Tab Previews in Firefox function similarly to other popular browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, and Brave Browser. When you hover over a tab, a small preview of the webpage is shown, allowing you to quickly glance at the content without switching tabs.
While Tab Previews are available in the latest version of Firefox, the feature isn’t enabled by default, likely due to ongoing bug fixes. There isn’t a straightforward option in the browser settings to activate it. You’ll need to adjust some advanced configurations to turn it on. Here’s how to do it:
How To Activate Tab Previews In Firefox
1. Go to the about:config page.
2. Accept the Risk and Continue to proceed.
3. Paste the following text in the search bar
4. The default setting is false.
5. Double-click on it to change it to true.
That’s all you need to do. No need to restart the browser after making these changes. Test the feature by opening multiple tabs, hovering over them, and observing Firefox display Tab Previews. Keep in mind that this feature only works on active tabs (tabs that are currently open). Inactive tabs won’t show Tab Previews until you click on them to make them active.
If you notice Tab Previews appearing slowly, there’s an option you can adjust. Search for.
By default, it’s set to 1000ms (1 second), indicating that Tab Previews show up 1 second after hovering over a tab. Lower the value to 500ms or below to decrease the delay. Setting it to 200ms will display the previews instantly.
Firefox 123 also introduces a new Web Compatibility Reporting Tool, which is another hidden feature. Follow the same steps as above and search for extensions.webcompat-reporter.enabled. Change its value to True to activate it. To use the tool, go to a website, click on Firefox’s Menu > Help, and you should find an option titled “Report site issue.”
If you wish to view thumbnails of multiple tabs simultaneously, you can utilize the Panorama Tab Groups extension to see the previews and organize your tabs into groups. Despite this, having built-in support for Tab Previews is a step forward, removing the necessity for potentially outdated or unsupported add-ons going forward.
Users have been requesting Mozilla to integrate Tab Groups and Vertical Tabs into Firefox for a long time, features they hope to see included in the future.
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