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Why can't I navigate with my arrows in Firefox 20.0.1?

  • 8 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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After I downloaded 20.0.1, I found that I my cursors and tab key no longer functioned within Firefox (they function everywhere else on my laptop). This wasn't a problem until the latest version, but I can't find any solution. I made sure that my Accessibility options were set to make sure my cursor keys would navigate, but it still won't work. This is more than annoying. Help?

After I downloaded 20.0.1, I found that I my cursors and tab key no longer functioned within Firefox (they function everywhere else on my laptop). This wasn't a problem until the latest version, but I can't find any solution. I made sure that my Accessibility options were set to make sure my cursor keys would navigate, but it still won't work. This is more than annoying. Help?

All Replies (8)

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hello aklein22, please press F7 in order to leave caret browsing mode - then the behaviour should be back to normal...

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Thanks, When I press Fn7 I'm asked if I want to turn on Caret Browsing, Yes or No. When I press No, nothing happens, unless I'm supposed to restart?

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yes, caret browsing should stay switched off - your configuration you've submitted orignially shows that it was turned on (accessibility.browsewithcaret: True ) what will interfere with the arrow keys...

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If caret browsing is enabled ([X] "Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages") then the cursor keys behave differently.

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Sorry to belabor this issue, and thanks to all who helped, but...

It seems whether "Allow cursor..." is selected or not, or if I choose "Yes" or "No" on F7 prompts, nothing changes. I probably have the wrong combination chosen, or have/haven't restarted in the right sequence.

You've been great, but this is getting frustrating on my end. This only happened AFTER I downloaded 20.0.1, was fine before. Should I revert FF, which could kill some data, or can I go back a version or two? Or throw my laptop in the ocean?

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What happens if you use the cursor keys?

When caret browsing is enabled then you get a cursor key if you click with the left mouse button on a web page.
If you see this cursor the cursor key behave differently.


Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window or otherwise make changes.
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And there you go! Thanks, cor-el. I opened in Safe Mode and everything worked. After troubleshooting, found a bad extension (SEO Blogger 1.0.8), which I will now remove and try another version. This was NOT what I expected, but problem solved nonetheless.Thanks again.

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You're welcome!