How to configure Firefox so that it will load everything from cache after restart, in case I am offline?
I wish to configure my Firefox so that it will cache everything and keep this cache, so that when I restart Firefox and am offline, it loads everything from cache and displays fully loaded websites, even though I am offline.
Only when I try to access a not yet opened website or force reload of a website, it shall try to get things from the Internet and fail, since I am offline.
What settings are needed for this to work?
I usually start Firefox continuing my last session, so it feels like a huge waste to reload everything, mostly websites that do not change much anyway. It would be nice to have them display instantly, because everything is already on my local machine and on top be able to read all the websites I already loaded offline, since everything is cached.
Chosen solution
By default, when you restore the previous session, Firefox will load the active tab in each window, and should use cached files if they have not expired. Similarly with other tabs, Firefox should use cache if the contents have not expired. However, in both cases, Firefox may contact the server to check whether cached files have been updated, and this can generate a lot of traffic.
What happens if you start up Firefox in Offline mode, or switch it to Work Offline, and then visit restored tabs? Do they usually load from cache quietly, or do they give an error?
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Chosen Solution
By default, when you restore the previous session, Firefox will load the active tab in each window, and should use cached files if they have not expired. Similarly with other tabs, Firefox should use cache if the contents have not expired. However, in both cases, Firefox may contact the server to check whether cached files have been updated, and this can generate a lot of traffic.
What happens if you start up Firefox in Offline mode, or switch it to Work Offline, and then visit restored tabs? Do they usually load from cache quietly, or do they give an error?
If you want to experiment, you could try this preference: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache.check_doc_frequency
To implement the "always use cache" / "never check whether the page was updated" option:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste cache and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.cache.check_doc_frequency preference to display a little dialog, edit the value from 3 to 2 and then click OK.
I haven't tested this myself.
Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
When I load pages, then close Firefox, then open it again and enable "Work Offline" (File menu), it does indeed work as you describe. I also changed my settings though, to enable Firefox to keep caches between sessions.
Modified by ZelphirKaltstahl