Disable and Enable extension directly from the address bar shortcut

[M4rQu1Nh0S]

I created an image to show what I mean by the suggestion.

In addition, I would like to keep the extensions at the address bar even if I already disabled them.

[Bananenbiz]

A lot of extensions have a built-in option to 'disable' it while the extension still runs in the background ready for you to enable it again and use its functionality.

This will turn of the functionality, but won't prevent the extension from snooping/ gathering information. This especially applies to extensions that need to read site data in order to function.

For example, I have a Video speed controller extension as well as an ultrawide video extension (that upscales an ultrawide video that's only available in 16:9 to fit my whole screen) and both of these need to read site data.

I would like a function where I can quickly turn these extensions on/off when I need them. While they still run in the background, but where I don't have to trust the developers that the 'disable' function will not gather any data in the background.

What I have to do right-now takes up a lot of work. I have to click on the three stripes icon >> Addons and Themes >> open new tab >> scroll down to 'Disabled' >> finding the extension on alphabetical order >> enabling extension. This is too weary to repeat every single time for the privacy conscious user.

Therefore I recommend this solution: right-clicking on the extension in the bookmark menu will show the right-click menu. Between 'Manage extension' and 'Delete extension' (which is quite draconian) should be the option 'Temporarily disable'.  This option will make the extension colour gray or black and white, to show that it is temporarily disabled. When right-clicking again there should now be 'Enable again' where it previously said 'Temporarily disable'.

[Jon]

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[KERR]

This would be handy - I know you can start firefox in safe mode to achieve the same thing but it's not ideal.

I'm not so sure about your implementation idea but I like the idea of "Disable all extensions temporarily" or "Disable all extensions until next restart". Even a button on the toolbar could do that. You'd easily be able to see its status.

Another thing that would be helpful: For me, I have say 5 enabled extensions, and another 10 that are disabled. If I disable the 5 manually, I have to remember which ones to re-enable. I'd like to just disable then re-enable that same group of addons, usually temporarily for testing. This is probably not a common use case though 😁

[bhadaway]

Extend the Overflow Menu to Fast Toggle Add-ons

UPDATED POST

I've been playing around with the Overflow Menu more, and this is really close to what I'm talking about, like 75% of the way there already. You can right-click and completely remove the add-on, but I would like this to extend to being able to enable/disable it as well. And disabling shouldn't remove it from the Overflow Menu, only if it's unpinned should it be removed.

At this point, this is hardly even an idea, more than simply an inevitable improvement of an existing feature, which I'm sure is already on the dev team's to-do list.

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ORIGINAL POST

There are certain add-ons that I only need to use once or twice throughout the day, and since there's no reason to keep them enabled otherwise, I keep them disabled most of the time.

Instead of having to go to about:addons and enable/disable them every time, I'd love for the option to either somehow fast toggle them from the toolbar (something like a lightning bolt icon that has a dropdown of add-ons that a user has opted into this "Fast Toggle" feature) or maybe even keep their icons in the toolbar, but be able to enable/disable from a right-click context menu. In their disabled state, the icons would simply be grayed out.

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[mconnor]

Hi Bhadaway, thanks for the suggestion!

Can you provide a bit more detail on what type of add-ons you are toggling in this way?  Are these add-ons that operate on Web content?

As part of supporting Manifest v3, we will have significantly more flexibility and control over when and how add-ons access sites.  This will enable users to restrict site access (and related script execution) to only when the button is clicked, or only for specific sites (controlled by the user).  For many add-ons, this seems like it would achieve a similar goal in a simpler and more convenient way.

Does that fit your use case here?  If not, would you be able to explain the gap?

[bhadaway]

@mconnor— That only addresses the security/privacy/performance aspect of things, which is extremely important, but my idea is more based on organization/UI/productivity/efficiency and of course, it might be a very niche use case on my part, so we'll see if it gets enough upvotes.

Let's imagine there are 3 basic categories for add-ons:

1. Always-on. An always-on add-on would be something that's intended to always be on, like an ad blocker add-on for example.
2. Daily one-off. A daily one-off add-on would be something that's only required once a day, like a 2FA add-on for example.
3. Once in a while. A once in a while add-on would be something that's needed only on rare occasion, like a video download helper add-on for example.

2 and 3 have no business being constantly active, 24/7, not for any overhead they may cause and not for any real estate they might be taking up in the toolbar.

Refining my idea, at this point, my suggestion is definitely for a dropdown option. Here's how it would work:

1. A user right-clicks on the toolbar and goes to the "Customize Toolbar..." panel.
2. There would be a feature called "Fast Toggle" (represented by a ➕ or ⚡ symbol), which could be dragged and dropped into the toolbar.
3. Then, add-on icons could be dragged into the Fast Toggle icon, and grouped underneath it in a dropdown similar to the application menu.
4. When a user clicks on the Fast Toggle icon to reveal the add-ons they've added there, they can completely enable/disable them with a single left-click (disabled add-ons remain in the list, only grayed out).
5. Additionally, a user could right-click and reach the respective add-on settings pages if they wanted.

I guess I'm basically talking about an overflow menu, but an intentional one, with the Fast Toggle being the key to its usefulness.

[Nich]

The function to disable the addon, in the context menu on the addons toolbar

It is necessary to make a function/option, in the context menu of add-ons, to disable add-ons. This function was present in Opera 12.

[igorlogius]

Having a way to select multiple addons quickly and then changing their properties would be good. But i see that more as something that needs to be added to about:addons a keyword searchfilter with some quick actions on the matched addons.

[Bananenbiz]

@M4rQu1Nh0S  Yes, great!

This is exactly what I mean. Although I understand the developers wanting to disable particular groups of extensions at a time, that's not what this suggestion is about.

Just for average users to quickly enable / disable extensions in the little right-click menu.

And a great bonus for Firefox:  this will thoroughly improve privacy as now users will be able to switch an extension on/off in 2 seconds. Thereby limiting the amount of websites an extension will read in one session. Various extensions are only used for specific websites by users like video extensions with  streaming sites. But this extension will also read data from all the other websites in the same session.

disabling just 1 extension takes a long timeit opens a new page where you have to scroll down to find your extension