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How to enable or disable Firefox’s new Screenshot tool

If your Firefox browser updated to version 55.0 recently, you may have noticed the new "Page Shot" icon in the browser's toolbar.

This icon powers the native screenshot capturing functionality of Firefox. It is being rolled out to users gradually which means that you may not see the icon yet in the browser's toolbar.

This does not mean however that the Firefox screenshot tool is not already available, as you may enable it in the browser to make use of it. Firefox users who see it already but have no use for it may disable it on the other hand.

This Firefox guide provides you with instructions on enabling and disabling the screenshot tool in the Firefox web browser.

Note: You need at least Firefox 55. You can check the version of the browser by loading about:support in the browser's address bar. Version under application basics lists the version of the Firefox web browser.

All you need to do is click on the icon to activate the functionality. The screenshot tool supports capturing a region, the visible part of a web page, or the entire (full) page.

You may save the screenshots to the local system or have it uploaded to firefox.screenshots.com for easier online sharing. Mozilla keeps the screenshots online for two weeks by default, but users may delete the screenshots at any time before that, or change the expiration date to extend it.

Enable or disable Firefox screenshot tool

firefox screenshots

Mozilla added two preferences to the Firefox configuration that control the screenshot tool of the browser.

To get there, load about:config?filter=extensions.screenshot in the browser's address bar. The page that opens lists the two preferences that control Firefox's screenshot tool functionality.

  • extensions.screenshots.disabled -- This is the main preference. A value of false means that the screenshot functionality is enabled, a value of true that it is disabled. Note that this is superseded by extensions.screenshots.system-disabled
  • extensions.screenshots.system-disabled -- Mozilla uses this preference to control the roll out of the screenshot functionality. If set to true, screenshot functionality is disabled regardless of what extensions.screenshots.disabled is set to. If set to false, screenshot functionality is enabled, if extensions.screenshots.disabled is set to false.

firefox extensions screenshot

  • To disable the screenshot functionality in Firefox, set extensions.screenshots.disabled to true.
  • To enable the screenshot functionality in Firefox, set extensions.screenshots.system-disabled to false and extensions.screenshots.disabled to false as well.

You modify a preference with a double-click on the preference name.

Note that you can still capture screenshots in Firefox if you disable the Screenshot tool.

Another option that you have is to simply remove the Firefox screenshot tool from the browser's address bar. To do that right-click on the icon and select remove from toolbar from the context menu that opens up.

 

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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