Firefox Keyboard Problems

Keyboard issues can be especially annoying if you've turned off your laptop's trackpad.

Mozilla's free browser, Firefox, offers many keyboard shortcuts in addition to the ability to complete online forms and type entries into the address bar. If you experience keyboard problems, you may not be able to communicate effectively or visit the websites you desire. There are several common keyboard issues that you can quickly resolve to return to normal behavior.

Multimedia Content

If your mouse or trackpad has selected multimedia content such as Flash or a video, you will not be able to use the keyboard shortcuts that you are accustomed to. For example, you will not successfully tab through the page or use the "Control" and "T" shortcut to open a new tab or close the current tab. To remedy this, you must simply click on a non-multimedia part of the page.

Caret Browsing

Firefox support forums include several topics from users who experience unexpected behavior in the browser when using the keyboard buttons and arrows to scroll vertically or horizontally. This can occur when you accidentally press "F7" on your keyboard and enable caret browsing which shows an on-screen cursor for keyboard navigation. Pressing "F7" again to disable caret browsing and return to normal scroll functions.

Language Bar

If you use the Windows language bar to quickly switch between languages on your operating system, you may experience problems when typing. Firefox may change some characters to non-English -- or your default language -- characters when you type. This can occur if you accidentally press the key combination that switches keyboard layouts. This feature is enabled when you use the Windows language bar on your desktop. You can right click your taskbar to ensure you have enabled viewing of the language bar so you can view if the keyboard configuration has changed.

Other Issues

Mozilla suggests that you disable plug-ins to troubleshoot any issues with Firefox. Plug-ins, especially those installed from places other than the Firefox website, may experience compatibility issues. For example, some extensions may use the same keyboard shortcuts in Firefox. You can restart Firefox with add-ons disabled from the "Help" menu to determine if a plug-in is causing your issue. Enable each add-on individually to determine which one is causing keyboard or other issues.

References

• Firefox Help: Keyboard Problems Only on Mozilla Firefox
• Firefox Help: Unable to Scroll with Arrow Keys
• Microsoft: The Language Bar (Overview)
• Firefox help: Basic Troubleshooting