How do I edit toolbars in Firefox 2.0?

November 9, 2006 9:06 PM

How can I access and edit toolbars in Firefox? Specific issues I'm having are in the extended explanation.

• Since installing Firefox 2.0, my Bookmarks Toolbar no longer shows text, only icons. How can I add the text back?
  
• Also, I adore the new Skype toolbar function which turns all phone numbers into clickable links for dialing, but I would rather not have the entire toolbar there taking up valuable screen real estate. How can I preserve the part I like and add it somewhere else, like on the Google toolbar?

posted by abbyladybug to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Right click somewhere in the Firefox toolbar (not the skype or google or another addins space) and then select customize from the menu that appears.

You can also check or uncheck the toolbar for a specific addin, which as far as I can tell does not disable the addin, but only its toolbar.
posted by tiamat at 9:52 PM on November 9, 2006

The bookmark toolbar is just an extension of bookmarks; you edit it by going to Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks, which brings you to a separate window and lets you drag things around in a fairly straightforward way. The Bookmarks Toolbar Folder contains your toolbar links.

I don't see any way to get just icons and no text with Firefox. I'm thinking you might have run into a bug or incompatibility of some kind; perhaps one of your extensions is doing Something Bad.

I'd suggest copying your profile to another directory, deleting it, and letting Firefox recreate a new one. Then close Firefox, and copy your bookmarks back in. (just the bookmarks.html, leave the other files alone.) Reopen Firefox; if the bookmarks and toolbar now look correct, go ahead and start adding your extensions back in. (You may want to install them fresh from the website, just to be sure they're current.) You can also, if you wish, copy your cookies back in too, which will save you effort logging back into sites like MeFi.

Save your old profile for a couple weeks, just to be sure you remembered to bring over everything you needed. Generally, all I really *need* is my bookmarks.html... the rest of my configuration usually takes 10 minutes or so.
posted by Malor at 12:04 AM on November 10, 2006

Tiamat - The customize option seems to only edit the icons in my Google Toolbar, not in the Bookmarks Toolbar. Malor - I bet you're right. It hadn't occurred to me, but I just opened up FF in Safe Mode, and it looks OK. Now, to figure out which extension I need to disable. Now where's that list again that tells me which extensions don't work together? I bet it isn't current with 2.0. Will report back.
posted by abbyladybug at 5:23 AM on November 10, 2006

Duh. I can't believe it. After disabling sets of 5 FF extensions, I narrowed it down to Stylish. I had something installed called "Slim Down FF GUI", which I clearly didn't fully understand when I installed it. The description didn't say enough for me to understand it was going to do that! It's gone. Also, Tab Mix Plus was doing some funky things, so it's gone, too.

Thanks for the feedback. Now, about that cumbersome Skype bar. Any way to get it to highlight numbers without having to have the full toolbar?
posted by abbyladybug at 7:15 AM on November 10, 2006

Can you right click some where not on an existing toolbar(like in the miniscule space between the location bar and the search bar, or right above the location bar, but not on the menubar, and get a menu that lists the toolbars you have installed? If so, uncheck the skype toolbar, which should be on the list. It should still allow you to click numbers if it's not displayed.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 8:55 AM on November 10, 2006

If so, uncheck the skype toolbar, which should be on the list. It should still allow you to click numbers if it's not displayed.

See, that's the problem. If you uncheck that toolbar so it doesn't show, then it DOESN'T allow you to click on the numbers anymore. It disables that whole function, and I don't want it to. See?
posted by abbyladybug at 10:07 AM on November 10, 2006

Maybe there's something at userscript.org that would work better? Wish I could help you further.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 1:03 PM on November 10, 2006

Me, too. I keep imagining you're Tim Gunn from Project Runway, but anyway, I digress.

Any other ideas about Skype anyone?
posted by abbyladybug at 2:29 PM on November 10, 2006

Maybe I am...
posted by Mr. Gunn at 3:15 PM on November 11, 2006

Now that would be something! I was Jeffrey for Halloween.

Although you're in NOLA, not NYC.
posted by abbyladybug at 1:41 PM on November 12, 2006