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This document is provided for your information only. It may help you take certain steps to protect the privacy and security of your personal information on the Internet. This document does not, however, address all online privacy and security issues, nor does it represent a recommendation about what constitutes adequate privacy and security protection on the Internet.

# Customizing &brandShortName;

You can customize &brandShortName; to better suit your needs using features like Sidebar, bookmarks, Tabbed Browsing, and Add-ons.

This section describes the customizable aspects of &brandShortName;'s browser component.

In this section:

- Sidebar
- Tabbed Browsing
- Changing Fonts, Colors, and Themes
- Toolbars
- Bookmarks
- Add-ons
- Specifying How &brandShortName; Starts Up
- Appearance Preferences
- Browser Preferences
- Advanced Preferences

## Sidebar

In this section:

- What is Sidebar?
- Opening, Closing and Resizing Sidebar
- Viewing Sidebar Tabs
- Adding Sidebar Tabs
- Customizing Individual Sidebar Tabs
- Reorganizing Sidebar Tabs
- Removing Sidebar Tabs

### What is Sidebar?

Sidebar is a customizable area in your browser where you can keep items that you need to use all the time—the latest news and weather, your address book, stock quotes, a calendar—and many other available options. Sidebar presents these items to you in tabs that are continually updated.

&brandShortName; comes with some Sidebar tabs already set up, but you can customize Sidebar by adding, removing, and rearranging tabs.

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### Opening, Closing and Resizing Sidebar

To open Sidebar, press `F9` or open the View menu in the browser, choose Show/Hide, and then Sidebar from the submenu.

Once Sidebar is opened, you can use its handle to close, open and resize Sidebar's frame. Move the mouse pointer up and down along the left edge of the &brandShortName; window. The pointer changes to a hand when it touches the handle for Sidebar, as shown in the picture.

| Sidebar Handle

- Click the handle to close/open Sidebar's frame
- Click and drag the handle to resize Sidebar's frame

To close Sidebar with its handle, do one of the following:

- Press `F9`
- Click the X in the upper-right corner of Sidebar
- Open the View menu, choose Show/Hide, and then Sidebar from the submenu

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### Viewing Sidebar Tabs

To view a tab:

- Click a tab's title; for instance, click the word Search. The Search tab opens, which allows you to search for web pages.

Tip: To reload a Sidebar tab, right-click on the tab title and choose Reload from the pop-up menu.

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### Adding Sidebar Tabs

To add a new tab:

1. Click Tabs at the top of Sidebar, and select Customize Sidebar from the menu
2. In the Customize Sidebar dialog box, select a tab from the list on the left. Double-click the folders to open or close folders.
3. Click Add.
4. Continue adding as many tabs as you want.
5. Click OK to finish.

Note: If you add more than eight tabs to Sidebar, &brandShortName; hides the remaining tabs to reduce clutter. To scroll through the hidden tabs, click the down arrow button at the bottom of Sidebar until you see the desired tab. Click the up arrow button to once again scroll up.

Tips:

- To preview a Sidebar tab before adding it, select a tab from the list on the left side of the Customize Sidebar dialog box and click Preview. After a few seconds, the tab displays in the Tab Preview pop-up window.
- To view an extensive and categorized list of tabs available for Sidebar, click Tabs at the top of Sidebar, and select Sidebar Directory.

You can also turn Sidebar tabs on and off.

1. Click Tabs at the top of Sidebar. Current tabs are listed in the lower part of the menu.
2. Select the tabs you want displayed in Sidebar. Remove the checkmark (deselect) to turn a tab off (it will still be available from the menu).

Tip: To quickly turn off a Sidebar tab, right-click on its name and choose Hide Tab.

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### Customizing Individual Sidebar Tabs

Note: Not all tabs can be customized.

1. Click Tabs at the top of Sidebar and select Customize Sidebar from the menu.
2. Select an available tab from the list on the right.
3. Click Customize Tab if it is enabled. A window appears with information and options for customizing the tab.

