This document is provided by Mozilla 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 by Mozilla about what constitutes
adequate privacy and security protection on the Internet.
Customising Mozilla
You can customise Mozilla to better suit your needs using features like the Sidebar, bookmarks and Tabbed
Browsing.
This section describes the customisable aspects of Mozilla's browser component, Navigator.
The Sidebar
What is The Sidebar?
The Sidebar is a customisable frame in your browser where you can keep items that you need to use all the
time—the latest news and weather, your address book or Buddy List, stock quotes, a calendar—and many
other available options. The Sidebar presents these items to you in tabs that are continually updated.
Mozilla comes with some Sidebar tabs already set up, but you can customise your Sidebar by adding, removing and
rearranging tabs.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Using The Sidebar
Unless you have closed the Sidebar, it is always open at the left side of
your browser. To view a tab:
- Click a tab's title; for instance, click the words "Search". The Search tab opens, which allows you to search
for web pages.
 |
Sidebar Handle
|
If you don't see the Sidebar, it may be closed. To open it:
- Move the mouse pointer up and down along the left hand border of the Mozilla window. The pointer changes to a
hand when it touches the "handle" for the Sidebar, as shown in the picture.
-
Click the handle to open the Sidebar.
Note: If the Sidebar is not selected from the View menu in Navigator (within the Show/Hide submenu),
you will not see the frame or its handle.
Tip: To reload a Sidebar tab, right-click on the tab title and choose Reload from the pop-up menu.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Adding Sidebar Tabs
To add a new tab:
- Click "Tabs" at the top of the Sidebar and select Customise Sidebar from the menu.
- In the Customise Sidebar dialogue box, select a tab from the list on the left. Double-click the folders to
open or close folders.
- Click Add.
- Continue adding as many tabs as you want.
- Click OK to finish.
Note: If you add more than eight tabs to the Sidebar, Mozilla hides the remaining tabs to reduce
clutter. To scroll through the hidden tabs, click the down arrow button at the bottom of the 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 Customise
Sidebar dialogue box and click Preview. After a few seconds, the tab displays in the Tab Preview pop-up
window.
- To view an extensive and categorised list of Sidebar tabs available for the Sidebar, click "Tabs" at the top
of the Sidebar and select Sidebar Directory.
You can also turn Sidebar tabs on and off.
- Click "Tabs" at the top of the Sidebar. Current tabs are listed in the lower part of the menu.
- Select the tabs you want displayed in the Sidebar. Remove the checkmark 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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Customising Individual Sidebar
Tabs
Note: Not all tabs can be customised.
- Click "Tabs" at the top of the Sidebar and select Customise Sidebar from the menu.
- Select an available tab from the list on the right.
-
Click Customise Tab if it is enabled. A window appears with information and options for customising the tab.
The instructions vary depending on the source of the tab—in addition to Mozilla, tab providers can be
any company, organisation, or individual who uses the Internet.
- After you follow the tab provider's instructions, close the customisation window (or follow the provider's
instructions to close it).
- Click OK to finish.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Reorganising Sidebar
Tabs
- Click "Tabs" at the top of the Sidebar and select Customise Sidebar from the menu.
- Select a tab from the list on the right.
- Click Up and Down to change the tab's placement.
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 to continue reorganising as many tabs as you like.
- Click OK to finish.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Removing Sidebar Tabs
- Click "Tabs" at the top of the Sidebar and select Customise Sidebar from the menu.
- Select a tab from the list on the right.
- Click Remove.
- Continue removing as many tabs as you like.
- Click OK to finish.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Opening, Closing and Resizing the Sidebar
Use the Sidebar handle to open, close and resize the Sidebar's frame:
 |
Sidebar
Handle
|
If the Sidebar is closed, you can still see its handle. If the handle is missing, open the View menu , choose
Show/Hide and then Sidebar. Move the mouse pointer up and down along the left edge of the Mozilla window. The
pointer changes to a hand when it touches the "handle" for the Sidebar, as shown in the picture.
- Click the "Open Sidebar" icon on the left side of the Personal Toolbar, if available.
- Click the handle to open and close the Sidebar.
- Click and drag the handle to resize the Sidebar.
To remove the Sidebar, including the handle, do one of the following:
- Click the "Close Sidebar" icon on the left side of the Personal Toolbar, if available
- Click the X in the upper-right corner of the Sidebar.
- Open the View menu, choose Show/Hide and uncheck Sidebar.
