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Hidden Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird Prefs


The following is a list of hidden Mozilla prefs I know of that can be quite helpful. Many of them are taken from http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html (NOTE: Not all the prefs listed on that website are over here). Others will be added as and when I find out about them. Another useful page is the Firefox Tips and Tricks page.

Don't know how to change prefs? See this link on mozilla.org.

There are some interesting things you can do with userChrome.css and userContent.css files. Take a look - userChrome.css  userContent.css

For a more detailed description of Mozilla files and how they work. Click here

Know a pref that might be a useful addition? Something over here is wrong or doesn't work? Then email me! and let me know.

Older version of this page can be found here.

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Browser/Firefox

// Patch for bug 143687 has been checked in on 21-Oct-2003.
// Now you can view favicons in the toolbar with the following pref set.
// 0 - Do not display favicons (default)
// 1 - Display only if present in cache
// 2 - Always load them

user_pref("browser.chrome.load_toolbar_icons", 1);

// EXPERIMENTAL
// Nightlies after 12-Jul-2002 have a fix to bug 28586. What it means
// is that Mozilla will display an error page instead of the annoying
// dialog box. Add the following pref to see it in action.
// NOTE: This feature is experimental and can crash your browser
// See bug 157102.

user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true)

// Turn off domain guessing (which adds www. and .com) for link URLs
// This means that if you type http://cnn/, Mozilla will not try
// to go to http://www.cnn.com. For more details read bug 34943
// This will also fix the nasty bug where clicking in history folder
// results in Mozilla going to www.apps5.oingo.com

user_pref("browser.fixup.alternate.enabled", false);

// Get rid of the Print Progress dialog that pops up when printing.
// This is not ncessarily a good idea, but can be useful.

user_pref("print.show_print_progress", false);

// This pref displays the alt-text instead of the "image-not-found" image
// true = force ALT text for missing images to be layed out inline

user_pref("browser.display.force_inline_alttext", false);

// To set the user-agent string to whatever you desire. Following are a
// few examples. Although you can do this, I would recommend using
// something like a user agent switcher

user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv 0.9.2) Gecko/20010726 Netscape6/6.1");
user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE5.5; Windows 98;");
user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;)");

// To change the URL you go to when you press the throbber

user_pref("browser.throbber.url", "http://<your-url>");

// Key modifier stuff: see bug 22515
// Motif-style access keys:
user_pref("ui.key.accelKey", 18);
user_pref("ui.key.menuAccessKey", 0);
user_pref("ui.key.menuAccessKeyFocuses"false);

// Windows-style access keys:
user_pref("ui.key.accelKey", 17);
user_pref("ui.key.menuAccessKey", 18);
user_pref("ui.key.menuAccessKeyFocuses", true);

// Turn off Unix-style autocopy
// (or set it to true to turn it on on non-Unix platforms):

user_pref("clipboard.autocopy"false);

// Middle mouse prefs: true by default on Unix, false on other platforms.
user_pref("middlemouse.paste"false);
user_pref("middlemouse.contentLoadURL"false);
user_pref("middlemouse.scrollbarPosition", false);

// See bug 93827 for details. The functionality of "print.print_method" prefs is the
// following on Unix
// 0 - autoselection of print module based on existence of $XPSERVERLIST env var
//     this is now the default - see unix.js)
// 1 - use Xprint module
// 2 - use PostScript module
// 3 - "reserved" value, not implemented on Unix :-)

user_pref("print.print_method", 0)

// The following pref will disable selecting the entire URL when you
// click in the URL bar. The default is true. (double clicking on the
// URL will still select the entire URL for you).

user_pref("browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll", false);


MailNews/Thunderbird

// Add this pref if you don't like abbreviated newsgroup names.
user_pref("mail.server.default.abbreviate", false);

// This pref controls the "Advance to next unread message in <x> folder" behaviour
// 0 - Always go to the next folder without prompting
// 1 - Ask before going (default behaviour)
// 2 - Don't prompt and don't go to the next folder with unread messages

user_pref("mailnews.nav_crosses_folders", 0);

