Downloads window not showing
For the last few days my Firefox does not display the downloads window. I have tried to follow the suggestion set out in Firefox Help ie Tools --> Options --> General
But my General Tab doesn't show under Downloads the option to check the box "Show the Downloads window when downloading a file". Under Downloads, the only option shows "save files to Downloads" and "Always ask me where to save files".
Any suggestions on how I can get to --> Downloads the option to check the box "Show the Downloads window when downloading a file".
Thank you in anticipation
Ọ̀nà àbáyọ tí a yàn
You can set the Boolean pref browser.download.useToolkitUI to true on the about:config page to restore the classic Download Manager window.
Ka ìdáhùn ni ìṣètò kíkà 👍 61All Replies (20)
Hi desinia, is that Windows XP? I'm only able to test on Windows 7, but I can't understand why the window title would disappear on Windows XP. Have you tried restarting Firefox since making the change?
What other headaches have you had with version 20? It is a regularly scheduled (every 6 weeks!) release, but it does contain some security fixes compared with Firefox 19.0.2. https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox.html
Win-7 Home premium 32 bit with the garbage shut off. I date back to the days of punch cards, actual tape on reels, and my first hard drive at home was the size of a shoe box, held a massive 10 megs of info, had a drive belt that needed to be changed every year, and set somebody back over $20,000. The concept of Windows has always been something of an obscenity around here but it's a necessary evil in this modern world of "OOOO! I can click on the little pictures and make it send email!" As you can imagine, Win-8 is about as popular here as dysentery. (and about as useful) While I have to admit that a GUI has it's uses, just changing things every few weeks in order to change something is a bad BAD thing.
I am having the same issue. We need to see that box pop up for our downloads. How Can we make that happen? The option to show it is not on our general options tab either. We are on Windows 7 with Firefox 20.0
This worked yesterday. So what changed?
Somehow, the downloads popup is working again although I did nothing to change it. I just received notification of a new version 20.01 but frankly, from all the troubles that these upgrades have been causing in the last few months, I've become VERY wary of upgrading. I've suffered so much from these constant nonsensical changes to what used to be a very good browser that I view the "upgrade available" popup like a malware warning from Norton's. The web site doesn't seem to have any information of what's in the latest change which doesn't help make an informed decision on whether or not to risk it.
I started out with Firefox very early in its history because I was very unhappy with the path that IE was taking. Lately, I'm feeling the same way about Firefox.
Hi desinia, 20.0.1 was a quick emergency bug fix release for a particular issue affecting certain business network configurations. Not sure whether any other fixes made it into the update.
Hi dirt42fan, did you make the settings change described in the solution in this thread: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../955545#answer-424304. Try that step first.
Not sure if this is adding to the discussion or teaching people to suck eggs, but.
I noticed the download window seemed to have disappeared when my Firefox patched itself to 20.0.1 yesterday. However, at 20.0.1 at least it's not actually gone, just been made more discrete. There's now a small download arrow icon (in my case next to my "home" icon), which changes to a status bar icon when downloads are in progress. Clicking on either icon brings up a pop-up window just below, on which recent/active downloads can be managed. The bottom line of that window is a link to "show all downloads" which pops up (a slightly-reformatted version of) the old download window.
I must admit I quite liked having the full window by default, rather than having to go look for it, not least because it shows as a separate Firefox instance on my Win 7 task bar, and reminds me of what I've been doing when my attention drifts. I may well restore that behaviour.
If that's all understood, and something more drastic is happening on Firefox 21, my apologies for a spurious post.
The downloads show as a tiny bar in the upper right corner. When you double-click this a pop-up appears with the option 'Show all downloads': click this and there you have your downloads window. Alternatively, you can click the Firefox tab in the upper left corner and choose 'Downloads'. If you have this Downloads window open you can close Firefox and it will still be there. If you close Firefox with downloads still going, they're gone, without warning.
It is silly Microsoft-like behaviour of the Firefox developers to remove a feature without giving users the option to restore it the way they like it, I think.
Ti ṣàtúnṣe
Snufke: As cor-el's reply to the first post indicated (and as I've just checked), the old behaviour is still available, in the usual Firefox manner for such things. Go to URL about:config and set browser.download.useToolkitUI to true.
