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

Can't access browser when "Save As..." dialog box is active

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by dezzo

more options

Hi all,

When I am downloading and saving a file and the "Save As..." dialog box is active, I'm not able to click behind it to access the browser as I can with Internet Explorer.

I need to be able to access the webpage while the dialog is open, as I often need to copy/paste text from the webpage into the file name field on the Save As... box.

Does anyone know if there is an add-on or something that will remove this limitation?

Hi all, When I am downloading and saving a file and the "Save As..." dialog box is active, I'm not able to click behind it to access the browser as I can with Internet Explorer. I need to be able to access the webpage while the dialog is open, as I often need to copy/paste text from the webpage into the file name field on the Save As... box. Does anyone know if there is an add-on or something that will remove this limitation?

Modified by dezzo

All Replies (2)

more options

Hi dezzo! I understand the inconvenience you face in doing that. Unfortunately this is not a problem with Firefox as that is the way it is built. If you really need to copy text into the save as dialog box, try to cancel it and copy what you need and then save as. There are many add ons that allow you to take control of your browser's clipboard/copy cache so you don't have to worry about storing lots of data.

more options

The problem with that solution is that when I close the dialog box so I can copy the text I need from the tab underneath, I lose the location of the folder for saving the file, and then I need to navigate back through all the folders to find the location again. This is a waste of time.

I cannot copy all the text at the same time into the Save As... box, as I need to take the text from several locations on the webpage (such as program name, version info, etc) and compile it into a useful file name.

Again, if anyone knows of a workaround for this issue (other than the clipboard addons which will only complicate matters) then please repsond.

Thanks!