How-To Geek
Access Multiple Browsers from Firefox with Browser View Plus
Frustrated with having to paste links into other browsers to view a webpage? Now you can open those webpages in a browser of your choice with a simple click or right click.
Options Setup
After you have installed Browser View Plus, the best place to start is with the options for the extension. In the first tab you will have the option to select up to four browsers to access through your Right Click Menu. Notice that you also have the option to hide each browser and keep it from appearing in your Right Click Menu.

At this point you may choose to use the four default browsers that Browser View Plus looks for when installed, a mix of default and custom browsers, or custom browsers only.
For our example, we chose three browsers (all custom) to display in the Right Click Menu…SeaMonkey, Flock, and Orca. Notice that the option to hide those three have been deselected and that “None” was selected for the fourth browser choice.
Note: Based on your preferences, you could choose “None” for all four or to hide all four to help keep your Right Click Menu smaller.


In the second tab, you can see that the Browser View Plus extension has detected that all four default browsers are installed on our example system and has already established their target paths.
Note: Specific toolbar buttons for these four browsers are included in the add-on installation.


For our example and based on the decisions made in the first tab, we have browsed for the SeaMonkey, Flock, and Orca exe files to establish their target paths for the extension.


In the third and final tab you will find settings for the two additional toolbar buttons and an additional option for using Chrome (opening links in Chrome or a Chrome Application Window). Notice that the left click options for the two additional toolbar buttons are identical at the moment. If you choose to use both you will need to adjust the settings.


Here we have chosen to use External/Other Browsers #1 & #2.


Toolbar Setup
Time to add those toolbar buttons! Right click on your browser’s toolbar and select customize. There are a total of six buttons available (each with BVP as part of the name) that you can add to one of your toolbars. Place them wherever suits your needs best.


Opening External Browsers
All six buttons set up in the upper right corner of our example browser and ready to go.
Note: These buttons do tend to be a little bit smaller than other toolbar buttons.

Clicking on each of the buttons pictured above will open up Internet Explorer, Opera, Chrome, Safari, and two additional browsers of your choice. Here you can see all six of the browsers chosen for our example open at the same time.


Right clicking on a link will allow you to access the browsers you have chosen (if any) in the first tab of the options window.


And here is our seventh browser accessed very nicely through the Right Click Menu.


Conclusion
Browser View Plus is a very nice extension to have installed if you find yourself needing to open links in other browsers often. Another great benefit is the ability to use only the toolbar buttons, only the Right Click Menu option, or both together based on your personal preferences.
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- By Asian Angel on 07/21/09
Comments (9)
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Titook.net is another interesting alternative, it provides the same functionality for a number of browsers.
I can’t install
Would have been nice if it could be installed. At least Firefox lets you know why it won”t. Doesn’t anyone try these before posting them.
Message when trying to download “Firefox could not install the file at
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/file/53468/browser_view_plus-1.8-fx-win.xpi?confirmed?confirmed
because: Invalid file hash (possible download corruption)
-261″
@naevol & Kenn M. – This appears to be something that happens with different extensions from time to time. I have had it happen to me before with other extensions in the past. There is a forum post at the MozillaZine Knowledge Base that talks about how to fix it:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_install_themes_or_extensions_-_Firefox#Invalid_file_hash
@naevol & Kenn M. – You can also try this too:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/unable+to+install+add-ons#Invalid_file_hash_possible_download_corruption_261
Props to you AA it works great. As usual, the Asian Angel always provides great insight.
Similar/Better addon…
Title: Open With :: Add-ons for Firefox
Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11097/
This sounds interesting. I have a Toshiba Laptop Satelite Notebook Vista upgraded to Windows 7. It was set up with Internet Explorer 8 as the default browser. I have had nothing but trouble with this browser.
I have disaabled the content adviser and also parental controls and yet I have to sign in with my supervisor password for every webpage and some times multiple times to continue on the same web page. I have tried every help resource I can find and nothing so far has solved the problem. I have tried other web browsers but I.E.content advisor interfeers with these as well. I have Firefox but I need the problem solved. Then I would like to make Mozilla Firefox my default browser. Would Browser View Plus be available to Canadian versions as well? And is this a free add-on or if not what is the cost?
Thank You. John Dueck
@John Dueck – The extension is definitely free and will work nicely no matter where you live. ^_^
With regards to the Internet Explorer Content Advisor problem my best advice would be to dig into the Microsoft forums to see if anyone else there has encountered the same problem and if so how they got it fixed. I can only imagine how aggravating it would be to have IE mucking about with everything else. >_<
If nothing turns up in the forums I would see about contacting Microsoft directly about the problem to see what solution they offer. Good luck for bringing it around to your way of thinking!