Select Specific Tab with Keyboard Hotkey in Firefox

Firefox has built-in keyboard shortcuts for quickly navigating directly to the tab you want to get to. This is very useful when you are using Google Reader or Bloglines to read RSS feeds, and you’ve opened up a bunch of tabs. Before discovering this trick, I always used Ctrl+Tab to navigate back, or had to use the mouse.

Hotkeys:

Ctrl + 1 will always select the leftmost tab.

Ctrl + 2-8 will select each of the tabs in order from left to right.

Ctrl + 9 will always select the rightmost tab.

To see this “in action”, notice that I currently have the middle tab selected:

I hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 1, and I’m instantly taken to the first tab again:

This can save you a ton of time if you like to open a bunch of tabs.

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This article was originally written on 12/1/06 Tagged with: Firefox

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Comments (18)

1. December 4, 2006 10:16 am
   Brian

   On Linux machines, ALT+1 (2,3…) works instead of the CTRL key.

2. December 4, 2006 10:20 am
   The Geek

   Brian,

   Thanks… that’s a good note.

3. March 25, 2007 9:14 pm
   Annie

   Also, on a Mac, Cmd + the number is what works. Great tip.

4. May 7, 2007 8:39 am
   Victor

   Thnx !!! again only wise & useful tips on this site

5. June 2, 2007 5:44 am
   jx dos

   very useful tip

6. July 18, 2007 8:54 pm
   Justin

   Hi, I’m Using Linux And To Switch Tabs It’s The ALT+1 (2,3…) As Brian Stated, How Do I Go About Changing It To The Windows Style? (CTRL+1(2,3…))? If You Can Reply To My E-Mail Address (groundsniper@gmail.com) instead of here that would be greatly appreciated but either way is good. Thanks.

7. September 26, 2007 10:59 am
   vijay

   @justin
   ctrl+tab to switch between tabs works in gnome, but not on kde.
   also ctrl+pageup and ctrl+pagedown to cycle back and forth

8. December 10, 2007 3:41 pm
   JohnBUK

   This add-on numbers the Tabs and can be navigated by CTRL+Number.
   Add-on here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5861

9. January 14, 2008 11:39 am
   Duayne Draffen

   Another amazingly simple, useful tip for us tab junkies! thanks

10. January 20, 2008 4:20 pm
    TBolt

    Thank you so much. I figured that there just HAD to be a hotkey for this. hehehe

11. February 27, 2008 9:29 am
    David

    Thanks! Muchas Gracias! Danku! Merci!

12. March 24, 2008 6:06 pm
    koori

    Very cool, tnx

13. April 21, 2008 3:16 am
    anakpawis

    thats a great tip, just popped in my mind and google showed your answer. thanks man

14. April 26, 2008 2:33 pm
    Jez451

    Thaks for posting this, just found it in google and answered my question. Cheers

15. April 30, 2008 9:04 pm
    Bullet

    Richard, I have Speed Dial installed in Firefox and so, when ever I attempt touse this method I instead get sent to a speed Dial page. Hmm…

16. September 17, 2008 5:17 am
    Lili

    Awesome tip! Thanks so much I was HOPING this existed.

17. October 22, 2008 8:50 am
    Marco

    Thx

18. February 23, 2009 12:21 am
    yaju

    thanxs for all this information..