   The instructions vary depending on the source of the tab—in addition to &brandShortName;, tab providers can be any company, organization, or individual who uses the Internet.

4. After you follow the tab provider's instructions, close the customization window (or follow the provider's instructions to close it).
5. Click OK to finish.

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### Reorganizing Sidebar Tabs

1. Click Tabs at the top of Sidebar and select Customize Sidebar from the menu.
2. Select a tab from the list on the right.
3. Click Up and Down to change the tab's placement.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to continue reorganizing as many tabs as you like.
5. Click OK to finish.

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### Removing Sidebar Tabs

1. Click Tabs at the top of Sidebar and select Customize Sidebar from the menu.
2. Select a tab from the list on the right.
3. Click Remove.
4. Continue removing as many tabs as you like.
5. Click OK to finish.

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## Tabbed Browsing

In this section:

- What is Tabbed Browsing?
- Setting up Tabbed Browsing
- Opening Tabs
- Moving Tabs
- Bookmarking Tabs
- Closing Tabs

### What is Tabbed Browsing?

Tabbed Browsing lets you open more than one web page in a single window. Each web page has its own tab across the top of a single browser window. Each tab appears on the Tab Bar. For example, you can visit mozilla.org, icq.com, and cnn.com within one window instead of three windows.

Click this to open a new tab. |
Tab being viewed. | Click this to close the tab being viewed.
Tab Bar

You don't need to have several windows open to visit several web pages; thus, freeing up more space on your desktop. Instead, you can open, close, and reload web pages conveniently in one place without having to switch to another window.

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### Setting up Tabbed Browsing

There are several ways to customize Tabbed Browsing. For example, you can change your preferences to open new browser tabs from the Location Bar. You can set up Tabbed Browsing in other ways too, such as loading new browser tabs in the background so the first page is kept on top while the second page is loading. To learn more about setting up Tabbed Browsing in &brandShortName;, see Browser Preferences - Tabbed Browsing.

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### Opening Tabs

You can open a browser tab in the following ways:

Opening a New Blank Browser Tab:

- From the File menu: Open the File menu, choose New, and then Browser Tab.
- From the Tab Bar: If visible, click the new tab icon on the left side of the Tab Bar.
- From a pop-up menu: If the Tab Bar is visible, right-click on it, and choose New Tab from the pop.

Opening a Web Page Link in a Browser Tab:

- From a pop-up menu: Right-click or, if you have a one-button mouse, `Ctrl`-click on a web page link and choose Open Link in New Tab.
- From the Location Bar: Type a web page location in the Location Bar and press `Cmd` `Ctrl`+`Return` `Enter`.

  Note: You must set your Tabbed Browsing preferences to open a browser tab from the Location Bar. See Browser Preferences - Tabbed Browsing for more information.

Tips:

- To quickly open a new browser tab, press `Cmd` `Ctrl`+`T`.
- To reload one or all browser tabs, right-click or, if you have a one-button mouse, `Ctrl`-click anywhere on the Tab Bar and select Reload Tab or Reload All Tabs, respectively.

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### Moving Tabs

Tabs are displayed in the order you open them, which may not always be what you want. To move a tab to a different location within a &brandShortName; window, simply drag it there using your mouse. While you are dragging the tab, &brandShortName; displays an indicator to show where the tab will be moved. Alternately, you can use keyboard shortcuts to move tabs within a window if desired.

Note: The keyboard shortcuts don't work when a text box has focus.

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### Bookmarking Tabs

A bookmarked group of tabs is called a Groupmark. To bookmark the group of browser tabs in the current window:

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Bookmark This Group of Tabs.
2. Type a name for the bookmark group in the Name field.
3. Choose a folder in which to create your Groupmark, or click New Folder to create a new folder for your Groupmark.
4. Click OK to add the Groupmark.

Tip: To learn how to use a group of tabs as your home page, see Browser Preferences - Browser.

