This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Using Firefox 71.0 (Mac), how does one make links selected from external applications open in a window with the menu header bar active?

more options

Opening Firefox directly results in a new window with the header bar (File menu, etc.) active. However, clicking on a web page link in an external application (e.g., email) causes a new FF window to open without the header bar visible. Is it possible to configure FF to: a) open external links in new tabs with the header bar active (preferable); or b) open external links in new windows with the header bar active (less preferable)?

Opening Firefox directly results in a new window with the header bar (File menu, etc.) active. However, clicking on a web page link in an external application (e.g., email) causes a new FF window to open without the header bar visible. Is it possible to configure FF to: a) open external links in new tabs with the header bar active (preferable); or b) open external links in new windows with the header bar active (less preferable)?

All Replies (4)

more options

If you go to the about:profiles page on Firefox, do you see more than one profile listed?

It's possible that Firefox has two profiles on it: one that it's using when you open Firefox regularly and another that it's using when you open a link on another program. That could explain why the layout is different.

If you do see more than one listed, make note of what profile is the one you are using when you normally open Firefox. The next time you open a link from an external program, go to the about:profiles page again and set the default profile to the one that you use for your regular browsing.

Hopefully that works for you.

more options

Hi Wesley,

Thanks for your suggestion. Firefox is using my default profile when the issue occurs - please see attached screen grab.

Perhaps these observations might trigger some thoughts:

1. If I open FF first and then click on links in external applications, the web pages open as new tabs in the existing window with the header bar showing. 2. If FF is not open and I click on links in external applications two things happen - a new empty FF window with header bar visible opens in the background and a new foreground windows open at the page link with no header bar visible.

Any other ideas?

Many thanks,

John

more options

Could it be this bug ?

  • Bug 1603956 - macOS Catalina: Menu labels missing when cold opening Firefox from link or other app
more options

Yes, many thanks for pointing me to this post, Guess I'll have to wait for future updates to fix.