This section describes how to use the main Advanced preferences panel. If
you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced category.
The main Advanced preferences panel allows you to:
Check default application settings on startup:
Select this to have &brandShortName; check whether it is the default
application for tasks like browsing and mail. If &brandShortName; detects
on startup that it is not the default application for any of these tasks,
a dialog will appear that allows you to choose which tasks &brandShortName;
should handle by default.
Use Native Print Dialog (where supported): Select this
to enable &brandShortName; to use the native print dialog, where supported,
rather than its own.
Use Global Print Settings: Select this to enable
&brandShortName; to use the same print settings for all windows. If disabled
each window users its own settings and changes in one window do not affect
the settings in another.
Submit crash reports: Select this to enable the Mozilla
Crash Reporter. If &brandShortName; crashes, you will be asked in each case
whether to report the issue.
This section describes how to use the Scripts & Plugins preferences
panel. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Scripts & Plugins. (If no
subcategories are visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Scripts & Plugins preferences panel allows you to control how
JavaScript and plugins are used:
Enable JavaScript for:
Browser: Select this to turn on JavaScript for web
pages opened in the browser.
Allow scripts to: Select these checkboxes to control
how JavaScript can be used:
Move or resize existing windows: Allows open windows
to be resized or moved.
Raise or lower windows: Allows windows to be placed
under or on top of other windows.
Hide the status bar: Allows the status bar to be
hidden.
Change status bar text: Allows status bar text to be
changed, such as in scrolling text in the status bar.
Change images: Allows images to be changed or
animated, such as in image rollovers (images that change when the mouse
cursor is placed over them).
Disable or replace context menus: Allows right-click
menus or, if you're using a one-button mouse,
Ctrl-click menus to be replaced or disabled by
webpages.
Enable JavaScript dump() output: Select this to enable
dump() statements in JavaScript code to be displayed in the console.
Show strict JavaScript warnings: Select this to show in
the console the strict warnings generated by the JavaScript Engine for the
code it is processing.
Show chrome JavaScript errors and warnings: Select this
to show in the console errors and warnings being generated by the JavaScript
code embedded within &brandShortName; when it is run.
Enable Plugins for: Use these checkboxes to control how
plugins are used:
Suite: Globally enables or disables plugins.
Mail & Newsgroups: Allows plugins to be used in
Mail & Newsgroups.
When a page requires plugins: Select these
checkboxes to control what &brandShortName; should do if a web page requires
plugins:
Activate all plugins by default: If you select this,
&brandShortName; will load and run all plugins found on the web page.
Otherwise, if the page requires plugins, &brandShortName; will show a
notification (plugin icon in the location bar or notification bar), plus
a placeholder for every plugin instance found on the page (unless the
website is whitelisted, see below).
You can activate individual visible plugin instances with a left mouse
click or use the notification to activate all the plugins on the page.
From the notification you have the option to either temporarily activate
the plugins or remember the choice for the current website. Remembered
choices can be edited using the Data Manager (Permissions tab).
Warn me if additional plugins need to be installed:
When a website requires a plugin which is not installed,
a notification bar will be displayed above the website content area.
From the bar you will be able to download and install the missing
plugin.
This section describes how to use the Keyboard Navigation preferences
panel. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Keyboard Navigation. (If no
subcategories are visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Keyboard Navigation preferences panel allows you to control how you use
the keyboard to navigate in web pages:
Tab Key Navigation: Select which elements
should be taken into account when using the Tab key on a page:
Links: If checked, pressing Tab or
Shift+Tab moves between links.
Buttons, radio buttons, checkboxes, and selection
lists: If checked, pressing Tab or
Shift+Tab moves between buttons, radio buttons,
check boxes, and selection lists.
Browse With Caret: Select if and how caret browsing should be used:
Use caret browsing: If checked, caret browsing will
be enabled by default when you load a web page.
Use the F7 shortcut to toggle caret browsing: If
checked, the F7 shortcut will toggle caret browsing on or off. Otherwise
&brandShortName; will not use the shortcut and the below option will
have no effect.
Warn me before turning on caret browsing: If checked,
&brandShortName; will issue a warning dialog if the caret browsing mode
is about to be entered, allowing you to choose whether to proceed or
not. (There is no warning when leaving caret browsing mode.)
Modifiers: Select which keyboard modifiers should
be used, if at all:
Accelerator key: The key value to be used for the
accelerator key.