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### Closing Tabs

You can close browser tabs in several ways:

Closing the Browser Tab Being Viewed:

- Open the File menu and choose Close Tab.
- Click the X button on the right side of the Tab Bar.

Click this to open a new tab. |
Tab being viewed. | Click this to close the tab being viewed.
Tab Bar

Tips:

- To close any browser tab, even if hidden, right-click on the tab and choose Close Tab from the pop-up menu.
- To keep only one browser tab open, while closing all other tabs, right-click on the browser tab and choose Close Other Tabs.

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## Changing Fonts, Colors, and Themes

In this section:

- Changing the Default Fonts
- Changing the Default Colors
- Changing the Theme

### Changing the Default Fonts

Normally, web pages are displayed in the default font set by your browser or in a font chosen by the web pages' authors.

To change the default fonts:

1. Open the &brandShortName; Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2. Under the Appearance category, choose Fonts. (If no options are visible in this category, double-click Appearance to expand the list.)
3. From the "Fonts for" drop-down list, choose a language group/script. For instance, to set default fonts for West European languages/script (Latin), choose Western.
4. Select whether proportional text should be serif (like Times Roman) or sans-serif (like Arial). Then specify the font size you want for proportional text.
5. If an appropriate font is available for your language/script, select fonts for Serif, Sans-Serif, Cursive, Fantasy, and Monospace. You can also specify what font size you want for monospace text.
6. Specify whether the default font should be serif or sans serif.
7. Select a fixed-width font and size. Certain types of text, such as equations and formulas, are displayed in a fixed-width font.

Many web page authors choose their own fonts and font sizes. To allow fonts other than the ones specified in your preferences, check Allow documents to use other fonts.

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### Changing the Default Colors

Normally, the background and text colors on web pages are determined by the default colors set by your browser or by the pages' authors.

To change the default colors:

1. Open the &brandShortName; Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2. Under the Appearance category, choose Colors. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
3. Click the colored blocks next to Text, Background, Unvisited Links, and Visited Links. Choose a color for each from the color chart. You can also specify that links should be underlined.

Most web page authors choose their own colors. You can override the authors' intentions by selecting Use my chosen colors, ignoring the colors specified.

When viewing the source of a web page, you can see the HTML syntax of the source of a web page highlighted in specific colors by selecting Enable syntax highlighting.

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### Changing the Theme

You can change the look and feel of &brandShortName; by using a different theme. Changing the theme can be done either from the View menu or from the Add-on Manager.

From the View menu:

1. Open the View menu and choose Apply Theme, and then select a theme from the menu.
2. Quit and restart &brandShortName;.

From the Add-on Manager:

1. Open the Tools menu and choose Add-on Manager.
2. Click the Themes button in the toolbar.
3. Select a theme from the list, and then click the Use Theme button.
4. Quit and restart &brandShortName;.

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## Toolbars

In this section:

- Navigation Toolbar
- Personal Toolbar
- Status Bar
- Component Bar
- Hiding a Toolbar

### Navigation Toolbar

The Navigation Toolbar, pictured here, helps you move around the Web.

Back | Forward | Reload | Stop

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### Personal Toolbar

The Personal Toolbar is completely customizable—you decide what you want to keep there.

Personal Toolbar

You can easily add, delete, and rearrange items in the Personal Toolbar.

#### Adding Personal Toolbar Bookmarks

You can add buttons for your favorite bookmarks, or folders containing groups of bookmarks. To create a new bookmark to add to the Personal Toolbar:

1. Open a web page you want to bookmark.
2. Drag the bookmark icon (located to the left of URL in the Location Bar) to a desired place on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag the icon directly to the Personal Toolbar, or to a folder on the Personal Toolbar. For more information, see Adding Bookmark Folders to the Personal Toolbar.

Note: The bookmark icon may appear as another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Website Icons in preferences. See Appearance Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this preferences.

Each item in the Personal Toolbar folder appears as a toolbar button. You may need to enlarge the browser window to see them all.

