In some occasions, when Firefox starts eating the RAM memory of your computer, it is almost impossible to use the browser or navigate through the tabs.
But if it is really important to have 10 tabs open at the same time and check the content of each periodically, the normal left-clicks with the mouse won’t help you. So what you need to do is use the Control key, plus the number of the tab you want to look at.
For example, if Firefox is eating 110MB of RAM (like is currently happening to me) and clicking on a specific tab takes ages to load it, just use Ctrl + 1, or Ctrl + whatever the number of the tab. I can guarantee that with this process, you’ll open the tabs much faster than when comparing to the normal left-clicking.
PS – Ctrl + 9 goes for the last tab, and Ctrl + 1 is for the first one.
Update – Other tips provided by our readers on the comments:
Jack – Or you could just use ctrl + page up or page down.
Joshua – You can also use Ctrl + Tab to switch to the next tab.
Nguyen Vu – if you want to restore a tab you’ve closed, just press Ctrl + Shift + T.
Or you could just use ctrl + page up or page down. Use full if you’re just using the keyboard to surf on a laptop. Or if you can’t count how many tabs you have.
Does not work.
Jack, the page up/down functions are also pretty useful. Forgot about those, but thanks! :)
Randell, what part doesn’t work?
You can also use Ctrl + Tab to switch to the next tab. That seems easier sometime when you’re just surfing using a keyboard.
So if you want to restore a tab you’ve closed, just press Ctrl + Shift + T. :)
You can close a tab with Ctrl + W
And if you want to close all the tabs at once, press Alt + F4.