Mozilla is testing Firefox View - a feature that allows you to pickup tabs from other

[harlan4096]

Mozilla has added a new feature called Firefox View in the Beta, Developer, and Nightly builds of its browser. It lets you view a list of your recently accessed tabs.



Firefox View tab - Tab Pickup and access recently closed tabs

If you are on the latest version of Firefox's test builds, you may have noticed a new button that has appeared on the left edge toolbar. The button has the Firefox logo on it (similar to Vivaldi and Opera's menu buttons), click on it, and a new tab will open, this is Firefox View.

Firefox View comprises 3 sections, the first of which is Tab Pickup. This section lists 3 recent tabs that you have accessed on your other devices. It displays the tab's title, favicon, URL (on mouse over), a time stamp, and the name of the device that you accessed it on. Right-clicking on a tab displays a context menu similar to the one that is displayed when you click on URLs. Aside from syncing across devices, this feature also pulls tabs from other versions of Firefox that you may have from the same computer, in my case Firefox stable, Nightly, Dev and Beta.

The next section, Recently Closed, as the name suggests, lists the tabs that you closed recently. This includes the tab's title, the link, favicon, and the timestamp when the tab was closed. There is no option to hide specific closed tabs from the list, this might be a problem for some users. The Tab Pickup and Recently Closed sections can be collapsed by clicking on the arrow button next to them.



Left-click on a recently closed tab to restore it (opens in a new tab), this can come in handy, especially if you closed a tab accidentally. I use the Undo Close Tab add-on for this very reason, but it is good to have a native option in the browser. But, the feature has a long way to go. Unlike Tab Pickup, Recently Closed tabs are not synced between devices, i.e., it only lists the tabs that you closed in the current browser. It does not remember the closed tabs from the previous session, so if you close some tabs and exit the browser, the tabs are lost. The extension that I mentioned is capable of remembering closed tabs across sessions.

Lastly, Firefox View has a banner that lets you access Colorways. You can apply the theme with a single-click, switch between themes, and set the intensity level.

How to remove the Firefox View button

Not a fan of the extra button on the toolbar? You can remove the Firefox view button, to do so just right-click on it and select "Remove from the toolbar".


 
You can add it back anytime from the customize toolbar page. Or, you could move it to the overflow menu. You may also access the Firefox View tab directly from the address bar by typing about:firefoxview



I couldn't find an option under Firefox Sync's settings, to change how Firefox View works. I'm assuming that it probably relies on the "Open tabs" setting to sync the active tabs between your devices.



There are a few preferences that are listed under firefox-view in the about:config page. For example, you can disable Firefox View by changing the value of browser.tabs.firefox-view from true to false.

Firefox View is kind of similar to the new tab page on Firefox's mobile browsers, specifically the Jump back in and recently visited sites sections. Even Firefox Sync's menu has a list of tabs that you have opened on other devices. However, the recently closed tabs section is probably what makes the new feature better than the other implementations. I'm surprised that Mozilla didn't choose to include it in the new tab page, but I think this is the best way to do it, without interfering with the current experience.

What do you think about Firefox View?
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