Menu access key: The key value to be used for the
menu access key.
Note: Setting a value of zero for either of the
above modifiers disables that key.
This section describes how to use the Find As You Type references
panel. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Find As You Type. (If no
subcategories are visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Find As You Type preferences panel allows you to control how you use
the keyboard to search for text in web pages:
Find automatically when typing within a web page: If
checked, typing text in a web page automatically activates Find As You Type
and locates the text you typed (if it exists in the page). Choose whether
you want typing to find any text in the page or links only. If unchecked,
you must choose Find Links As You Type or Find Text As You Type from the
Edit menu before typing the text you want to find.
Play a sound when typed text isn't found: If
checked, Find As You Type plays a sound when the typed text isn't
found in the web page.
Clear the current search after a few seconds of
inactivity: If checked, the search will be cancelled after a few
seconds of keyboard inactivity.
Show the find toolbar during find as you type: If
checked, the find toolbar will open when Find As You Type is activated and
what you type will be entered into the toolbar search field. If unchecked,
the find toolbar will not be opened and the search string will be displayed
in the status bar. Note that international text entry will not work in this
mode.
This section describes how to use the Cache preferences panel. If
you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no subcategories are
visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Cache preferences panel allows you to adjust the &brandShortName; memory
and disk cache:
Let &brandShortName; manage the size of my cache: Select
this to let &brandShortName; apply a heuristic based on the space available
on your hard disk in order to determine your cache size. (This is the
default.)
Use up to [__] MB of disk space for the cache: Type in
the amount of disk cache you want to allocate for &brandShortName;. The disk
cache is saved to your hard disk (drive) and can be used again, even if you
have restarted your computer. (The default is 1024 MB. This preference is
ignored if the above checkbox is selected.)
Clear Cache: Click this to clear the disk cache.
Cache Folder Location: Shows the current location of the
disk cache folder
Choose Folder: Click this to choose a folder
location for the disk cache.
Compare the page in the cache to the page on the
network:
Every time I view the page: Select this if you want
&brandShortName; to compare a web page to the cache every time you view
it.
When the page is out of date: Select this if you
want &brandShortName; to compare a web page to the cache when the page
is determined by the server to have expired.
Once per session: Select this if you want
&brandShortName; to compare a web page to the cache once for each time
you start &brandShortName;.
Never: Select this if you do not want
&brandShortName; to compare cached information to the network.
Prefetch web pages when idle, so that links in web pages
designed for prefetching can load more quickly: Select this to
decrease the time it takes to load web pages when you click a link in a web
page that uses prefetching. For more information about Link Prefetching, see
the online
Link
Prefetching FAQ.
Enable Disk Cache: Select this to enable the use of the
disk cache up to the limits specified above.
Enable Memory Cache: Select this to enable the use of a
memory cache.
This section describes how to use the Offline Web Applications preferences
panel. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Offline Apps. (If no subcategories are
visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Offline Web Applications panel allows you to control and monitor how
websites use &brandShortName;'s offline storage. Websites can provide
complex functionality beyond just the presentation of content, implementing
web applications. In general,
such web applications require you to stay online in order to use them, thus
won't function when you are disconnected from the network (offline).
If permitted, websites can store their content and any data you entered
locally in &brandShortName;. In this way, web applications can be used even
without a network connection.
The Offline Web Content and User Data section provides the
following functions:
Your offline storage currently uses [__] of disk space:
This entry is informational and provides you with an estimate of the
offline data currently used by all web applications combined.
Clear: Immediately clears data that has been saved
by all websites for use when you are offline.
Allow all websites to store data for offline use: Select
this option if you want to permit websites by default to store web content
and user data locally on the disk of your computer.
Only allow websites with explicit permissions: Select
this option if you want to control whether or not a website can store web
content for offline use locally. Unless explicit permission has been
granted, the website's request to access the offline storage is
blocked or a notification shown to give you the option to allow it.
Notify me when websites want to store data for offline
use: Check this box if you want to be notified when a website
requests to store content or data in the offline storage but does not
currently have any permissions set whether or not it is allowed to do so.
An information bar will appear for this site offering the following options:
Always Allow: Permanently allow this site the use
of the offline storage for this and future accesses.
Never for This Site: Permanently deny this site
the use of the offline storage for this and future accesses.
Not Now: Deny this site the use of the offline
storage for this request but ask again for future accesses.
