Mozilla Firefox web browser comes with a new download manager. In case you don’t like the new download manager, this article will help you in restoring or switching back to old Firefox download manager.
Firefox 20 + uses a panel based download manager. Now a downloads icon appear on the right side of the screen and downloads are displayed in a pop-up panel. The downloads panel has a link to show all downloads. When your press that show all downloads link, the Library window appears. It means downloads are now a part of library. This is in my opinion is not useful. In fact the new approach hampers workflow and I hate it! What about you? Don’t like the new download panel? Want to restore the old Firefox download manager window? If yes, read on.
Steps to Switch back to Old Firefox Download Manager:
- Type about:config in the address bar and hit enter.
- A warning message will appear. Press I’ll be careful, I promise button.
- Firefox advanced configuration window will appear. In the search field type browser.download.useToolkitUI (you can copy from here).
- One preference with the same name will appear. Double click on that boolean to toggle it’s value from false to true (you need to set the value as true).
- Close Firefox and restart.
From now, new download panel will be replaced by old style Firefox download manager. But the new downloads icon still sits there in the toolbar. Want to get rid of the downloads icon? Follow the steps below:
- Right click anywhere in the empty space of toolbar area.
- From the menu that appears, select Customize option.
- The Customize Toolbar window will appear. Now drag and drop the new downloads icon to the Customize Toolbar window.
- Press the done button.
Now enjoy Internet with the same old Firefox download manager. No more animated kids stuffs while downloading something and no more new downloads library windows.