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Download Progress dropdown list keeps coming up

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by toupee

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Firefox did an update today, so I assume this has something to do with it. Every time I do a download (and I do a lot) the drop down list showing the downloads I've done pops out. It didn't do this prior to the update. It used only to appear when I selected it. Now it comes out every blasted time. It's very annoying and distracting. To be clear, I still want to see the download arrow/indicator/whatever so I can see the download is happening, but I don't want to see the list each time. How do I make it STOP? Image attached. Thank you.

Firefox did an update today, so I assume this has something to do with it. Every time I do a download (and I do a lot) the drop down list showing the downloads I've done pops out. It didn't do this prior to the update. It used only to appear when I selected it. Now it comes out every blasted time. It's very annoying and distracting. To be clear, I still want to see the download arrow/indicator/whatever so I can see the download is happening, but I don't want to see the list each time. How do I make it STOP? Image attached. Thank you.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

In Firefox 97 and 98+ there have been changes to the download panel.

You can set this pref to false on the about:config page to prevent opening the download panel on each download.

  • browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (10)

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Chosen Solution

In Firefox 97 and 98+ there have been changes to the download panel.

You can set this pref to false on the about:config page to prevent opening the download panel on each download.

  • browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

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Excellent. Worked perfectly. Thank you,

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I am having the same problem, and the fix here no longer works. :(

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Hi erica_buchberger

Setting browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel = false should prevent opening the download panel automatically when you start a download. If this doesn't work for you then you may experience a different issue.

You can start a new thread for your issue to get more attention and provide more information like your operating system and installed add-ons.


Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or userChrome.css is causing the problem.

  • switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window
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Thanks, cor-el. Unfortunately, the dropdown still happens in Troubleshoot Mode.

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The download dropdown appears randomly, not only when starting a download or something... sometimes it also appears when watching a video. The last download was yesterday, yet it keeps popping up randomly.

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lajby95 said

The download dropdown appears randomly, not only when starting a download or something... sometimes it also appears when watching a video. The last download was yesterday, yet it keeps popping up randomly.

Same here. Happens randomly but mostly when watching a video.

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The download panel has been popping up at random for me for at least a week now. It's very strange behavior. I haven't downloaded anything in days and days.

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toupee said

The download panel has been popping up at random for me for at least a week now. It's very strange behavior. I haven't downloaded anything in days and days.

Add me to the list, same here...turns out it's a recent add-on, just found this showing it seems to be all who are using "Simple tab groups." As they note there:

"STG (simple tab groups) was the culprit for me. I went to the github and found a report on this and in the issue there is a workaround by changing a setting in about:config. Look for browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel and set to false."

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That makes a lot of sense, I'm also using simple tab groups.