14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla is always looking to expand the capabilities of Firefox browser, and one of the new features coming to users in the next updates is support for keyboard shortcuts for the installed extensions.
At this point, Mozilla Firefox users can configure certain extensions with keyboard shortcuts if they support this feature and offer customization options in this regard.
For a tab management extension, for example, it would be possible to perform certain actions, like saving a tab, with just a keyboard shortcut. If the extension supports it, you are allowed to change the default hotkey, if not, there’s not much you can do about it.
Mozilla is trying to change this experience beginning with Firefox 66, as the browser will include options to change the keyboard shortcuts for the installed extensions. Again, the extension must offer keyboard support, so basically what Firefox is going to do is offer a more straightforward interface to manage them.
As reported by TechDows, the feature is also being tested in the nightly builds of Firefox, so you can try it out right away – note that nightly versions aren’t supposed to serve as daily browsers because their only purpose is to let users experiment with new features and send feedback to the developing company.
The keyboard shortcut support is implemented into the add-on manager page, so you can easily reach it by simply clicking the menu button > add-ons. As an alternative, you can type the following code in the address bar:
about:addons
As you’ll see when opening the add-on manager, there’s a new button called Keyboard Shortcuts placed right next to the Manage Your Extensions section.
Clicking this button basically expands all the installed extensions and displays a straightforward menu to set up keyboard shortcuts for the ones that support this feature.
As you can see in the screenshots here, each extension feature comes with its own field for setting up a keyboard extension, so it takes just a second to assign a hotkey. If you have lots of extensions installed, you need to search for the feature that you want to use with a shortcut manually, as there is no search box available.
Extensions that do no support hotkeys come with a message that reads There are no shortcuts for this extension. You can look for additional extensions in Mozilla’s own store, and when you install other add-ons that include support for keyboard shortcuts, they will show up in this list as well. There’s no limit as to how many extensions you can configure from this screen, so you can install as many as you want.
There’s no save button, so you can just set up a new hotkey and then close the window. All your modifications are automatically saved and applied without the need for a browser reboot.
As mentioned, this feature will become available for all users with the release of Firefox 66, but the timing also depends on how the testing advances.
According to Mozilla’s very own release schedule, Firefox 66 should be launched on all supported platforms on March 19 this year. The next major release is Firefox 65, which is projected to become available for download on January 29.
Mozilla Firefox is currently the world’s second desktop browser, after leader Google Chrome, and updates like this certainly helps increase its adoption. In fact, Mozilla has always been one of the companies looking into ways to improve Firefox browser with new features as part of every single major update, so this feature aligns with the company’s overall approach.