How to Customize Firefox Tool Bar: Icons, Appearance & More
Add or Remove Toolbars
The Firefox tool bar consists of three basic toolbars by default. These are the Menu Bar, the Navigation Bar and the Bookmarks toolbar. If one of these Firefox tool bars is missing from view, you can easily restore them. Likewise, if you want a more streamlined toolbar you can hide one or more of these tool bars from view.
To do so, right-click a blank area of the tool bar. (Do so above the Bookmarks tool bar or you will see a different contextual menu than the one you currently need.) If all three of the tool bar names have checkmarks beside them, they are currently in view. To hide one, click on it to remove the checkmark. To display one that is hidden, click on it to restore the checkmark and desired toolbar.
If you have added another toolbar, such as Google, you will need to uninstall the toolbar to remove it from Firefox.
Customize Firefox Tool Bar Icons
Another way that you can customize your Firefox tool bar is by making changes to the icons. To do so, right-click the toolbar and select Customize. You can also go to the View menu, point to Toolbars and select Customize. Either method opens the Customize Toolbar dialog box.
There are several options at the bottom of the dialog. The first is the Show list. Use this to select what is displayed on your toolbar. You can show icons with text, only icons or only text. The second option is a checkbox that, when selected, changes the icons to a smaller size.
The next option is a button labeled Add New Toolbar. To use this feature, click the button and enter a name for the toolbar. Click OK. Notice that the Firefox tool bar widens a bit to give you room to customize your new toolbar. Drag the icons you wish to add from the Customize Toolbar dialog and drop them onto your custom toolbar.
If you ever decide you no longer want the changes you have made to your toolbar, simply click the Restore Default Set button. Click Done to close the dialog box.
Bookmarks Toolbar
As mentioned in the first section, one of the default Firefox tool bars is the Bookmarks toolbar. You can customize what is displayed on this toolbar, as well.
To add a bookmark to the toolbar, go to the Bookmarks menu and find the page you want on the toolbar. Click on the item, drag it to the Bookmarks toolbar and drop it there. If there is a bookmark you no longer want on the Bookmarks toolbar, right-click it and select Delete.
Other options on the Bookmarks toolbar customization menu include New Folder and New Separator, which enable you to add either of these objects to the toolbar, as well as Sort by Name, which will sort your bookmarks in alphabetical order.
If you wish to change the color of your Firefox tool bar and other elements of your browser window, you can do so using an add-on. Read How to Create a Firefox Persona Using Personas Plus Extension to learn more.
Screenshots courtesy of author.
