Firefox users may soon have access to a single Extensions button in the browser's toolbar to manage all of the installed and enabled browser extensions.

Firefox extensions that are installed in the browser are added to the main toolbar by default. Users of the browser may interact with these directly, for instance to manage functionality or execute certain features the extensions provide.

Extension icons are pushed to the overflow section on the toolbar if space on the toolbar is not sufficient to display all extension icons. Firefox users have options to pin extension icons to the overflow menu to make room on the main toolbar.

Mozilla is working on integrating an Extensions button in the Firefox web browser. The button, which works similarly to the buttons in Chrome, Edge and other Chromium-based web browsers, reveals the list of installed and enabled extensions. Firefox users may pin extensions to the main toolbar for direct access.

The new unified extensions button displays a manage button next to each extension. Activation of the button displays the three options manage, remove and report.

The feature has landed in Firefox 105 Nightly, and is still in active development. Some functionality is still missing and it will take some time before the final version lands in Firefox Nightly and other development versions of the browser.

Firefox Nightly users who want to give it a go need to do the following:

The new Extensions icon is displayed on Firefox's toolbar after the restart. Note that it is displayed only if at least one extension is active in the browser.

Mozilla plans to support the same feature set as Chromium-based browsers when it comes to the single Extensions icon in Firefox. Firefox users may pin extension icons to the main toolbar for direct access, but all extensions are always available when the extensions icon is activated. The overflow option will likely be removed from Firefox at one point in time.

Now You: where do you prefer your extension icons: single menu, on the toolbar, or mixed? (via Techdows)

Amazing to see how the world is always in progress by forces unseen and unknown.

Chrome and its forks have had this for a long time. It is useful to have indeed.

Completely useless to power users who are aware CTRL+SHIFT+A exists since a decade.

A power user is not someone who just knows the ways around the software but who is efficient too. We have had more +25″ monitors in years -unless you are stuck with a 17″ CRT Nokia” and there is tons of dead space in our GUI which could be used for efficiency purposes, just a tiny bit of it even.

A small icon giving us access to all Extensions will do no harm but instead will speed up stuff.

@DFG If pushing a mouse long distances over a huge screens is the cornerstone of efficiency in your parallel universe, I am happy you feel appreciated by Mozilla.

Most are on laptop, tablet or phone, few people use desktop outside the office, other than power users or old people.

And your laptop supports no key combos? Addon button on mobile devices exists since forever as well in the hamburger menu to save space.

> Now You: where do you prefer your extension icons: single menu, on the toolbar, or mixed? Mixed as far as I’m concerned.

I already use a userChromeJS script which performs in a similar way to this planned ‘Firefox single Extensions button’ :

extensionOptionsMenu.uc.js [https://github.com/xiaoxiaoflood/firefox-scripts#user-content-userchromejs-scripts]

“A single toolbar button to manage all your extensions. It opens a menu listing each extension. Left-click to open Options from the hovered addon, right-click to enable/disable, Ctrl + right-click to uninstall. Hover anywhere on the menu to see more.”

Most welcomed concept IMO. Easily enable/disable/remove installed extensions. The above userChromeJS script doesn’t handle the ‘Report extension’.

I have over 50 installed extensions, some of them are enabled only occasionally, i.e. when I go surfing “off-shore” (Red-light zone districts!) and then enable the ‘Netcraft extension’ and ‘CheckMyHTTPS’ extensions. really handy, no need to open then scroll the ‘about:addons’ page… especially when you run many extensions.

I adore (“Dior j’adore”) the script so I’m likely to adore this planned ‘Firefox single Extensions button’ GIVEN it allows and does not replace the toolbar extensions’ buttons; otherwise I’ll disable it via its about:config pref and keep my script :)

Hi TomH, I use that script too and I hope the Firefox developers are inspired by it, I can’t conceive of an easier and more straightforward way to manage extensions. Not bad either are the contextToSearch and openInUnloadedTab scripts, great ideas from xiaoxiaoflood.

Hi Shiva, indeed xiaoxiaoflood, the developer, has many nice userChromeJS scripts, not to mention the very userChromeJS ‘protocol’ installer. I also use his ‘aboutconfig’ script (allowing the old about:config display) and his ‘newtab-aboutconfig’ which allows to set the NewTab url right from about:config. The guy is talented. At this time I run 16 userChromeJS script, 7 of which are mine, based on others I’ve found on various userChromeJS dedicated GitHub pages. Amazing all you can perform with these scripts.

@Shiva, i forgot to mention an undocumented feature of the extensionOptionsMenu.uc.js that I had discovered inadvertently : besides the obvious left-click on the script’s toolbar button which opens the drop-down menu, if you middle-click on that button you open the ‘about:addons’ page. Nice when you need to open the addons page and avoids the about-addons toolbar button included natively in Firefox, as well as CTRL+SHIFT+A for mouse aficionados as myself (pipe in the left hand, mouse in the right, I practically never use keyboard shortcuts…)

Thanks @Tom! I have only left click and right click… But I modify the script and I can open about:addons with the right click now. It seems to me that otherwise it works the same as before.

“onclick: ‘if (event.button == 2) BrowserOpenAddonsMgr(“addons://list/extension”)'” (from 1 to 2)

PS: speaking about scripts, I recently found a new one that is able automaximize Firefox (or any program) window at start. Could be useful when you have RFP enabled.

@Shiva, are we referring to the same script?