Adding Bookmark Folders to the Personal Toolbar

You can add bookmark folders to the Personal Toolbar to sort your favorite bookmarks into categories. For example, you can have one folder on the Personal Toolbar for hobby-related bookmarks and another folder for work-related bookmarks. To add a new bookmark to the Personal Toolbar:

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. Select your designated Personal Toolbar Folder.
3. Click New Folder on the toolbar.
4. Type a name for your new bookmark folder. By default, the name is New Folder.
5. Click OK to confirm your new bookmark folder name.

The new bookmark folder will appear at the end of the Personal Toolbar.

#### Designating a Bookmark Folder as Your Personal Toolbar Folder

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. Select the bookmark folder whose items you want to appear on the toolbar.
3. From the View menu, choose Set as Personal Toolbar Folder.

The buttons in your Personal Toolbar now correspond to the bookmarks in the folder you designated.

#### Removing Bookmarks from the Personal Toolbar

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. Click the Personal Toolbar Folder.
3. Select the bookmark or folder you want to delete.
4. Press Delete on your keyboard.
5. Close the Manage Bookmarks window.

Tip: To quickly remove a bookmark placed on the Personal Toolbar (not in a folder), right-click on the bookmark and select Delete.

#### Rearranging the Personal Toolbar

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, click the Personal Toolbar Folder.
3. Select a bookmark or folder and drag it to a new location.
4. When you are finished rearranging items, close your Bookmarks window.

Tip: To move a bookmark placed on the Personal Toolbar quickly, click and drag the bookmark to another location on the Personal Toolbar or to a folder.

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### Status Bar

The Status Bar is located at the bottom of any &brandShortName; window. It includes the following:

- Component Bar: Allows you to switch between components. For more information, see Component Bar.
- Status information: Displays information like the web-page URL and load status information.
- Cookie notification icon : Appears when a website has used a cookie in a way that requires you to be notified. For more information, see Cookie Notification.
- Work Offline or Work Online icon: Click the icon to toggle working offline or online. Working offline prevents &brandShortName; from attempting to connect to the Internet, for example to load images on web pages or automatically check email.
- Lock icon (Example: ): Indicates whether the entire contents of the page was encrypted while it was being received by your computer. For more information, see Checking Security for a Web Page.

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### Component Bar

Use the Component Bar at the bottom left of any &brandShortName; window to switch between tasks (such as browsing or mail).

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### Hiding a Toolbar

There are two ways to hide the toolbars.

To minimize a toolbar:

- Click the small triangle at the left of the toolbar. To show the toolbar, click the triangle again. (Note: You cannot hide the Component Bar using this method.)

To completely hide a toolbar, including its triangle:

1. Open the View menu.
2. Choose Show/Hide and uncheck the toolbars you want to hide.

To reverse this action, open the View menu, choose Show, and then select the toolbars you want to show.

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## Bookmarks

In this section:

- What Are Bookmarks?
- Using Bookmarks
- Creating New Bookmarks
- Organizing Your Bookmarks
- Changing Individual Bookmarks
- Searching Your Bookmarks
- Exporting or Importing a Bookmark List

### What Are Bookmarks?

Bookmarks are shortcuts to your favorite and most-visited web pages. Rather than typing in long URLs (web addresses), you can create bookmarks that take you directly to the pages you want to see.

You access your bookmarks through the Bookmarks menu, the Bookmarks tab on Sidebar, and the Manage Bookmarks window. You can control what's listed in the Bookmarks menu by adding bookmarks for your favorite web pages and organizing your list of bookmarks any way you want.

### Using Bookmarks

&brandShortName; comes with some bookmarks already available. To use a bookmark:

1. Open the Bookmarks menu.
2. Choose a bookmark from the list or from a folder in the list.

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### Creating New Bookmarks

You can bookmark your favorite websites to make it easy to return to them.

