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why is the New Tab page blank?

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When I click the + for a new tab the page is blank - not defaulted to Firefox's page icons or where I can pin my own frequently visited websites.

When I click the + for a new tab the page is blank - not defaulted to Firefox's page icons or where I can pin my own frequently visited websites.

All Replies (6)

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Hi, does your new tab page have a gear / sprocket button on the right side to manage what appears on it?

If not, an extension may be modifying the page. You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any system extensions that Firefox installs on its own are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything that seems likely to affect the new tab page? If in doubt, disable. (Or if the extension has an Options button, you could see whether you can modify what it is doing.)

Any improvement?

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Under 'extensions' it says: "You don't have any add-ons of this type installed". I did something and lost all of my bookmarks, tabs etc., and when I click + for a new tab there is only a blank page - no default pages (like youtube etc.) that Mozilla said should be there (and where I pinned many). All gone. I appreciate you help.

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Did you find the gear icon right top of new page and click ?

Ir is in the white area.

https://www.howtogeek.com/333805/how-to-change-or-customize-firefoxs-new-tab-page/

Modified by Shadow110

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No gear icon in right corner - gear/sun icon in white and when clicked brings up "options"

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There ya go

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Could you extract the address of the blank page. Here's how:

Call up the Page Info dialog. Either:

  • right-click (one button mouse: Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info
  • (menu bar) Tools menu > Page Info

On the General panel, triple-click the URL to the right of Address to select it, then either Ctrl+c to copy it, or right-click>Copy, and you can paste it into a reply.

Normally the page is called about:newtab so the question is whether you have something else there.


In case the Activity Stream is malfunctioning, you can switch that off and return to the "old" new tab page:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newt and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false

Any improvement?