FireFox Shortcuts Essentials

While There are tons of post or cheatsheets on firefox shortcuts, this post will just cover the essentials. These are the shortcuts that you actually need to know to increase your productivity. We will explore some of the less known tools like

• Caret Browsing
• Page Info
• Open Address Bar Link in New Tab
• Tab Navigation using KeyBoard

Note:This article has been written for linux. So if you are using windows just note that super means start button. And not all the shortcuts might be applicable to you. I would still suggest you read it since most of them would be applicable. You will definitely learn a new thing or two.

Let's get going with firstly the File Menu

File Menu

1. New Window: Ctrl + N
2. Private Window: Ctrl+ Shift + P
3. Save a Page : Ctrl +S
4. Print a Page : Ctrl + P

Most of the people should be familiar with New Tab , New Window and Printing a Page. In case, you are not, no worries, just go ahead and press the shortcut keys to get an idea. We will look a bit into the Private Window and Saving a Page.

Private Window

This opens a window similar to the New Window option but with one major difference. It doesn't remember your history. This particularly great when logging in accounts for one-time access. No browsing history , cookies and sessions are stored. Also FireFox comes with this legendary Do Not Track Me features, which means while you are using Private Browsing all tracking by websites should be rendered useless. 

Note: Private Browsing does not increase security in any way. You are still vulnerable to security threats.

Save a Page

This allows you to save a page to view it offline. You can carry it on your pendrive. Whenever you want to open it just open it by double clicking it. You can use another browser to open the website. All images and css files or script files are stored in a separate folder called website_name_files. This is almost as good as making a page rip.

Edit Shortcuts 

This pretty much the standard stuff

1. Cut : Ctrl +X
2. Copy : Ctrl +C
3. Past: Ctrl +Y
4. Undo: Ctrl + Z
5. Redo : Ctrl + Shift + Z or Ctrl + Y (Both Work)
6. Find : Ctrl + F

View 

1. View Bookmarks : Ctrl +B
2. View All Bookmars : Ctrl + Shift + B
3. View History : Ctrl + H
4. View All History : Ctrl + Shift  + H
5. Zoom in : Ctrl + Mouse Scroll Up
6. Zoom out: Ctrl + Mouse Scroll Down
7. Full Screen : F11

Full Screen  

I have never seen people using full screen mode on FireFox. I don't simply understand why ? It really looks great on a Projector or on ScreenCast. It removes all the cluter. If you simply want to browse use the Full Screen Mode. More Area to Read and Less to Scroll.

Difference Between Ctrl + H and the Ctrl + Shift + H 

Go ahead and press the two. If you want to see all the history use the later. If you want to quickly visit a page visited say yesterday or the last hour use the former. The former comes in a nice explorer style view will the later opens up a window.

Difference Between Ctrl + B and Ctrl + Shift + H

Pretty much the same. Go ahead ant try out the shortcut keys.

Tools 

1. Addons : Ctrl + Shift + A
2. Downloads : Ctrl + Shift + Y
3. Bookmark a Page : Ctrl + D
4. Inspector : Right Click -> Inspect an Element or Ctrl + Shift + C
5. Page Info : Ctrl + I
6. Clear History : Ctrl + Shift + Del
7. Caret Browser : F7

Page Info 

It is really cool option in firefox. You can stop a website from opening a popup, check its security info. It pretty powerful. Do give it a try ?

Caret Browser

This allows you to place a Cursor on the WebPage, like a Word Document. Now use the KeyBoard to Select the Text. Especially handy when the Mouse isn't working. Pretty Cool, Huh !

Navigation ShortCuts

1. Previous Page: BackSpace
2. Reload a Page : F5
3. Force Reload : Shift + F5
4. Address Bar: Ctrl + L (Select the text in Address Bar)
5. Search Box : Ctrl + K (Quickly search by Pressing Ctrl + K)
6. Stop Loading a Page : Escape
7. Scroll Down : SpaceBar
8. Scroll Up  Shift + SpaceBar

Difference between Force Reload and Reload

Force Reload reloads the Cache. So in case you make a change in a web page you should use Force Reload to ensure that the correct result is being displayed

Tabs

1. Next Tab : Ctrl + Tab
2. Previous Tab : Ctrl + Shift + Tab
3. New Tab : Ctrl + T
4. Open Address in New Tab : Alt + Enter
5. Close Tab:Ctrl + W

In case you have only one tab. Closing this tab closes the browser. I often press Ctrl + w + w + w +w , for closing a open Browser with 4 tabs in case of an emergency. If you know what I mean. *Eye Wink*

This saves me from the usually useful close all the tabs warning message. I like to keep it on as it saves from accidentally closing multiple tabs. But during times of emergency, this can be one of the most nasty popups, causing a great deal of damage. 

I hope you learn a new thing or two. Hopefully this increase your productivity while using FireFox. I haven't explored all the shortcuts and this is not a complete shortcut cheatsheet. This is pretty much what I use. I don't use any other shortcuts. In case you are interested do google out a few more shortcuts. Ctrl + W.