To bookmark the current page, perform one of these steps:

- To add a bookmark to the Bookmarks menu, open the Bookmarks menu and choose Bookmark This Page.
- To add a bookmark to a specific folder on the Bookmarks menu, or to provide a specific name or URL for your bookmark:
  1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose File Bookmark. Choose from any of these options:
     - Name: Enter a name for the bookmark if you want a different name.
     - Location: Enter a URL for the bookmark if you want a different URL.
     - Keyword: Enter a keyword for the bookmark if you want to be able to open the bookmarked page from the Location Bar (see Using Custom Bookmark Keywords).
     - Destination: Choose a folder in which to create your bookmark.
     - New Folder: Click this to create a new folder in which to create your bookmark.
  2. Click OK to add the bookmark.

  Tip: If you have multiple browser tabs open in a window, you can select Bookmark this groups of tabs to add a single bookmark that will open all of the open tabs in the current window.

- To add a bookmark to the Personal Toolbar, drag the bookmark icon next to the Location Bar to a place on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag a bookmark to the following places:
  - In the Bookmarks folder on the Personal Toolbar.
  - In a bookmarks folder you've created on the Personal Toolbar.
  - To the Personal Toolbar itself, on the right side of all bookmarks folders.

    For more information about adding bookmarks to the Personal Toolbar, see Adding Personal Toolbar bookmarks.

Personal Toolbar

- To add a bookmark to the Bookmarks tab in Sidebar, open Sidebar, select the Bookmarks tab, and drag the bookmark icon next to the Location Bar to a place on the bookmark list in the Bookmarks tab.

Notes:

- The bookmark icon may appear as another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Website Icons in preferences. See Appearance Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this preferences.
- After adding a bookmark using any of the methods listed above, it can be accessed using the Sidebar Bookmarks tab, the Manage Bookmarks window, and the Bookmarks menu.

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### Organizing Your Bookmarks

To organize your bookmarks, open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks. Perform any of the following tasks in your Manage Bookmarks window.

Tip: You can open the Manage Bookmarks window from the Bookmarks tab in Sidebar. Click on Manage at the top of the Bookmarks tab.

To view bookmarks inside of folders:

- Double-click a folder to view its contents.

To move a bookmark or a folder to another location in the list:

- Drag the bookmark or folder that you want to move to the new location. To put a bookmark in a folder, drag it to the folder.

To create a new folder or separator:

- Click New Folder or New Separator at the top of the Bookmarks window. The new folder or separator appears below the current selection.

To remove a bookmark or a folder from the list:

1. Click to highlight the bookmark or folder that you want to remove.
2. Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or click Delete in the Bookmarks window.

To sort your bookmarks in the Manage Bookmarks window:

- Select the folder you want to sort.
- To sort bookmarks by Name, open the Edit menu and select Sort Folder by Name.
- To sort bookmarks in other ways, open the Edit menu and select Sort Folder. In the dialog, choose how you want the list sorted.

  Tip: To add more columns, open the View menu, open Show columns, and select a column header in the list.

#### Designating a New Bookmark Folder

When you create a new bookmark, &brandShortName; normally adds it to the bottom of your bookmarks list. If you prefer to file your bookmarks in a folder, you can designate a new bookmarks folder.

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, select a folder to hold new bookmarks.
3. Open the View menu and choose Set as New Bookmark Folder.

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### Changing Individual Bookmarks

You can change the information for any individual bookmark.

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, click a bookmark.
3. Click Properties.
4. In the bookmark Properties dialog box window, click the Info tab.

You can rename the bookmark (the name appears in your bookmark list), add descriptive information, or set a keyword.

You can also set &brandShortName; to check bookmarked websites for changes.

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, click a bookmark.
3. Click Properties.
4. Use the pull down lists and the textfield under Check this location for updates to specify how often you want &brandShortName; to check the bookmarked page for changes.
5. To be notified when the bookmarked page changes, choose from the options in the Notification section.