Note: The offline storage is not available in
a private
window. You will receive a notification if this option is checked,
but all requests will be blocked.
Manage Permissions: Opens the Data Manager in a new
tab or window where you can modify the Offline Web Applications permissions
for each domain:
Use Default: Check this box to return to the default
behavior, thus presenting the information bar with the next request
from a site within each domain if the notification option is chosen
(effectively removes the entry from this listing).
Allow: Select this option to allow this site
the use of the offline storage for all accesses.
Block: Select this option to deny this site
the use of the offline storage for all accesses.
The following websites are using offline storage:
Lists the domains of all websites which have stored offline data, along
with the amount of data currently used by this domain.
Clear Data: Select a website domain and click this
button to delete all offline data for the specified domain. Click Remove
offline data after being prompted for confirmation to do so.
This section describes how to use the Proxies preferences panel. If
you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Proxies. (If no subcategories are
visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Proxies preferences panel allows you to set up &brandShortName; to use a
proxy:
Before you start: Ask your network administrator if you
have a proxy configuration file or for the names and port numbers of the
proxy.
Direct connection to the Internet: Choose this if you
don't want to use a proxy.
Automatically discover the proxy configuration: Choose
this if you want &brandShortName; to automatically detect and configure the
proxy settings, using the WPAD protocol.
Automatic proxy configuration URL: Choose this if you
have a proxy auto-configuration (PAC) file or URL, then enter the
configuration URL.
Reload: Click this to reload the configuration file.
A PAC file has JavaScript code which chooses a proxy to use depending
on the address you open. The same file can use more than one proxy or
use proxies only for specific addresses. For more information about
the content of PAC files, see the online
MDN
documentation on Proxy Auto-Configuration files.
Manual proxy configuration: Choose this if you
don't have a proxy location (URL), or the automatic proxy discovery
was unable to setup the proxy settings correctly.
Proxy: Enter the name or numeric IP address of
the proxy server.
No Proxy for: Type the domains and/or IP addresses
that you do not want to use a proxy for. Separate each entry with a
comma. (Example: .mozilla.org, .net.nz, 192.168.1.0/24.)
Advanced Proxy Preferences
If you want to use different proxies for different protocols or need to use
a SOCKS proxy:
HTTP Proxy, SSL Proxy,
FTP Proxy: Enter the name or numeric IP address
of the proxy server. Type the port in the Port fields.
Note: If you're using the same settings
for all types of proxies, click on Use HTTP Proxy settings
for all protocols.
SOCKS Proxy: Enter the name or numeric IP address
of the proxy server. Enter the port number in the Port field.
SOCKS v4, SOCKS v5: When entering a SOCKS Proxy,
select SOCKS v4 or SOCKS v5, depending on what version
of SOCKS is used for the proxy.
Use for resolving hostnames: Select this to
use the SOCKS Proxy for resolving hostnames. This is
recommended for SOCKS v5 proxies.
This section describes how to use the HTTP Networking preferences panel. If
you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click HTTP Networking. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The HTTP Networking preferences panel is used to configure HTTP-based
networking:
Direct Connection Options, Proxy Connection Options:
Choose the HTTP version and options for direct and proxy connections.
Use HTTP 1.0: Choose this to use the original
version of HTTP, standardized in 1996. This setting is mostly intended
for compatibility reasons with proxy or older web servers.
Use HTTP 1.1: Choose this to use the current version
of HTTP, which offers performance enhancements, including more efficient
use of HTTP connections, better support for client-side caching, and
more refined control over cache expiration and replacement policies.
User Agent String:
The identifier sent by &brandShortName; to all websites is used for
statistics about website usage but also sometimes to expose certain features
only to known browsers (a practice known as "sniffing"). Consequently,
changing this option may result in websites not working properly.
&brandShortName; can:
Identify as Firefox: Do not mention &brandShortName;,
send a Firefox identifier instead. This might be needed for websites
which refuse to work when &brandShortName; is mentioned in the
identifier.
Identify as &brandShortName;: &brandShortName; will
identify itself as &brandShortName;, without mentioning Firefox.
Identify as &brandShortName; and advertise Firefox
compatibility: &brandShortName; will identify itself as both
&brandShortName; and also compatible with Firefox. This allows websites
that check for certain browsers rather than certain functionality to
work with &brandShortName;, while still appearing as &brandShortName; in
website statistics.
