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

Switch to tab with %: painful keyboard key press/release combination

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Shadow110

more options

I love the firefox Feature to quickly switch to an opened tab; especially when there are many opened tabs. The method is as follows:

1. Type Ctrl-L to access the address bar

2. Type "% " in the address bar by pressing Shift+5 (on a US keyboard) followed by a space. This restricts the search to only opened tabs (no bookmark and search engine results).

3. Type a query that identifies an opened tab (for instance, "mail" almost always identifies my gmail tab).

4. Use Tab to select the tab of choice, and hit Enter to switch.

This feature is really nice when many opened tabs are opened. However, the key combination that I use to use the feature is really painful. I have to press Ctrl+L, then release Ctrl (otherwise % will not show up), then press Shift+5 to produce a "%", then hit space, then release Shift (otherwise shift kills the switch to open tab feature), then type the query.

This sequence of key presses/releases is very painful for my fingers; it's very hard to touch/type this sequence without making mistakes. I have to explicitly think about the sequence of key presses/releases and using the feature ends up slowing me more than anything.

Am I missing something and is there a better way to use the switch to type feature only using the keyboard?

Is it possible to create a new shortcut that performs steps 1. and 2. above?

I love the firefox Feature to quickly switch to an opened tab; especially when there are many opened tabs. The method is as follows: 1. Type Ctrl-L to access the address bar 2. Type "% " in the address bar by pressing Shift+5 (on a US keyboard) followed by a space. This restricts the search to only opened tabs (no bookmark and search engine results). 3. Type a query that identifies an opened tab (for instance, "mail" almost always identifies my gmail tab). 4. Use Tab to select the tab of choice, and hit Enter to switch. This feature is really nice when many opened tabs are opened. However, the key combination that I use to use the feature is really painful. I have to press Ctrl+L, then release Ctrl (otherwise % will not show up), then press Shift+5 to produce a "%", then hit space, then release Shift (otherwise shift kills the switch to open tab feature), then type the query. This sequence of key presses/releases is very painful for my fingers; it's very hard to touch/type this sequence without making mistakes. I have to explicitly think about the sequence of key presses/releases and using the feature ends up slowing me more than anything. Am I missing something and is there a better way to use the switch to type feature only using the keyboard? Is it possible to create a new shortcut that performs steps 1. and 2. above?

Modified by fkjeowmre

All Replies (1)

more options