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### Searching Your Bookmarks

To search the bookmarks list:

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu and choose Search Bookmarks. You see the Find Bookmarks dialog box.
3. In the drop-down lists, choose options to define your search, and then click Find. Bookmarks that match your search criteria are displayed. Choose from the following Search options:
   - Choose "contains," "starts with," or "ends with" if you know only part of the word or phrase for which you're searching.
   - Choose "is" if you know exactly what you're searching for.
   - Choose "is not" or "doesn't contain" to exclude pages.
   - Click the fill-in field and type all or part of name or URL (web address) for the bookmarks or history listings that you want to find or exclude.
   - Select Save query in bookmarks to save this search for later use.
4. Double-click a bookmark in the list to go to that page.

Tip: If the list is hard to read, try expanding the search results window.

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### Exporting or Importing a Bookmark List

Your bookmarks are stored in a file named bookmarks.html. You can export a copy of this file and save it in a folder of your choosing. You can then edit it and treat it as you would any HTML file.

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu, and choose Export.
3. In the Export Bookmarks File dialog box, choose a folder. Your bookmarks.html file will be copied into the folder you designate.
4. Click Save.

Your &brandShortName; bookmarks are not altered by this procedure.

You can also import bookmarks from other sources. For example, you can import bookmarks from earlier &brandShortName; versions, other browsers, or from bookmarks files that your friends send you.

Before you start, make sure that the bookmarks file you want to import is an HTML file.

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
2. In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu and choose Import.
3. In the dialog that appears, choose whether you want to import bookmarks from earlier versions of &brandShortName;, or from a bookmarks file on your computer.
4. Click Continue.
5. If you have chosen to import bookmarks from an earlier version of &brandShortName;, select the profile you want to import bookmarks from, then click Continue. If you have chosen to import bookmarks from a file, navigate to and select the bookmarks file you want to import, then click Open.

The imported bookmarks are treated as a group of new bookmarks and added to the bottom of your bookmarks list. If you have designated a new bookmark folder, the imported bookmarks are added to that folder.

Note: Importing a bookmarks file imports the bookmarks and folders from that file. It does not create two bookmarks files.

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## Add-ons

One of the most exciting ways to customize &brandShortName; is through the addition of Add-ons. In this section, you will learn what Add-ons are, how to install them, and how to use the Add-on Manager.

In this section:

- About Add-ons
- Installing Add-ons
- Using the Add-on Manager

### About Add-ons

An Add-on is a piece of software that can be added to &brandShortName; to change its appearance, behavior, or to add new features. It can also change the language shown in the user interface. Add-ons can be classified in four types:

- Extensions: This type of Add-on either changes the way &brandShortName; behaves or adds new features to it. For instance, there are extensions that provide you with weather forecasts, that add a full-featured FTP client, or that block advertisements in web pages. Some extensions are designed to work only with specific websites.
- Themes: Themes change the appearance and design of &brandShortName;, but don't add or change features. They act as a skin. &brandShortName; ships with two themes, Default Theme and Modern Theme, but you can add more to fit your style.
- Languages: While you can download &brandShortName; in a number of languages, you may add additional languages to it in the form of language packs. This way, different users may use &brandShortName; in their own language without having to install the program for everyone. This is specially useful if you are going to install &brandShortName; on a computer that is shared by different users in, for example, a computer lab.

  Note: Language packs only change the user interface language. Web pages, messages, newsgroup and news & blog posts will still be shown in the original language in which they were written.

- Plugins: Plugins act as connectors between &brandShortName; and other programs. They enable you to see special content (like Flash movies, or Adobe PDF documents) directly inside the &brandShortName; browser window, instead of opening the target program in a separate window.

Add-ons always come as packages. Each Add-on is a single file with the XPI extension, except in the case of plugins which usually are binaries specific to the target operating system.

[Return to beginning of section]

### Installing Add-ons

There are a number of ways to install Add-ons:

- By clicking a link for an Add-on on a web page. This will trigger a &brandShortName; dialog asking you to confirm or cancel the installation, with the Install button disabled for some seconds in order to avoid accidentally clicking it just as the dialog shows up.

