Firefox logo on a purple background

If you’re like us, it’s easy to end up with 20 Mozilla Firefox windows full of hundreds of tabs open at once. Luckily, there’s an easy way to close multiple Firefox windows at the same time. Here’s how to do it on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

So, you’re researching an obscure medical condition or your doctoral thesis, and you’ve opened dozens of Firefox windows. You’ve made a mess of your desktop and you’d like to close them all quickly without having to tediously “X” out each one.

An example of many Firefox windows open at once.

To close all of the Firefox windows at once on Windows or Linux, click the hamburger button (three horizontal lines) in the upper-right corner of any window. In the menu that appears, select “Exit.”

You can  also press Ctrl+Shift+Q on your keyboard.

In the Firefox menu, select "Exit."

To close all Firefox windows simultaneously on a Mac, click the “Firefox” menu in the menu bar at the top of the screen and select “Quit Firefox.”

You can also press Command+Q on your keyboard.

By default, a pop-up will appear warning you that you are about to close a large number of tabs at once (unless you have previously disabled this). Click “Close tabs.”

After that, you’ll see all of your Firefox windows vanish quickly one-by-one. If you’d like to get them back, relaunch Firefox and select “Restore Previous Session” from the Firefox menu.

Info: If you’ve previously configured Firefox to always open in Private Browsing mode, the “Restore Previous Session” option will be greyed out.

After that, all of the Firefox windows you just closed will pop back up again. If you’d prefer to re-open them one at a time, the windows and tabs you closed will be listed in your History (unless you’ve set Firefox to clear history upon closing). Happy browsing!

RELATED: How to Always Start Mozilla Firefox in Private Browsing Mode

Profile Photo for Benj Edwards Benj Edwards
Benj Edwards is a former Associate Editor for How-To Geek. Now, he is an AI and Machine Learning Reporter for Ars Technica. For over 15 years, he has written about technology and tech history for sites such as The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld, Macworld, Ars Technica, and Wired. In 2005, he created Vintage Computing and Gaming, a blog devoted to tech history. He also created The Culture of Tech podcast and regularly contributes to the Retronauts retrogaming podcast.
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