// In order to prevent stress on news servers, Mozilla collapses
// news servers by default at startup so that it doesn't check for
// new messages. You can enable the persistance of newsgroups by
// adding the following pref. Related thread on n.p.m.mail-news

user_pref("news.persist_server_open_state_in_folderpane", true);

// To speed up message compose window
// See Ducarroz's post

user_pref("mail.compose.max_recycled_windows", 1);

// Show the user agent of incoming messages

user_pref("mailnews.headers.showUserAgent", true);

// To get rid of the sending window
user_pref("mailnews.show_send_progress", false);

// Change the reply header
// 0 - No Reply-Text
// 1 - <Author> wrote:   - Netscape 3.xx/4.xx style
// 2 - On <date> <author> wrote:
// 3 - user-defined string. Use the prefs below in conjuction with this.

user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 3);
// If you set 3 for the pref above then you may set the following prefs.
// The end result will be <authorwrote><separator><ondate><colon>

user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote", "%s said the following");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_ondate", "on %s");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_separator", " ");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_colon", ":");

// This should change attached image and text files from inline to attachment.
user_pref("mail.content_disposition_type", 1);

// To change the color of the quote bar
// Replace #0000A0 with the colour of your choice.

user_pref("mail.citation_color", "#0000A0");

// Turn off graphical reply style in the message window
pref("mail.quoted_graphical", false);

// display glyph, see http://www.bucksch.org/1/projects/mozilla/16507
pref("mail.display_glyph", true);

// use HTML-style quoting for quoting plain text (during HTML replies)
pref("mail.quoteasblock", true);

// Format=flowed prefs, RFC 2646
pref("mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed", true);
user_pref("mailnews.display.disable_format_flowed_support", true);
pref("mail.display_struct", true);
pref("mail.send_struct", false);

// This option tells Mozilla to check for IMAP folders other than INBOX
// Currently Mozilla just checks INBOX for new mails.

user_pref("mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new", true);


AddressBook

// Use this pref to get rid of the "Get Map" button in the address book.
// See this link for more details. (Thanks for the link, Paul)

user_pref("mail.addr_book.mapit_url.format", "");


LDAP preferences

// For a more complete description of LDAP and its associated prefs look at
// http://mozdev.org/ftp/pub/sun/SummaryPatchII.txt

// In order to activate the Mozilla integration with OutLook, it is
// necessary to manually edit the preferences,file, called prefs.js.
// This file is located in the mozilla user's directory.
//
// 4 entries must be added to this file to support MAPI/OutLook integration:


user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mapitest.description", "mapitest");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mapitest.dirType", 3);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mapitest.position", x);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mapitest.uri", "moz-aboutlookdirectory://");

// Added LDAP support in the Mozilla Address Book
// 4 entries must be added to this file to support LDAP integration:

user_pref("ldap_2.servers.myldap.description", "myldap");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.myldap.dirType", 777);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.myldap.position", x);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.myldap.uri", "moz-abldapdirectory://ldap1.holland/dc=sun,dc=com?(or(DisplayName,bw,paul)(PrimaryEmail,bw,paul))");


Editor

// Newline paste behavior:
// 0=paste unchanged,
// 1=paste only first line,
// 2=replace with spaces,
// 3=strip newlines

user_pref("editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines", 0);


Network

// If you want Mozilla to open up a mail client other than Mail/News
// when you click on a mailto: URL, add this pref.
// More detailed information can be found here

user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.mailto", true);
// similarly for external news app

user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.news", true);

// For security reasons, Mozilla does not allow connections to
// certain ports. To override this on a per-port basis, add a comma-separated
// list of ports to default/all.js (in your mozilla installation directory).
// For example, to unblock ports 1, 3, and 7, set the following pref:

pref("network.security.ports.banned.override", "1,3,7");


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