  Note: As an additonal security measure, &brandShortName; only allows installing Add-ons from a list of permitted websites in the Software Installation preferences panel.

- By opening a previously saved Add-on package, just like you open a regular file that you previously saved on your hard drive: Select Open file from the File menu, or press `Cmd` `Ctrl`+`O`.
- By using the Get Add-ons panel in the Add-on Manager or clicking the Install button in any of the panels in the Add-on Manager.

Note: Plugins are usually installed as a separate program while &brandShortName; is closed so both the external program and the corresponding plugin for &brandShortName; get installed correctly.

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### Using the Add-on Manager

The Add-on Manager enables you to install and uninstall Add-ons, enable and disable them and, in some cases, set preferences for them.

To access the Add-on Manager, follow any of these steps:

- Open the Tools menu, then select Add-on Manager.
- Open the &brandShortName; Edit menu and choose Preferences, expand the Advanced category and click Software Installation.

In this section:

- The Get Add-ons panel
- The Extensions panel
- The Themes panel
- The Languages panel
- The Plugins panel

#### The Get Add-ons panel

The Get Add-ons panel in the Add-on Manager uses web services provided by the GNU Add-ons website to present a list of recommended Add-ons, as well as giving you the option to search all available GNU Add-ons directly from the Add-on Manager. After accessing the Add-on Manager, click the Get Add-ons button to show the Get Add-ons panel. There, you can perform the following actions:

- To search for Add-ons based on name, description or tags, use the Search box. Type a word or phrase and press `Return` `Enter`. You will get a list of matching Add-ons. To clear the search box terms and the result list, click the icon inside the search box.

  Note: Add-ons that are already installed or incompatible with your current version of &brandShortName; will not be displayed in the list of search results.

- To open the GNU Add-ons website in a new browser window (or a new browser tab, depending on your preferences), click Browse All Add-ons.
- To get more information about one of the recommended Add-ons in the list displayed by default, click the entry. The entry will expand, displaying a larger image, a full description of the Add-on, and an indication of the Add-on type (extension, theme, etc.). You will also be able to install the Add-on by clicking the Add to &brandShortName; button inside the expanded entry.
- To display the full list of recommended Add-ons for &brandShortName; in a new browser window (or a new browser tab, depending on your preferences), scroll down the recommended Add-ons list until you see the See All Recommended Add-ons link.

[Return to beginning of section]

#### The Extensions panel

The Extensions panel in the Add-on Manager lists the installed extensions. After accessing the Add-on Manager, click the Extensions button to show the Extensions panel. There, you can perform the following actions:

- To get more information about any of the installed extensions, click the entry in the list. The entry will expand and show the full description of the extension.

  Note: Disabled extensions will appear greyed out. Incompatible extensions will appear greyed out, since they are also disabled, and with a forbidden sign over the extension icon (incompatible extensions are those which define themselves as not compatible for the version of &brandShortName; you are using).

- To access preferences of an extension (if the extension features a preferences panel), click the entry corresponding to the desired extension, then click the Preferences button.

  Note: If the extension does not feature a preferences panel, the Preferences button will be disabled. You can't access preferences of disabled or incompatible extensions.

- To disable an extension, click the entry corresponding to the desired extension, then click the Disable button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.
- To enable an extension, click the entry corresponding to the desired extension, then click the Enable button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.
- To uninstall an extension, click the entry corresponding to the desired extension, then click the Uninstall button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.
- To find updates for any extension in the list (including those marked as incompatible), click the Find Updates button at the bottom of the Add-on Manager.

  If updates are found, they will be displayed in a new panel. In the panel, you can choose what extensions you want to update and then use the Install Updates button to retrieve updated Add-ons. Once downloaded, you will need to restart &brandShortName; to apply the updates.