This section describes how to use the Software Installation preferences
panel. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Software Installation. (If no
subcategories are visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Software Installation preferences panel is used to enable add-on
installation and updates. The Add-ons Manager allows you to view and manage
all your installed extensions and themes.
Add-ons:
Allow websites to install add-ons and updates:
Select this if you want to allow websites to install add-ons and
updates to be used with &brandShortName;. You will be prompted before
each installation.
Allowed Websites: Click this link to open the
Data Manager tab, where you can view and edit the list of websites
that you want to allow to install software
Automatically check for updates:Select this to
be notified when a new version of one of your installed add-ons is
available. Choose whether you want &brandShortName; to do a
daily or a weekly check for new
versions.
Automatically download and install the update:
Select this if you want &brandShortName; to automatically download
and install updates for you when they become available. The download
will happen in the background, with low priority. After the download
has finished the update to the add-on will be installed
automatically the next time you start &brandShortName;.
Personalize Add-on recommendations: Select this to
be offered suggestions for add-ons in the "Get Add-ons" tab
of the manager:
Note that this function involves sending a list of your
currently installed add-ons to the add-on website.
Disabling this option will also suppress contacting the add-on
site periodically for any new information about installed add-ons,
but won't affect automated updates.
Manage Add-ons: Click this link to open the Add-ons
Manager in a new browser tab.
&brandShortName;:
Automatically check for updates:Select this to be
notified when a new version of &brandShortName; is available. Choose
whether you want &brandShortName; to do a daily or
a weekly check for new versions.
Automatically download and install the update:
Select this if you want &brandShortName; to automatically download
and install updates for you when they become available. The download
will happen in the background, with low priority. After the download
has finished the update to &brandShortName; will be installed
automatically the next time you start it.
Note: You can use Check for Updates from the
&brandShortName;Help
menu to manually initiate the search for a &brandShortName; update.
The label of the menu item will change when an
update is being downloaded or ready to be applied.
Show Update History...: Click this to open the Update
History dialog box which shows a list of &brandShortName; updates that
have been installed, including the update type (e.g. Security Update),
time of installation and installation status. The Details link next to
each update takes you to a web page that contains further information
regarding the update.
This section describes how to use the Mouse Wheel preferences panel. If
you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Mouse Wheel. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Mouse Wheel preferences panel allows you to control how the mouse wheel
on your mouse (in between your mouse buttons) is used in &brandShortName;.
Modern mice may have two wheels or a button that can be used to switch the
scroll direction of the wheel. The behaviour for the vertical wheel function
is set in the upper panel Vertical scrolling while the
horizontal mode is controlled by the lower panel Horizontal
scrolling.
Select No modifier key or select a key that you want to use
along with the mouse wheel. Use the checkboxes below to configure mouse
wheel behavior:
Same as vertical scrolling: Choose this when your
mouse has a single control that provides both vertical and horizontal
scrolling. If your mouse has a separate horizontal scrolling control
then you can choose to assign a different function to it.
Do nothing: Choose this to disable the scroll wheel
when used with the specified modifier key.
Scroll the document: Choose this to scroll the
document by the system default number of lines or characters.
Move back and forward in the browsing history:
Choose this to use the mouse wheel to navigate back or forward to
previous pages you've visited.
Zoom the page in or out: Choose this to use
the mouse wheel to increase or decrease the size of a web page.
This setting can help you better read a page, or make text fit on the
screen.
Use the Mouse wheel speed option to adjust the
responsiveness of the wheel. To reverse the scroll direction, use negative
numbers or select Reverse direction.
Note: Each modifier key can be assigned to a different
function.
If your mouse does not have a mode for horizontal scrolling, any setting
in the lower panel Horizontal scrolling will be ignored.
This section describes how to use the Debugging preferences panel. If you are
not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Advanced category, click Debugging. (If no subcategories are
visible, double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
The Debugging preferences panel allows you to control various preferences
relating to XUL rendering and debugging events including reflow ones. Some
preferences only take affect once &brandShortName; has been restarted:
Debug XUL boxes: Select this to enable the debugging of
XUL boxes, it also requires &brandShortName; to be restarted for the change
to take affect.
Disable XUL Cache: Select this to disable the use of a
cache for chrome-level XUL components (XUL, JavaScript, CSS). With the
cache disabled files are re-read each time they are used rather than reading
them from a cache, which will slow down &brandShortName; but is useful for
debugging problems in XUL components.