- Press F9.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Tabbed Browsing
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 Navigator window. Each tab appears on the Tab Bar. For example, you can visit mozilla.org,
icq.com and news.bbc.co.uk 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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Setting up Tabbed Browsing
There are several ways to customise Tabbed Browsing. For example, you can change your preferences to open new
Navigator tabs from the Location Bar. You can set up Tabbed Browsing in other ways too, such as loading new
Navigator 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 Mozilla, see Navigator
Preferences - Tabbed Browsing.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Opening Tabs
You can open a Navigator tab in the following ways:
Opening a New Blank Navigator Tab:
- From the File menu: Open the File menu, choose New and then New Navigator 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 Navigator Tab:
- From a pop-up menu: Right-click on a web page link and choose Open Link in New Tab. (To right-click on
Mac OS, press Ctrl and click the mouse button.)
- From the Location Bar: Type a web page location in the Location Bar and press Ctrl+Enter. (On Mac,
press Cmd+Enter)
Note: You must set your Tabbed Browsing preferences to open a Navigator tab from the Location Bar. See
Navigator Preferences - Tabbed Browsing for more
information.
Tips:
- To quickly open a new blank Navigator tab, press Ctrl+T.
- To reload one or all Navigator tabs, right-click anywhere on the Tab Bar and select Reload Tab or Reload All
Tabs, respectively.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Bookmarking
Tabs
A bookmarked group of tabs is called a Groupmark. To bookmark the group of Navigator tabs in the current
window:
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose "Bookmark This Group of Tabs".
- Type a name for the bookmark group in the Name field.
-
Choose from any of these options:
- Create in: Choose a folder in which to create your Groupmark.
- New Folder: Click this button to create a new folder in which to create your Groupmark.
- Use Default: Click this button to file the Groupmark in your designated New Bookmark folder. For
more information on designating your New Bookmark folders, see Organising Your Bookmarks.
- Click OK to add the Groupmark.
Tip: To learn how to use a group of tabs as your home page, see Navigator Preferences - Navigator.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Closing Tabs
You can close Navigator tabs in several ways:
Closing the Navigator 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 Navigator tab, even if hidden, right-click on the tab and choose Close Tab from the pop-up
menu.
- To keep only one Navigator tab open, while closing all other tabs, right-click on the Navigator tab and
choose Close Other Tabs.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Changing Fonts, Colours and Themes
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:
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
- Under the Appearance category, choose Fonts. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the
list.)
- 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".
- Select whether proportional text should be serif or sans-serif. Then specify the font size you want for
proportional text. You can select either Serif (like Times Roman) or Sans-serif (like Arial).
- 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.
- Specify whether the default font should be serif or sans serif.
- 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".
To adjust the readability of fonts, select from the drop-down list the dots per inch (dpi) for displaying web
pages. Select "Other" to open the Calibrate Resolution dialogue box, which allows you to calibrate your resolution
by measuring how long a line appears on your screen. Increased screen resolution may improve text readability on
some screens.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Changing the Default Colours
Normally, the background and text colours on web pages are determined by the default colours set by your
browser, or by the pages' authors.
To change the default colours:
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
- Under the Appearance category, choose Colours. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand
the list.)
- Click the coloured blocks next to Text, Background, Unvisited Links, and Visited Links. Choose a colour for
each from the colour chart. You can also specify that links should be underlined.
Most web page authors choose their own colours. You can override the authors' intentions by selecting "Use my
chosen colours, ignoring the colours 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 colours by selecting "Enable syntax highlighting".
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Changing the Theme
You can change the look and feel of Mozilla by changing themes.
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
- Under the Appearance category, choose Themes.
- Click to select the theme you want to use.
-
Click OK to confirm your choice.
Note: You need to quit and restart Mozilla after you apply a new theme in order for the change to take
effect.
Shortcut: You can also change themes by opening the View menu, choosing Apply Theme and then choosing
the theme you want to use.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Toolbars
Navigation Toolbar
The Navigation Toolbar, pictured here, helps you move around the Web.
 |
Back |
Forward |
Reload |
Stop |
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Personal
Toolbar
The Personal Toolbar is completely customisable—you decide what you want to keep there. The Personal
Toolbar comes with some buttons already enabled, including your My Mozilla page, your home page, search and
mail.
 |
Personal Toolbar
|
You can easily add, delete and rearrange items in the Personal Toolbar.
Turning Buttons On and Off
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
- Click Navigator.
- Under "Select the buttons you want to see in the toolbars", choose the buttons that you want on your
toolbar.
- Click OK.
Adding Personal Toolbar bookmarks
You can add buttons for your favourite bookmarks, or folders containing groups of bookmarks. To create a new
bookmark to add to the Personal Toolbar:
- Open a web page you want to bookmark.
- 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. See Adding
Personal Toolbar Bookmark Folders for more information on adding bookmark folders to the personal
toolbar.
Note: The bookmark icon
may appear as
another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Web Site 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
Personal Toolbar Bookmark Folders
You can add bookmark folders to the Personal Toolbar to sort your favourite 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:
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- Select your designated "Personal Toolbar Folder".
- Click New Folder on the toolbar.
- Type a name for your new bookmark folder. By default, the name is "New Folder".
