How do I prevent Password Manager from stealing focus?
I use multiple tabs, and frequently load a bunch of tabs at once from bookmarks. If I'm in a fresh session (that is, I've actually _paid attention to basic security procedures_) and one of those tabs has a login possibility, Password Manager pops up in the foreground... even when not focused on that tab.
Do. Not. Want.
Password Manager SHOULD NOT either pop up or steal focus until I'm actually on a tab for which it has relevance. If that means jumping through six other tabs before reaching it, that's the way it should work. If that means taking a second or two of extra time when I reach that tab, that's the way it should work.
Is there (I hope!) an about:config setting I can change that won't simultaneously kill off Password Manager entirely?
For completeness: Windows 10 Firefox 63.0.3 (although this has been a problem for quite some time, back into the 30s)
PS This appears to be a consequence of the relentless, umm, focus on single-tab smartphone users as the default. That's not me.
All Replies (4)
The only time the Password Manager should come up is when you call it. If you are entering login data that is not recorded in the manager, you will get a popup in the upper left corner asking if you want to save that login.
Is the manager coming up as a separate window or a tab?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
A separate popup window opens asking me for the password to the password manager. My point is that this should not happen when "required" by a tab loading in the background! I'm not actually entering login data at all.
Here's a (perhaps obvious) example. Assume that I've got six daily newspapers loading, and that top tab is one like THE GUARDIAN that does not have any semblance of a paywall or login. If, however, one of the other tabs does have a paywall (complete or partial), such as the NYT, the Password Manager window will pop up and steal focus such that I can't scroll in the tab that's nominally in the foreground until I "log in" to Password Manager.
And that's the low-annoyance version.
I think you mean the Master Password dialog:
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That dialog appears when Firefox realizes that access to the Password Manager is required somewhere in Firefox, and you haven't entered the Master Password yet this session. For example, if you set up Firefox Sync, it will appear when Sync fires up.
I think the only way to avoid a background tab triggering that dialog would be to load the URLs into background tabs in a "pending" state so that the page does not actually load until you activate the tab. There might be an add-on for that, but there's no built-in feature for it.
Or turn off the password manager feature until you need it.
You can of course cancel the master password prompt if you do not intent to login to the Password Manager in any of the tabs. If you reload a specific tab in that case then the MP dialog will reappear. Otherwise you can access the Password Manager directly to login.
- Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security: Forms & Passwords: "Saved Logins"
If you cancel an MP prompt (e.g. via "Show Passwords") then you are logged off automatically and get prompted to re-enter the MP when necessary.
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