Windows 10: Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox

How to: Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox

How to Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox


Starting with Firefox 63.0, the Ctrl+Tab shortcut now displays thumbnail previews of your tabs and cycles through tabs in recently used order. This new default behavior is activated only in new profiles and can be changed in preferences.

If you enable Ctrl+Tab thumbnail previews, pressing the Ctlt+Tab keys in Firefox displays thumbnail previews of all open tabs. This is like the Alt+Tab feature in Windows. You would press and hold the Ctrl key, tap the Tab key until you select the tab you want to switch to, and release the Ctrl key.

If you disable Ctrl+Tab thumbnail previews, pressing the Ctlt+Tab keys in Firefox only cycles through tabs in recently used order in Firefox without thumbnail previews. This was the default way before Firefox 3.0.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable pressing Ctrl+Tab keys displaying thumbnail previews of tabs in Firefox for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox Options
• Option Two: Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox about:config

EXAMPLE: Ctrl+Tab thumbnail previews of open tabs in Firefox








OPTION ONE [/i] Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox Options
1. Open Firefox.
2. Click/tap on the Menu button

, and click/tap on Options. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on General on the left side, and check (enable - default) or uncheck (disable) Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order for what you want under Tabs. (see screenshot below)



4. You can now close this Options tab if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox about:config
1. Open Firefox.

2. Type about:config into the address bar, press Enter, and click/tap on the I accept the risk button. (see screenshot below)



3. Copy and paste browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder into the search box, and press Enter. (see screenshots below step 4)

4. Double click/tap on the browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder setting to change its value to true (enable - default) or false (disable) for what you want. (see screenshots below)





5. You can now close this about:config tab if you like.

That's it,
Shawn

:)

 

Enable or Disable Ctrl+Tab Thumbnail Previews of Tabs in Firefox Options

Very minor little quirk with this. If you enable the option for an existing profile (most likely), the first time you do a Ctrl+TAB, the thumbnails are blank. Second time and ongoing, they are filled in with the last page you were viewing. Just minor. May just be mine, too.

 

Firefox tabs stackable?

Hi!

I have this problem little "problem" with Firefox:

I have 9 tabs opened ready every time I start Firefox and it looks like this:




Once I start surfing reading emails and opening links the number of tabs increases fast so that in no time the tabs that doesnt fit my screen are hidden.

I would love to have an Firefox extension that enables me to stack the tab in several rows so that all tabs can be displayed but could not find one that works this way.

 

desktop is not listed in Ctrl+Tab toggle

Thanks for the suggestions, DaveM121 and NikhilPosting.

@DaveM121 - I have GForce Experience 3.7.0.81, and I can't see a ShadowPlay feature.

@NikhilPosting - I know Alt-Tab very well: this is precisely where I have an issue! the actual desktop is not listed among the thumbnails!

Window + Tab seems to be merely a variant of Alt-Tab - and it returns the same result: desktop is not listed among the thumbnails.

Thus, the issue endures...

 

Firefox tabs stackable?

Ok worked, made 5 rows but had to increase the tab width to 200 to prevent Firefox to still hide some tabs before putting them in a new row.

Thx Kreij!

 

Enable or Disable Tab Warming in Firefox  

Thanks, I tried the wavey site and get split second till it renders with it set enabled or disabled (restarted FF between settings).
I'll just leave it enabled, haven't seen any downside so far.