- 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
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- Select the bookmark folder whose items you want to appear on the toolbar.
- 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
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- Click the Personal Toolbar Folder.
- Select the bookmark or folder you want to delete.
- Press Delete on your keyboard.
- 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
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, click the Personal Toolbar Folder.
- Select a bookmark or folder and drag it to a new location.
- When you are finished rearranging items, close your Bookmarks window.
Note: Standard buttons on the Personal Toolbar such as Search and Home Page cannot be rearranged, but
they can be turned off and on.
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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Status Bar
The Status Bar is located at the bottom of any Mozilla 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
web site 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 Mozilla 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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Component Bar
Use the Component Bar at the bottom-left of any Mozilla window to switch between tasks (such as browsing or
mail).

[ Return to beginning of section ]
Hiding a Toolbar
There are two ways to hide the toolbars.
To minimise 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:
- Open the View menu.
- 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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Bookmarks
What
Are Bookmarks?
Bookmarks are shortcuts to your favourite 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 the Sidebar and the Manage Bookmarks
window. You can control what's listed in the Bookmarks menu by adding bookmarks for your favourite web pages and
organising your list of bookmarks any way you want.
Using Bookmarks
Mozilla comes with some bookmarks already available. To use a bookmark:
- Open the Bookmarks menu.
- Choose a bookmark from the list or from a folder in the list.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Creating New Bookmarks
You can bookmark your favourite web sites 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:
-
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose File Bookmark. Choose from any of these options:
- Name: Type a name for the bookmark if you want a different name.
- Location: Type a URL for the bookmark if you want a different URL.
- Create in: Choose a folder in which to create your bookmark.
- New Folder: Click this to create a new folder in which to create your bookmark.
- Default: Click this to file the bookmark in your designated New Bookmark folder.
- Click OK to add the bookmark.
Tip: If you have multiple Navigator tabs open in a window, you can select "Bookmark This Group 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 the Sidebar, open the 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 Web Site 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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Organising Your Bookmarks
To organise 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 the Sidebar. Click on Manage at
the top of the Bookmarks tab.
To view bookmarks that are inside 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:
- In your Bookmarks window, click New Folder or New Separator. The new folder or separator appears below the
current selection.
To remove a bookmark or a folder from the list:
- Click to highlight the bookmark or folder that you want to remove.
- Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or click Delete in your Bookmarks window.
To sort your bookmarks in the Manage Bookmarks window:
- Open the View menu and select how you want the list sorted (such as Sort by Name or Sort by Location).
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, Mozilla 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.
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, select a folder to hold new bookmarks.
- Open the View menu and choose Set as New Bookmark Folder.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Changing Individual Bookmarks
You can change the information for any individual bookmark.
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, click a bookmark.
- Click Properties.
- In the bookmark Properties dialogue 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 type a bookmark's keyword into the location field to go to the bookmarked site.)
You can also set Mozilla to check bookmarked web sites for changes.
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, click a bookmark.
- Click Properties.
- In the bookmark Properties dialogue box, click the Schedule tab.
- Use the pull down lists to specify how frequently you want Mozilla to check the bookmarked page for
changes.
- If you want to be notified when the bookmarked page changes, click the Notify tab and choose a notification
option.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Searching Your Bookmarks
To search the bookmarks list:
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, open the Edit menu and choose Find Bookmarks. You see the Find Bookmarks dialogue
box.
-
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.
- 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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
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.
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu, and choose Export.
- In the "Export Bookmark file" dialogue box, choose a folder. Your bookmarks.html file will be copied into the
folder you designate.
- Click Save.
Your Mozilla bookmarks are not altered by this procedure.
You can also import bookmarks files from other sources. For example, you can import bookmarks files from
earlier Mozilla versions, other browsers, or from bookmark files that your friends send you.
Before you start, make sure that the bookmark file you want to import is an HTML file.
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
- In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu and choose Import.
- In the "Import Bookmark file" dialogue box, locate and select the bookmark file you want to import.
- Click Save.
The imported bookmark file is 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 bookmark file imports the bookmarks and folders from that file. It does not create two
bookmark files.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Specifying How Mozilla Starts Up
Specifying a Starting Page
You can specify the page that loads when the browser starts:
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
-
Under "When Navigator starts up display", choose whether you want a blank page, your home page, or the last web
page visited to open automatically when you launch your browser.
Note: If you selected Home Page, type the URL in the Location field.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
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 Mozilla.
To specify your home page:
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
- Click the Navigator category.
-
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.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Specifying Which Components Open at Launch
You can choose components (such as Mail & Newsgroups and Composer) to launch when you start Mozilla:
- Open the Edit menu (Mozilla menu on Mac OS X) and choose Preferences.
- Click the Appearance category.
- Select the components you want opened automatically each time you start Mozilla.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
15 June 2003
Copyright © 1998-2003 The Mozilla Foundation.