Personally I shall leave the new behaviour in place for a few days, and see how I get on with it; I'm not totally enamoured with it, but that could simply be lack of familiarity.
Ti ṣàtúnṣe
Hi Snufke, you can switch back to the old Download Manager using the method described in numerous threads on this forum. For example, on the first page: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../955545#answer-424304.
OK, I took a look at those posts initially and it looked too complicated; but I followed the steps now. I still think it is Microsoft-like to change something essential like that without asking, and to offer no user-friendly way of reinstating the download window. I don't think it's good enough that we have to browse forums to find out about this obscure way of resetting it. Don't you think there will be many Firefox users scratching their head right now, wondering why Firefox does not seem to be downloading anymore?
Hi Snufke, yes, based on reports here, some people did not notice the one-time automatic opening of the download panel that was designed to let them know about the new location of downloads.
I personally was surprised to find the green arrow on my navigation toolbar after the update because I keep as few icons on there as possible. So I clicked it immediately and that's how I found out that something was different.
I think it would be great if more users were informed about Firefox changes before they happened so they could be prepared for them and give input. But how to get the word out??
Useless. Just like Microsoft. Change for the sake of change. Wasting my time. Pointless change. Confusing change. Not as good or informative as previously.
I'm having the same issues as of today. I've FF 20.0.1 Under TOOLS>OPTIONS?GENERAL I've the same two options as P1234. How come I had the same setting all the time, and got the download window? Then all of a sudden, no window. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi brerfox, if you press Ctrl+j (or for Mac Command+j), which opens, the Library dialog or the Download Manager? If the Library dialog opens and you prefer the Download Manager, please scroll up and use the Solution chosen for this thread. If you have the Download Manager, then some other adjustment might be required. Please let us know.
Had the same problem and the about:config fix worked... BUT:-
It has cleared the download history - which I use for what I presumed to be its intended purpose of finding the files again.
This sort of change shouldn't even be pushed onto the user - if I had wanted to change the download window, I'd have gone to Extensions and looked for something else to replace it with. You could pretty much generalize that for any UI changes - give us the shovel and we'll put the hole where we want it.
Hi evild4ve, when Firefox 20 first installed, your download history was migrated to the Library dialog. To view the old history in the Library dialog, after switching back to the Download Manager dialog, you have to use a more indirect method. For example, you can call up Show All History (Ctrl+Shift+h) or Show All Bookmarks (Ctrl+Shift+b) and change the category in the left column.
I think this is my problem with this new messed up release condensed in a nutshell. I used to have a very compact, all-in-one place to check my downloads per session as I made them. It did everything I wanted. Then, without any warning, my downloads window disappeared and all I could find was this new "manager" which required a half dozen different actions just to get the info that used to be in that pop-up window at a single glance. Worse yet, the new system only showed the last three files for the little bit of info that it did give. I don't know who thought this was supposed to be an improvement over the old download window but they apparently didn't bother to ask anyone who used it.
I'm stopped at release 20.0 I'm not accepting any more "updates" with their huge cargoes of problems until I get a chance to look through what happens to the other users. Firefox needs to stick with security updates and leave the "new features" as optional.
>Hi evild4ve, when Firefox 20 first installed, your download history was >migrated to the Library dialog.
This isn't quite the same functionality - what I have in the Library appears to be a history of what I downloaded lasting at least 12 months (or since installation?), regardless of whether I had hit "Clear List" in the old Downloads window. So...
first, where did it populate this list from (as it can't have been the Download Manager window)
secondly, how do I know how far back I have to scroll before finding such-and-such file? (The Downloads window was a *selective* history) -
thirdly, do we now have to delete things from the History 'as well as' pressing "Clear List"?
Is there an about:config command to disable Firefox keeping a history of downloads other than the short-term, selective one in the Download Manager?
It seems the Download Manager window now loses its title when a file is downloaded, and regains it again if "Clear List" is pressed.
This is the kind of behavior I complained about, except since I have Firefox delete all history, etc when it closes, I never noticed that you can regain the title with the clear button. When the download window is behind or minimized, the lack of a title makes it easy to lose the notification on the screen bottom.
The "history" problem you mentioned has stumped me. This new download manager would only display the last three downloads here no matter what I did to try and get the whole list. It was a real pain till somebody posted the "about:config" solution.