Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

How do i stop firefox from blocking my taskbar when downloading?

computerhater
computerhater
more options

Every time I download anything using Firefox, the downloads dialogue box blocks use of both my popup taskbar or the side to side scroll bar making me clear the downloads list EVERY TIME I do a download. I hate that the previous version of Firefox did this, and see that no one has bothered to fix this annoying glitch in the new version. It's maddening trying to save large pics as you can't see them until you clear the downloads list.

Every time I download anything using Firefox, the downloads dialogue box blocks use of both my popup taskbar or the side to side scroll bar making me clear the downloads list EVERY TIME I do a download. I hate that the previous version of Firefox did this, and see that no one has bothered to fix this annoying glitch in the new version. It's maddening trying to save large pics as you can't see them until you clear the downloads list.

All Replies (2)

David McRitchie
David McRitchie
more options

The downloads manager is a regular dialog box, unlike the door hanger variety, so you can put it wherever you want it. You can resize it, and the resizing should stick on subsequent usage. You can toggle it on or off anytime with "Ctrl+J", and you have some control when it appears automatically or closes automatically.

Tools > Options > General > (Downloads section)...

If you are still using the "Firefox" button introduced in Firefox 4 "Firefox" button > Options (2nd column) > Options > (Downloads section)...

Mine is set as follows [x] Show the Downloads window when downloading a file 

     [_] Close it when all downloads are finished

I'm on high speed access so if I download something, I'm probably waiting for it so don't mind the window.

computerhater
computerhater Question owner
more options

That's not what I mean. It's not physically blocking my access. The dialogue box is way at the top of the page. It's just that any time there's an "uncleared" item I've downloaded, I can't get my taskbar to pop up from auto-hide and I can't get to the the scroll bar. I'm not a hacker, so I don't know how to describe it. The popup just "locks" my browser until I clear everything I've downloaded. I don't want to disable it as I use it to put downloads where i want them or even create new folders to save things in.

I don't see WHY it should "freeze" my taskbar or any scroll bars that might be on a page. It's like a "browser hijack" effect. I WOULD disable it if I didn't need it to save everything in a different place.