How do you keep the Firefox Menu Bar always showing?

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I want to keep the Menu Bar always showing, i.e., the bar that has tabs for “File”, “Edit”, “View”, “History”, “Bookmarks”, “Tools”, and “Help”). For some reason, it sometimes disappears. I know how to turn in back on (there about 4 or 5 different routes for turning it OFF/ON), but I’d like to keep it always showing and not have to go through the motions of turning it back on every time it disappears.

Is there a Preference in about:config that will keep it on? I’ve done a search using the term “Menu”, but many choices come up and none of them seem to be the one that will do it.

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I right click at the top and check “Menu Bar” and it stays there.

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PKCano wrote:

I right click at the top and check “Menu Bar” and it stays there.

Yes, that’s one of about 4 or 5 different ways to get it to appear. But, it doesn’t always stay.

I’m wondering if there’s some way to get it to always stay there = to never disappear.

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I use FF as my main browser – on Macs and Windows. I’ve never had it disappear doing it that way. On any of my installations.

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PKCano wrote:

I use FF as my main browser – on Macs and Windows. I’ve never had it disappear doing it that way. On any of my installations.

Firefox is my main browser, too, on my Windows 10/Pro machines.

For extensions, I’m using Cisco WebEx Extension, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Facebook Container, Firefox Multi-Account Containers, Malwarebytes Browser Guard, McAfee Web Advisor, uBlock Origin.

I’ve discovered that the Menu Bar disappears when I turn Trouble Shoot Mode ON and I click on the FF ‘Restart” button. Turning the Trouble Shoot Mode ON is for disabling all extensions, which I sometimes have to do, because otherwise neither the sign-on at my ISP provider’s webmail website nor its billing URL works properly (the email URL keeps me automatically signed in for two weeks and then kicks me off, asking that I sign in again. All extensions have to be OFF to accomplish the sign-in). But, after I get into either of these two URLs, and then turn the Trouble Shoot Mode OFF, the URLs work fine, blocking all ads, as Ublock Origin is designed to do.

Should turning all extensions OFF affect the Firefox Menu Bar? I could see that it might be affect the Menu Bar, if I turned the extensions ON, but not the reverse. When all of the extensions are ON, the Menu Bar is stable, unless I turn the Trouble Shooting Mode ON, and then it disappears.

I’ll just deal with it, now that I’ve sleuthed out what makes it disappear. I just thought there might be a Preference that would guarantee that it always shows.

But, let me ask: if you turn all extensions off via Help > Trouble Shoot Mode > RESTART, does your Menu Bar disappear?

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WCHS wrote:

But, let me ask: if you turn all extensions off via Help > Trouble Shoot Mode > RESTART, does your Menu Bar disappear?

I have never had to use Trouble Shoot Mode.
I would suggest you try to turn off the extensions one by one and restart to clear instead of using Trouble Shoot Mode. If you can do this, you may determine which extension is causing the problem or if it’s the Trouble Shoot Mode itself that is causing the problem. It would be my guess that it’s the latter (maybe setting everything “back to zero”?)

Or use a new Private Window. You can block extensions from running in Private Windows.

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I fired up a bare bones portable version of Firefox 123.0, and immediately put it into troubleshooting mode. When it came back up in troubleshooting mode, the Menu Bar was gone. When I got out of troubleshooting mode, the Menu Bar had returned. This is a portable version with no add-ons at all.

EDIT to add: Same thing happened with the installed version of Firefox 123.0 that I use.

Hope this helps!

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Bob99 wrote:

When it came back up in troubleshooting mode, the Menu Bar was gone.

It looks like Trouble Shooting Mode itself is causing the Menu Bar to disappear.

I think I know what extension needs to be disabled. I’ll disable it and see if I can sign into the two problematic websites successfully.

Still my question remains: is there an about:config preference that will make keep the Menu Bar showing, no matter what?

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I took the same look you did in about:config, using “menu” as a search term, and I got the same results you did…nothing obvious that stuck out as a possible solution.

Here’s an alternative to having to completely disable an add-on to log into your two problematic sites: Is there a way for you to whitelist the two sites within the add-on that you suspect is the source of the login issues? You might have to do it for more than one add-on to achieve success.

If there isn’t a way to whitelist the sites, then follow PK’s advice by disabling add-ons one at a time until you have success.

1 user thanked author for this post.

WCHS

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Bob99 wrote:

then follow PK’s advice by disabling add-ons one at a time until you have success.

I finally found the culprit and it’s not what I thought it was. I thought it was UBlock Origin, but instead, it’s the Firefox Multi-Account Container. When that extension is disabled, I can sign into the one ISP-provider website that would not let me sign in otherwise to see my email. For the other ISP-provider billing website, when the FMAC extension is disabled, all of the tabs work in the website (I had no problem getting in, just getting the website tabs to work). And now I remember that I have been having the same problem when I was routed to PayPal from a website at which I had elected to pay that way — only when re-routed, though — I can login directly with no problem.

I do not see any option in FMAC to whitelist these problematic sites. But, now I know which one extension to disable, rather than disabling them all with the Trouble Shooting Mode and thereby losing the Menu Bar.

I wish I knew how to fix the problem I’m having with Firefox Multi-Account Container extension on these sites, rather than disabling it (for example, is there a box I can check?). Right now, I disable the FMAC extension until after I get in, then I re-enable it and everything works OK after that.

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@WCHS –

I’ve always done the very same thing as @PKCano , and have NEVER had a problem with the Menu Bar disappearing. This is on my installed version of Firefox as well as ALL portable editions that I have ever used and currently use on my computers.

One fact that might make a big difference, however, is that I don’t have ANY add-ons or extensions of any kind for Firefox in either the regular installation nor in any of the portable installations. SO, since you’re experiencing issues with the Menu Bar, perhaps one of your add-ons or extensions is interacting with Firefox in a weird way.

Do you use any Themes that have been offered through Firefox? If you do, maybe one of those is getting wonky enough that it’s somehow causing your Menu Bar to periodically disappear.

EDIT: To add clarity

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As far as extensions go, I’m using AdBloc Plus, Disconnect, Malwarebytes Browser Guard, and NoScript. My extensions make no difference.

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Your installation is fine, but @WCHS ‘s isn’t, from the sounds of it, so maybe that’s where the problem is.

The fact that you’re having no problems with your installation that has several add-ons for various purposes can be a source of comparison for @WCHS .

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That was not a reply to you. It was a general observation.

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Then you have my sincerest apologies.

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