I’m using latest extensionOptionsMenu.uc.js updated for Firefox 103 : [https://github.com/xiaoxiaoflood/firefox-scripts/blob/master/chrome/extensionOptionsMenu.uc.js]

[Line 33] onclick: ‘if (event.button == 1) BrowserOpenAddonsMgr(“addons://list/extension”)’

That is the code which opens about:addons when middle-clicking the script’s toolbar button. I’ve just dug into the code to confirm what I had discovered blindly …

@Shiva, I hadn’t understood you correctly, sorry.

Now i get it : your mouse does not handle middle-click so you’ve changed event.button == 2 in place of 1 OK

I’m surprised the code gets a grip on a toolbar button’s right-click given I always thought that was hard-coded in Firefox. if it works then great!

“I’m surprised the code gets a grip on a toolbar button’s right-click given I always thought that was hard-coded in Firefox. if it works then great!”

It works. Also you can prevent Firefox’s right-click context menu from appearing:

btn.addEventListener(‘contextmenu’, (e) => {e.preventDefault();}); (below: btn.appendChild(mp);)

Finally, to get the same ‘about:addons’ icon as Firefox:

image: ‘chrome://mozapps/skin/extensions/extension.svg’,

If you didn’t mention that feature, I wouldn’t even notice it. Hoping future updates won’t mess it up.

@Shiva, indeed. I’ve tried it and coding the right-click does work with nevertheless Firefox’s context menu appearing, a bother that your line of code prevents : nice find, thanks for sharing. Our dialog is an example of constructive comments … even if we got somewhat off-topic from the article :)

> […] Hoping future updates won’t mess it up.

That’s the lot of manual updates, you have to re-apply your modifications. Personally I always keep the last original script, compare it with its update and re-apply on that ground.

Hey : we’ve been doing nice work, haven’t we?!

@Tom, I was thinking more about Firefox updates, this script by xiaoxiaoflood seems perfect as it is. For us who like to use the mouse for now we definitely save click and time compared to the new Extensions button from what I see from the pictures above.

“Hey : we’ve been doing nice work, haven’t we?!” Always good insights from your comments.

@Shiva, one last thing about this extensionOptionsMenu.uc.js I forgot to mention but I guess you’re aware of :

1- The script includes options :

[enabledFirst: false] : if false a disabled extension is moved to the bottom of the list, if true it keeps its position in the list (my preference)

2- Other user modifications besides the middle-to-right click we’ve talked about :

[tooltiptext: ‘Extension Options Menu’] : Given the access to about:addons (middle or right click) , why not modify it (for the sake of coherence) to: tooltiptext: ‘Extension Options Menu | Add-ons Manager’] for instance?

[image: (Base64 icon)] : you mentioned above replacing the script’s icon with the one of Firefox’s native ‘Addons Manager’. Whatever other 16px Base64 icon can replace the script’s default one as well, of course.

[this.STYLE =] { .noOptions { color: gray; } // I OR { color: blue; } .disabled { color: gray; font-style: italic; } // Or { color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; } }

For a user’s comfort, no big deal. With my eyes I need graphics that stand out. This is my last comment regarding this script :)

The addon Add-on List-o-matic 9000 already used this icon in the toolbar, so SpiderDave who claims on his page to display another icon has to look for another. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-list-o-matic-9000/

I like the situation like it is. Maybe It’s handy to make an icon where you can hide temporally the icons you and I use quite often, and therefore have them right now situated on the toolbar for easy use, next to the overflow menu?

Maybe even better could be the that the often used also have a possibility that there customizable so I can choose, with often-used toolbar addons I want in this, not overflow menu.

this is welcome feature. hopefully added to stable release soon

I see this as un-needed. I have some extensions on the toolbar, and other less frequently used extensions on the Overflow Menu. All the other extensions that I don’t need to mess up with frequently are available at about:addons.

I will remove this Extension Button from the toolbar as soon as they show it to me. I’m very glad for Firefox having some customizability over it’s UI!

Why use Firefox again? Its a clone of Chrome now… Extensions button is very thing I hated about Chrome and Edge. I prefer the overflow menu. Hopefully they don’t force it like the other two browsers.

Well, they made almost 1:1 copies of the hamburger menu and the printer menu as well, so this is just the logical next step. Maybe they hope that users accidentally download and use Firefox thinking that it’s Chrome, because the interface is so similar. Who knows. Hilarious if true.

Firefox? Is that still around? Not that I care. I heard Winamp is coming back as well. This retro crap is hilarious.

Overflow works for me. Two clicks and I’m on the Extensions page. Once icon for Extensions might work–another change that will need my devoted and ever-evolving ability to adapt to change.

@Who Knew [Doesn’t Know]

Sometimes “retro-crap” proves invaluable. Example: the original Wordle, simple, works. Now others have made a fortune on the developer’s idea.

Onward, I have found myself looking for “retro-programs” with features no other program to date has matched. Okay, an example: Microsoft Research Auto Collage 2008. Great program for making quick, professional collages. No other program, online or otherwise, matches it. Try finding it!

Rather makes me think anyone not using Firefox or Waterfox is either in the dark or preciously addicted to and stuck with Chrome clones–the shadows on the Cave Wall [Allegory of the Cave].

As Emerson would say, “Imitation is suicide.”

https://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Digital-Photo-Tools/Microsoft-Research-AutoCollage.shtml

That took over 2 seconds to find, using the very obscure and “hard for 99.999999% of the planets population to access” Google search. It’s a very rare service that helps you find things on the internet, just came out, I think it’s free.

“The overflow option will likely be removed from Firefox at one point in time.”

Nonsense. You can pin other Firefox icons there, not just extension icons. Besides, in the overflow menu you put those icons that YOU WANT, not all the ones that are installed. This is total nonsense.

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