85 Firefox Shortcuts for Mac and PC

As my browser of choice, Firefox provides all the functionality I need for web design, application development, everyday surfing, and much more. With a handful of choice extensions installed, Firefox is a lean, mean “get-it-done” machine. Plus, I am always looking for new ways to boost productivity and increase efficiency. Of course, an excellent way to do this involves learning and using as many mouse and keyboard shortcuts as possible.

Over the past few years, I have collected oodles of shortcut snippets for Firefox. Thus, in an effort to purge my constantly growing stash of notes, I decided to round up all of the Firefox shortcuts I could find, clean them up a bit, and post the collection online for everyone to enjoy. Drum roll please: now presenting 85 Firefox Shortcuts for Mac and PC! Enjoy..

Basic Shortcuts

These are pretty much standard shortcuts that work on many machines and with many applications. I can’t imagine working without them:

Mac

Cmd A   = Select all
Cmd P   = Print page
Cmd O   = Open file
Cmd S   = Save page
Cmd Z   = Undo
Cmd Y   = Redo
Cmd X   = Cut
Cmd C   = Copy
Cmd V   = Paste
Del     = Delete

PC

Ctrl A   = Select all
Ctrl P   = Print page
Ctrl O   = Open file
Ctrl S   = Save page
Ctrl Z   = Undo
Ctrl Y   = Redo
Ctrl X   = Cut
Ctrl C   = Copy
Ctrl V   = Paste
Del      = Delete

Changing Text Size

Whether you need to improve readability or test your site design, Firefox makes it easy to change text-size on the fly:

Mac

Cmd +   = Increase text size
Cmd -   = Decrease text size
Cmd 0   = Restore default size

PC

Ctrl +   = Increase text size
Ctrl -   = Decrease text size
Ctrl 0   = Restore default size

Changing View Size

For serious Web browsing, try opening up your view with a full-screen Firefox window (available on PC only):

PC

F11   = Toggle full-screen view

Finding Stuff

Quickly summon the Firefox Help panel or locate text on any page. Note that the Find shortcuts also work on source-code page views. Must-have shortcuts:

Mac

F1      = Help
Cmd F   = Find
Cmd G   = Find Next
Opt N   = Find Next

PC

F1       = Help
Ctrl F   = Find
Ctrl G   = Find Next
Alt  N   = Find Next

Web Browsing

Surf the Web without the mouse! Here are some excellent navigational shortcuts for quick and easy maneuvering:

Mac

Opt Home          = Go home
Opt Left-arrow    = Go back
Opt Right-arrow   = Forward
Page Up           = Page up
Page Down         = Page down
Shift Space       = Page up
Space             = Page down
Esc               = Stop page load 
Cmd K             = Go to search box 
Cmd L             = Go to address bar
Cmd R             = Reload page
F5                = Reload page

PC

Alt Home          = Go home
Alt Left-arrow    = Go back
Alt Right-arrow   = Forward
Page Up           = Page up
Page Down         = Page down
Shift Space       = Page up
Space             = Page down
Esc               = Stop page load 
Ctrl K            = Go to search box 
Ctrl L            = Go to address bar
Ctrl R            = Reload page
F5                = Reload page

Likewise, after using Ctrl+L to focus the address field, these shortcuts become very useful:

Mac

Opt Enter       = Opens location in new window
Cmd Enter       = Automatically add "http://www." and ".com" to the input location
Shift Enter     = Automatically add "http://www." and ".net" to the input location
Cmd Shift Enter = Automatically add "http://www." and ".org" to the input location

PC

Alt Enter        = Opens location in new window
Ctrl Enter       = Automatically add "http://www." and ".com" to the input location
Shift Enter      = Automatically add "http://www." and ".net" to the input location
Ctrl Shift Enter = Automatically add "http://www." and ".org" to the input location

Bookmarking

Here are some great shortcuts for efficient bookmarking:

Mac

Cmd Shift H   = Go to History
Cmd B         = Go to Bookmarks
Cmd D         = Bookmark page
Cmd Shift D   = Bookmark all tabs

PC

Ctrl H         = Go to History
Ctrl B         = Go to Bookmarks
Ctrl D         = Bookmark page
Ctrl Shift D   = Bookmark all tabs

Advanced tricks

Here are some secret shortcuts for expertz only:

Mac

Cmd Shift Delete   = Clear private data
Cmd Shift I        = Open DOM Inspector
Cmd U              = View page source
Cmd J              = Open Downloads

PC

Ctrl Shift Delete   = Clear private data
Ctrl Shift I        = Open DOM Inspector
Ctrl U              = View page source
Ctrl J              = Open Downloads

Tabs and Windows

Mastering the use of Firefox tabs and windows is an excellent way to improve your Web-surfing skillz. When used, these shortcuts will greatly improve your browsing speed and efficiency:

