Customizable Hotkeys is LIVE!! Please help us scope version 2

[KimB]

Hi, all y’all:

I’m genuinely delighted to share that, as of Release 147, you can customize Firefox keyboard shortcuts on desktop (MacOS, Windows, and Linux)!

To try it, type about:keyboard in the address bar. From there, you can replace hard-to-type or hard-to-remember shortcuts, eliminate conflicts with other software, and create a set of shortcuts that work best for you. As a member of the disability community and as a Mac user who still can’t completely erase my Windows shortcuts muscle memory (thanks, first OS!), I know from personal experience how powerful even small changes to keyboard shortcuts can be.

We intentionally built this first version as a sturdy-but-limited functional prototype so we could ship it quickly and learn from your real-world use. We’re proud of what we’ve done so far and already planning version 2 for later this year, but we want your feedback to shape what comes next.  

Some of you have championed this feature for years (and yes, your astounding 1,600 upvotes helped us to prioritize it. THANK YOU ♥️) Other folks may be trying customizable keyboard shortcuts for the first time, and maybe you’re even wondering if it’s for you. Everyone is welcome to jump into this conversation. Please ask all kinds of questions, share what’s working (or not), and let us know what you think.

A few important notes:

• Firefox hotkeys currently work best with English (US) QWERTY keyboards. Support for other keyboard layouts and versions is limited.
• Customizable shortcuts are not available yet on Android or iOS.
• This SUMO article provides additional information. 

We’re looking forward to learning with you,

Kim

[laxmans]

Please add the ability to customize hotkeys for navigation to the next and previous tab!

[spiritloveroot]

What about the cmd+k shortcut to navigate to the omnibar? I can’t seem to find that shortcut in the new menu to change?

[zorkerz]

It would be really helpful to combine or somehow interconnect this with the manage extension shortcuts window in about:addons. It would be great to be able to edit shortcuts in one place, search for what a shortcut does, and identify conflicting shortcuts. 

[XanthumChum]

I am thankful for this feature!

However, I would like to use Google Docs's Move to next tab: (Ctrl + Shift + Pg-Down). 

Currently when I try to do that in Firefox, what instead happens is that the current tab is shifted in the list of tabs by one position. A useful feature, but one I'd like to be able to remap, and I don't see it in about:keyboard.

( Potentially relevant context: I use a vertical sidebar for tabs. Also, I need to use the (Fn) key to use (Pg-Down), though I get the same result using (Pg-Down) on an On-Screen Keyboard. )

[greyguy]

I really miss a keyboard shortcut for Duplicate Tab, please implement that. (There is previous feature equest from 2022.)

Edge has a built-in shortcut (CTRL+SHIFT+K) for Duplicate Tab, but of course with the new amazing customization options in Firefox, that could be entirely up to the user! 🙂

Edge example:

[tschuster]

Duplicate tab is planned for Firefox 151. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2031128

[nvie]

This is a great start!

Currently it looks like hotkeys you add don't actually _replace_ the existing hotkeys? Also clearing a hotkey also does not seem to work as-expected (it stays active). Even after rebooting, these default hotkeys remain active.

But new ones added do seem to take effect. Is this expected behavior in the current version?

[KimB]

hey @nvie! Could you please share a bit more about which keyboard shortcuts you're trying to change and what keys you're trying to apply? And perhaps what OS and Firefox version you're on? Your issues seem odd, and we haven't updated about:keyboard since launch. However, there are definitely limits on what's possible in the MVP. For example, we're intentionally not accepting some individual keys or custom shortcut combos because they will break other parts of Firefox.

[KimB]

Hello! A quick but sincere thank you for all the additional ideas, kudos, and views for this thread! We are using all this good info to prioritize work in V2 -- and a special thanks to @BelFox for asking about when V2 will land because I have an overall update and a couple requests for all y'all.

We're making slow but steady progress, and customizable hotkeys v2 is (now) dependent on at least two other project teams. Your continued high interest (16.5k+ folks have looked at this discussion thread so far!) and (even more important) upvotes/kudos of this thread will help ensure that we continue get the investment we need to expand the capabilities of this important feature -- as well as to make the UI more welcoming and easy to understand for folks who have never created a custom shortcut and don't yet know that they can. (We've gotten early feedback that these folks find the MVP version "scary" and are afraid they are going to "break something" and most of y'all here are power users. I say that with deep affection ❤️)

Along the same lines of making sure this works for all Firefox user, please also continue to help each other out in this thread with problems and troubleshooting. I won't be nearly as fast to respond, and I know the power and creativity of communal support from my DisCo (disability community) networks. And Firefox itself has a long, proud tradition of communal support.

Thank you all so much!

Kim

[suikaz]

have you seen Glide Browser? it's an attempt to make keyboard focused browser the right way, being a fork as currently it's impossible otherwise

would it be possible to put some design/architecture in place to simplify such solutions in the future? not necessarily implement everything in the upstream, but make it easier to add missing pieces? I know devs often worked hard to keep compatibility or allow weird features to be injected by various means in third party projects and hacks so I know you have some leeway to put more work to help the community beyond what's the explicit goal of your releases