Use keyboard shortcuts in Firefox

This hack shows you which keyboard moves come standard with Firefox. There are many extensions that modify the available set of keystrokes and key chords.

Many Firefox keyboard combinations are the same as those of Internet Explorer. In particular, menu navigation uses the same combinations of arrow keys and Alt as most Windows applications, and navigation within text-editing fields supports the same keystrokes as most text editors (Ctrl+Left Arrow to move one word left, for example). Scrolling keys such as Page Up and Page Down work as you’d expect, too. The table below shows the major keys used by both browsers. (On the Macintosh, substitute Command for Ctrl and Option for Alt.)

Keyboard shortcuts common to Firefox and Internet Explorer

Key combinationCtrl+A Ctrl+C Ctrl+D Ctrl+H Ctrl+N Ctrl+O Ctrl+P Ctrl+R or F5 Ctrl+Shift+R or Ctrl+F5 Ctrl+V Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 Ctrl+X Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z Alt Alt+D or F6 Alt+F4 or Ctrl+Shift+W Alt+Home Alt+Left Arrow or Backspace Alt+Right Arrow or Shift+Backspace Delete End Esc F11 Home

UseSelect all content Copy current selection Add a bookmark Display the History sidebar Open a new window Open a file Print current page Reload current page Reload current page from origin Paste currently copied content Close the current tab Cut the current selection Redo last operation Begin menu navigation Focus and highlight the location bar Close current window Go to home page Go back one page Go forward one page Delete current item Move to bottom of page Stop current operation Display in full-screen mode Move to top of page

Firefox also has some unique keyboard combinations. The next table shows the common ones that don’t match Internet Explorer.

Keyboard shortcuts available in Firefox only

Key combinationCtrl+hyphen Ctrl+Plus Ctrl+0 (Ctrl+Zero) Ctrl+Down Arrow Ctrl+F or / Ctrl+G or F3 Ctrl+J (Ctrl+Y on Linux) Ctrl+K Ctrl+n (where n is a number) Ctrl+S Ctrl+T Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+Page Down Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+Page Up Ctrl+U ‘ Alt+Enter F6 F7 Shift+F3

UseDecrease text size Increase text size Restore text to normal size Select next search engine in location bar Find content by search string Repeat last Find operation forward Open download manager window Search the Web using the current search engine and keyword Go to the nth tab Save current page as file Open new tab Move to the next tab Move to the previous tab View page source Find link by search term Open URL in a new tab Move to next frame Toggle caret browsing Repeat last Find operation backward

Finally, here are some more detailed resources on Firefox keys. There’s an up-to-the-minute list in the Firefox Help system, under Help > Help Contents, Keyboard Shortcuts. Otherwise, look here for recent changes. More technically, there’s some newer discussion about key changes here. You might also want to look at this older URL. And finally, this page provides general accessibility information for Mozilla.