments/fwhlva//fmolndz */

  1. urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend]:not([open]) {

top: calc((var(--urlbar-toolbar-height) - var(--urlbar-height)) / 2) !important; left: 0 !important; width: 100% !important; }

  1. urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend]:not([open]) > #urlbar-input-container {

height: var(--urlbar-height) !important; padding-block: 0px !important; padding-inline: 0px !important; }

  1. urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend][breakout-extend-animate] > #urlbar-background {

animation-name: none !important; }

  1. urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend]:not([open]) > #urlbar-background {

box-shadow: none !important; }

Not all changes are reversed but the address bar won't expand anymore after the change is made.

for more information visit link:

[https://www.ghacks.net/2020/04/08/how-to-restore-the-old-firefox-addre...]

I hope resolve your problem then reply back to me.

Thank you!

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Hi nullisland, currently you can drop that classic list by typing a space in the address bar. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any way to trigger that with the mouse.

I created an add-on which can drop down a similar list, but it doesn't integrate with the address bar drop-down. If you really want a button, you could take a look and consider its limitations and features:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/show-history-top-sites-button/

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Valgt løsning

Hello,

  • Type about:config in url bar and press enter.
  • Ignore the warning and click on Accept and Continue.
  • Search for these 4 in preferences and set them to true.
  • browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus
  • browser.urlbar.update1
  • browser.urlbar.update1.interventions
  • browser.urlbar.update1.searchTips

Hope it helps. Thank You.

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Thank you, Shashank, that seems to have fixed the problem. Odd how before they had to be set to "False," and now they have to be "True."

There's no visible arrow, but clicking in the address bar brings down the entries I need.

Thank you again.

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SOLUTION DOES NOT WORK FOR DROP DOWN ARROW MISSING: I began having this issue immediately after updating to v 77.0.1 (64-bit) Mac. I tried all these suggestions (previously FALSE) then set them to TRUE. THE ISSUE STILL REMAINS. The drop down arrow in the address bar immediately disappeared after this update on both my iMac and Macbook Pro. Was this feature removed in this new update? If not please offer workable solution other than one offered here. The arrow is MISSING, but yes some of the past visited links do appear as a drop down when I click inside the address bar, but not as many as before the arrow was there. It is not the same as before.

Endret av bestfather

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*** This was for Firefox 77. It is not applicable to Firefox 78. ***


Sorry, bestfather, that solution addresses part of your request but not the entire request.

Firefox 77 doesn't have a button in the bar, but the list drops down the moment the cursor enters the address bar so you can click anywhere in the bar. That is what this preference does:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste URLB and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If the browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus preference is bolded and has a value of false, double-click it to restore the default value of true

  • true => open the list automatically when the cursor enters the bar
  • false => open the list by deleting the URL or typing a space in the bar

The automatic list normally shows the first 8 Top Sites from the Firefox Home / new tab page. You can clean up this list by removing unwanted sites, and pin/rearrange sites as desired, using the steps in this article: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

If you prefer to switch from the first 8 Top Sites to your classic frequently visited URLs list, you can do that by turning off the Top Sites section of the Firefox Home / new tab page. Steps in this article: Customize your New Tab page to hide or display content.

Can you get that set the way you like?

Endret av jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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I had to manually add browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus setting in version 78 so it could be set to false and supposedly enable the dropdown with a click in the address bar. But, big surprise, it doesn't work! When I click in the address bar I get NOTHING! It's almost like someone is purposely trying to keep us from restoring this functionality! They are slowly but surely shutting down every workaround. Are we being trolled by Firefox??? I still don't understand why the dropdown arrow was removed in the first place. It was a great feature that a lot of people used. WHY IN THE WORLD WAS IT REMOVED?! And after seeing all of the posts of people missing it, WHY HAS IT NOT BEEN RESTORED?! Is the goal of Firefox developers to make Firefox LESS useful and MORE DIFFICULT to use??? I came back to firefox from chrome, and the dropdown arrow for most visited sites was one of the reasons. Chrome took theirs away a long time ago. So is Firefox trying to be like chrome and take away useful features that users like for no apparent reason? WTF Firefox??????!!!!!!!!

Endret av cooljb96

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Hi cooljb96, this thread was created in the time of Firefox 77 and there was a change in Firefox 78.

Firefox 75-77 used browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus to determine whether a list dropped automatically when you clicked the address bar.

Firefox 78 has a checkbox for this on the Options/Preferences page instead, but unchecking it causes the behavior you mentioned: "When I click in the address bar I get NOTHING!"

Here are two ways to get your frequently visited URLs displayed in the address bar drop-down:

(1) Type a space into the bar

This gives you the identical list. However, it's not a pure mouse solution.

(2) Re-enable the Top Sites list and curate it

Firefox's natural behavior is to show the first 8 Top Sites from the Firefox Home / new tab page when you click the bar. This list starts off with one or two pinned search shortcuts and some popular site URLs. If you clear out that default content, then Firefox should fill the list from your history. You also can add, pin, and rearrange items in the list to control the order. This is the way forward for a one-click list.

To turn the automatic Top Sites list back on:

In the Privacy & Security panel, Address Bar section, make sure Top Sites is enabled:

<center></center>

To clean up the list:

Check to make sure Top Sites is enabled in the Firefox Home Content section of the Options/Preferences page: Customize your New Tab page to hide or display content.

<center></center>

Then when you open the Firefox Home / new tab page you should be able to unpin and/or dismiss unwanted sites, using the menu button for the relevant "tile."

<center></center>

More info on managing the Top Sites section in this article: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

Note: Quoting links -- including embedded image URLs -- triggers post moderation.

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This is what I don't understand, there's two different behaviours:

1: when you check the box for "top sites" on the address bar settings you see the top sites by just clicking the address bar

2: when you uncheck "top sites" and check "browsing history" you don't get browsing history by just clicking the address bar but you have to press space for it to show up

Why is this a thing? Why can't those two behave the same way and not require extra steps with clicking your keyboard when even in the past you could browse with mouse only. Just making things unnecessarily annoying.

Endret av flicker

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Hello, Jscher,

Would you please tell me what to do so that the cursor works when I open the page and it is in the address bar? I mean, it is there, but unless I click on it, it does not work; it does not respond to my typing. And usually I discover that when I am in the middle of a sentence. It is so annoying!! Why does Firefox do that? It's unbelievable such a lack of practicability.

Cheers,

ABD

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andreiabdel said

Would you please tell me what to do so that the cursor works when I open the page and it is in the address bar? I mean, it is there, but unless I click on it, it does not work; it does not respond to my typing. And usually I discover that when I am in the middle of a sentence.

Do you mean on the new tab page? I suggest starting a new question because it sounds like a very different problem. You can use this link -- keep scrolling down past suggestions to continue with the form:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new