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#### The Themes panel

The Themes panel in the Add-on Manager lists the installed themes. After accessing the Add-on Manager, click the Themes button to show the Themes panel. There, you can perform the following actions:

- To get more information and a preview on any of the installed themes, click an entry in the list. The entry will expand and show the full description of the theme, along with a preview in the right side of the Add-on Manager dialog (you may need to resize the dialog to properly see the preview pane).
- To use a theme, click the entry corresponding to the desired theme, then click the Use Theme button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.

  Note: Contrary to extensions, you only can use one theme at a time.

- To uninstall a theme, click the entry corresponding to the desired theme, then click the Uninstall button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.

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#### The Languages panel

The Languages panel in the Add-on Manager lists the installed Language Packs. This panel only appears if you have installed a Language Pack.

After accessing the Add-on Manager, click the Languages button to show the Languages panel. There, you can perform the following actions:

- To disable a language pack, click the entry corresponding to the desired language pack, then click the Disable button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.
- To enable a language pack, click the entry corresponding to the desired language pack, then click the Enable button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.
- To uninstall a language pack, click the entry corresponding to the desired language pack, then click the Uninstall button. An info bar will appear to remind you that changes will apply once you restart &brandShortName;. The info bar features a Restart &brandShortName; button.

Note: Enabling a language pack in the Language panel doesn't change the language shown in &brandShortName;'s user interface, it only makes the language available for selection in the Appearance Preferences panel.

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#### The Plugins panel

The Plugins panel in the Add-on Manager lists the installed Add-ons of type Plugin. After accessing the Add-on Manager, click the Plugins button to show the Plugins panel. There, you can perform the following actions:

- To disable a plugin, click the entry corresponding to the desired plugin, then click the Disable button.
- To enable a plugin, click the entry corresponding to the desired plugin, then click the Enable button.

Note: Contrary to other types of Add-ons, enabling and disabling plugins doesn't require restarting &brandShortName;.

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## Specifying How &brandShortName; Starts Up

In this section:

- Specifying a Starting Page
- Session Restore
- Changing Your Home Page
- Specifying Which Components Open at Launch

### Specifying a Starting Page

You can specify the page that loads when the browser starts:

1. Open the &brandShortName; Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2. Under "Display on Browser Startup" choose whether you want a blank page, your home page, or the last web page visited to open automatically when you launch your browser. Alternatively you can tell &brandShortName; to restore the previous session, i.e. the windows and tabs you had open when you last exited &brandShortName;.

   Note: If you selected Home Page, type the URL in the Location Bar.

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### Session Restore

&brandShortName; periodically saves your browsing session (open windows and tabs, including form data) to disk. When you start &brandShortName; with Session Restore enabled, the windows and tabs from your previous session will be restored. This is especially useful if your previous browsing session ended unexpectedly (e.g. your computer crashed or a website you visited forced &brandShortName; to terminate). &brandShortName; will automatically restore the previous session if "Restore Previous Session" under "Display on Browser Startup" has been selected. If you chose to not be warned when you close a browser window with multiple tabs open (see Tabbed Browsing preference panel), &brandShortName; will open a page from where you can choose which windows/tabs from the previous session you want to restore. The same will happen if &brandShortName; crashes repeatedly.

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### Changing Your Home Page

Your home page is the page that opens when you click the Home button in the Personal Toolbar. Depending on how your preferences are set, it may also be the page that opens automatically when you launch &brandShortName;.

To specify your home page:

1. Open the &brandShortName; Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2. Click the Browser category.
3. In the Home page section, perform one of the following:
   - Type your home page's URL (web address) in the Location field.
   - Click Use Current Page to make the page currently displayed in the browser window your home page.
   - Click Choose File to select a file from your computer's hard drive.

Tip: To specify your home page quickly, drag the bookmark icon from the Location Bar to the Home Page button on the Personal Toolbar.

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### Specifying Which Components Open at Launch

You can choose components (such as Mail & Newsgroups and Composer) to launch when you start &brandShortName;:

1. Open the &brandShortName; Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2. Click the Appearance category.
3. Select the components you want opened automatically each time you start &brandShortName;.

[Return to beginning of section]