Bookmarks Toolbar in FireFox Full-Screen Mode

This is a neat trick that I use in FireFox.  I like to use FireFox in full-screen mode and I use the bookmarks toolbar a lot.  The trouble begins when using full-screen mode, toggled with F11 for the uninitiated.

Using full-screen mode really improves the browsing experience.

It gets rid of UI clutter and lets you focus on the web site you’re browsing.  Unfortunately it also hides useful things, such as your bookmarks toolbar.

You still have access to your tab bar by placing your cursor at the top of the view port.

You can also use CTRL+B to toggle your sidebar into view which is useful.  Unfortunately, the bookmarks toolbar will disappear … BOO!  You’re left with this:

Missing bookmarks toolbar

To bring it back whilst also in full-screen mode, you need a spot of profile CSS jiggery pokery but its really straight forward.

How to Show your Bookmarks Toolbar

Firstly, locate your active profile:

1. Open the Run dialog by:
   1. Pressing Windows Key+R;
   2. Clicking on Start then type “run“;
   3. Press the Windows Key to open the start menu and then type “run“
2. In the Open command textbox in the Run dialog, type the following following command:

   firefox.exe -P

This will open the Profile Manager view showing your active profile.  To view the location on disk, hover over the  active profile entry shown on the right-hand side of the dialog, a tool-tip will pop up showing the path.

1. Navigate to this profile directory in explorer then look for a “chrome” directory containing a userChrome.css file.  An example location might look like this:

   \%APP DATA%\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<your profile directory>\chrome\userChrome.css

2. If none of this exist, create what you need.
   1. Create a “chrome” directory if it doesn’t exist
   2. Create a new text file inside the new chrome directory (Right-click -> New -> Text Document)
   3. Name it “userChrome.css“.  Click on yes when asked about the file extension.
3. Edit userChrome.css by selecting the file and hitting Enter on the keyboard or double-clicking on the file name.
4. Paste in the following code:

   @namespace url(http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul);
    #navigator-toolbox[inFullscreen] #PersonalToolbar{
    visibility: visible !important;
   }

5. Save the file

Now restart FireFox and test the full-screen mode (F11).  Going into full-screen mode should now allow access to your bookmarks toolbar.

Shows the bookmarks toolbar in full-screen mode

Useful Full-Screen Shortcuts

When if full screen mode, you can use these shortcuts:

• Open new tab – Hold CTRL + T
• Scroll a page – Press PgUp or PpDn
• Open Search – Hold CTRL + K
• Refresh Page – Press F5 or Hold ALT + R
• Go to saved Home Page – Hold ALT + Home
• Cycle through open tabs – Forwards – Hold CTRL + TAB – Backwards – Hold CTRL, SHIFT + TAB
• Close current tab – Hold CTRL + W
• Undo Close Tab – Hold CTRL, SHIFT + T
• Navigate history – Hold ALT and then tap an Arrow Key
• Find in page – Hold CTRL +F then press F3 to continue looking
• Open developer tools – Press F12
• Open mobile view port – Hold CTRL, SHIFT + M

You can find many more useful keyboard shortcuts in the FireFox documentation.