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Dropdowns will not stay open

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When I click to open a dropdown, it opens and then immediately shuts back up again. I have to maintain pressure on the left click to keep the box open. Any ideas?

When I click to open a dropdown, it opens and then immediately shuts back up again. I have to maintain pressure on the left click to keep the box open. Any ideas?

All Replies (6)

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Terry, thanks for your response which I tried but unfortunately it didn’t solve the issue.

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I can't see which OS you use. Windows and Mac have particular issues with which I am not familiar. Providing more information may improve your chances of finding a solution.

Otherwise, if a new profile doesn't solve the problem, you could try reinstalling.

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The OP is on Mac OS 12.6.

If you use extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) that can block content (Adblock Plus, NoScript, DuckDuckGo PE, Disconnect, Ghostery, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin) always make sure such extensions do not block content.

Firefox shows a purple shield instead of a gray shield at the left end of the location/address bar in case Enhanced Tracking Protection is blocking content.

  • click the shield icon for more detail and possibly disable the protection

You can check the Web Console for relevant-looking messages about blocked content.


You can try these steps in case of issues with webpages:

You can reload webpage(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.

  • hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
  • press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
  • press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)

Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies for websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Settings).

"Remove the Cookies" for websites that cause problems:

  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"

"Clear the Cache":

  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Clear Data -> [X] Cached Web Content -> Clear

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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cor-el Thanks for that very comprehensive list of things to try. Unfortunately none of them has worked. properly. However, I did notice that after doing a couple of your suggestions the behaviour was slightly different. When I am logging into my bank website there are 3 drop-down boxes in view asking for random characters from a password. When I click the first of those boxes it behaves normally, ie I can click and then scroll down the alphabetic list of characters to get to the appropriate letter. But when I then click the second or third box, the list of characters still flashes down and then vanishes.

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I have spent many hours trying many possible "cures" for this disappearing dropdown list problem but to no avail. One thing I did pick up somewhere was that it might have something to do with the size of the window in use. Sure enough, when I reinstalled Firefox for the Nth time the dropdowns all worked in the very first window that opens. However if I resize it, all goes to rats again and resizing back to the original size doesn't change that. So, I either have to live with it, or it's back to Safari, where I detest its slowness and it's variable size tabs. Chrome is fine except that it and all the Google stuff in adds, slowed my Mac to a crawl. Over and out.