Mac

Cmd T            = Open new tab 
Cmd N            = Open new window
Cmd W            = Close current tab
Cmd Shift T      = Reopen closed tab
Cmd Shift W      = Close current window
Cmd Click        = Open link in new tab
Cmd Tab          = Cycle forward through open tabs
Cmd Shift Tab    = Cycle reverse through open tabs

PC

Ctrl T            = Open new tab 
Ctrl N            = Open new window
Ctrl W            = Close current tab
Ctrl Shift T      = Reopen closed tab
Ctrl Shift W      = Close current window
Ctrl Left-click   = Open link in new tab
Ctrl Tab          = Cycle forward through open tabs
Ctrl Shift Tab    = Cycle reverse through open tabs

You can also jump to any specific tab according to its position in the tab bar:

Mac

Cmd 1   = Jump to 1st open tab
Cmd 2   = Jump to 2nd open tab
Cmd 3   = Jump to 3rd open tab
Cmd 4   = Jump to 4th open tab
Cmd 5   = Jump to 5th open tab
Cmd 6   = Jump to 6th open tab
Cmd 7   = Jump to 7th open tab
Cmd 8   = Jump to 8th open tab
Cmd 9   = Jump to 9th open tab

PC

Ctrl 1   = Jump to 1st open tab
Ctrl 2   = Jump to 2nd open tab
Ctrl 3   = Jump to 3rd open tab
Ctrl 4   = Jump to 4th open tab
Ctrl 5   = Jump to 5th open tab
Ctrl 6   = Jump to 6th open tab
Ctrl 7   = Jump to 7th open tab
Ctrl 8   = Jump to 8th open tab
Ctrl 9   = Jump to 9th open tab

Changing Text Size

Just as with keyboard shortcuts, changing the text size on any web page is easily accomplished with the mouse scroll wheel:

Mac

Cmd mouse-scroll-wheel UP     = Decrease text size
Cmd mouse-scroll-wheel DOWN   = Increase text size

PC

Ctrl mouse-scroll-wheel UP     = Decrease text size
Ctrl mouse-scroll-wheel DOWN   = Increase text size

Opening Tabs and Windows

Opening links in new tabs and windows is a great way to keep from going slowly insane. Here are some sweet tips to help do so:

Mac

Ctrl-click any link and select "Open Link in New Window"
Ctrl-click any link and select "Open Link in New Tab"

Shift-click   = opens link in new window
Cmd-click     = opens link in new tab

PC

Right-click any link and select "Open Link in New Window"
Right-click any link and select "Open Link in New Tab"

Shift-click   = opens link in new window
Ctrl-click    = opens link in new tab
Middle-click  = opens link in new tab

Closing Tabs

Closing tabs is a snap with these handy mouse shortcuts:

Mac

Cmd W              = Close tab
Cmd F4             = Close tab
Middle-click       = Close tab
Left+Right Click   = Close tab

To re-open a closed tab, use Cmd+Shift+T.

PC

Ctrl W             = Close tab
Ctrl F4            = Close tab
Middle-click       = Close tab
Left+Right Click   = Close tab

To re-open a closed tab, middle-click twice (via the scroll wheel) on the Tab Bar.

Managing Tabs

There are several easy ways to manage tabs in Firefox:

• To open a new tab, right/ctrl-click on any tab and select “New Tab”
• To reload the current tab, right/ctrl-click the tab and select “Reload Tab”
• To reload all open tabs, right/ctrl-click on any tab and select “Reload All Tabs”
• To close the current tab, right/ctrl-click the tab and select “Close Tab”
• To close all background tabs, right/ctrl-click on the tab and select “Close Other Tabs”
• To bookmark the current tab, right/ctrl-click the tab and select “Bookmark This Tab”
• To bookmark all tabs, right/ctrl-click any tab and select “Bookmark All Tabs”

Scrolling and Other Tricks

Wrapping things up are some nice tricks for scrolling, navigating, and selecting text:

• Slow Scrolling — scroll the page line-by-line by holding the Alt key while rolling the scroll wheel
• Mouse Gestures — click within the web page, watch your cursor change, and move the mouse to scroll up, down, or even sideways
• Tab through Links — use the Tab key to navigate through any (X)HTML document by jumping from link to link
• Navigate through Page History — quickly navigate forward and back through pages by holding the shift key while rolling your scroll wheel
• Highlight Entire Word — to select an entire word, click within the word and left-click twice
• Highlight Entire Line — to select an entire line, click within the line and left-click three times

And that’s a wrap!

As neat as the number “85” happens to be, I really wanted to post something like “101 Amazing Firefox Shortcuts,” or even “14 Billion Amazing Firefox Shortcuts.” But, alas, my collection of Firefox shortcut-snippets fell a bit short. So lend a hand and tell me what I missed! ;)

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Web Developer. Security Specialist. WordPress Buff.