How to stop Firefox showing the downloads window every time you save a file

Starting with Firefox 98 (Released in March 2022), the default behaviour in Firefox is to now display the Downloads panel every single time you save a file to your computer.

A lot of people – myself included – find this incredibly annoying, so here’s how to stop the downloads pop-out window appearing every time you save a file.

1. Visit the Advanced Configuration url

   In the address bar, type in about:config and press enter. You do not need to put in http:// or www or anything like that; simply put about:config and press the Enter key on your keyboard.

   

2. Search for the

   browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel

   preference

   The browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel setting will be true, because this is Firefox’s new default setting. This is the preference we’re going to change to stop the downloads panel appearing every time.

   

3. Toggle the preference to “false”

   Either double click anywhere on the browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel line, or click the Toggle button to change it from true to false.

   

4. Close the settings tab

   Once you have finished fixing Firefox’s settings, simply close the Advanced Preferences tab and continue browsing the internet with less distractions.

   

The Mozilla Developers

A lot of people have raised this as an issue on the Mozilla Developers forums and other online discussion sites, so hopefully this will be switched off by default in the future.

Read our other Firefox guides

Here’s how to change settings in Firefox.

This guide was written by Brett H.

Brett is the Founder of WhatIsMyBrowser.com and he’s been helping people improve their computer skills since the 1990’s. He’s worked as a Software Developer, Systems Administrator, Tech Lead, and Freelancer in a variety of industries, and loves sharing his experience and understanding with those who need it.

Read Brett’s full bio – Contact Brett