How to download Firefox add-ons manually from Mozilla

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 19, 2014
Updated • Aug 5, 2019
Firefox
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It is usually not necessary to download Firefox add-ons manually from the Mozilla website. There are however situations where this may be your only course of action.

Maybe you want to install an add-on on a device without direct Internet connection, a development machine for example.

Security conscious users may want to download extensions too as it provides them with options to go through the source code before they install the add-on in the web browser.

And then there are situations where add-ons are not compatible with the version of the browser that you are using. It is often possible to modify the source of the extension to make it compatible.

When you visit the official Mozilla Add-ons repository you won't find direct download links listed on it.

That does not mean that there is none, only that it is not displayed directly on the page.

Download Firefox add-ons manually

Here is what you need to do to download Firefox add-ons manually.

  1. This works on pages that list multiple extensions and on individual pages of add-ons on the Mozilla website. It is also interesting to note that this works for other programs such as SeaMonkey as well.
  2. Locate the Add to Firefox button on the page you are on. You may need to move the mouse cursor over the add-on to display it on list pages while it is displayed by default on profile pages.
  3. Instead of left-clicking on it to add it to the browser, right-click on it and select Save Link As.
  4. This opens a prompt that you can use to download the add-on xpi file to your local system.

The context menu after a right-click on the Add to Firefox button

context menu after right-click
add to Firefox

The download dialog for the add-on

firefox addon download

Note: This works in all modern web browsers. When you use a different browser, a download button may be displayed directly instead which you can click on to initiate the download.

Mozilla displays a prompt then underneath the download button. Here you need to click on download anyway to download the extension to the system.

firefox addon download anyway
third-party browser

Installing Firefox add-ons manually

Now that you have downloaded the extension, you can install it directly in compatible versions of Firefox. It is alternatively possible to extract the xpi file to the system first. You can use a program such as 7-Zip for that.

Once done, you can edit the source code as you see fit or audit it.

To install the extension in Firefox, simply drag and drop the downloaded file on a Firefox window. The installation dialog opens up and you can install the add-on as usual.

software installation

If you do not like drag and drop, you can open about:addons alternatively, click on the "Tools for all addons" button at the top next to the search form, and select the "Install add-on from file" option that is displayed here.

Summary
How to download Firefox add-ons manually
Article Name
How to download Firefox add-ons manually
Description
Walks you through the steps of saving Firefox add-ons to your local system without installing them first using any modern web browser.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on July 26, 2020 at 8:42 pm
    Reply

    Thank you!

  2. D Kensian said on December 5, 2019 at 5:53 am
    Reply

    Right-click no-longer works on Chrome.

  3. paul said on August 5, 2019 at 12:16 pm
    Reply

    Save as? there is not Save as option! not even on your screen capture

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 5, 2019 at 1:47 pm
      Reply

      You are right, it should read “Save Link As” if you use Firefox.

      1. Karl said on February 26, 2022 at 11:55 pm
        Reply

        Does this work for Android Firefox? We’ve been left out of a lot. .xpi files I have. Will search more and try…

  4. Armond said on April 20, 2014 at 5:44 pm
    Reply

    Hi. Another great and useful article. Thanks…
    Could you also please let us know how we can install add-ons in Mozilla Thunderbird without using drag and drop?
    I am a keyboard user and seams it is a bit hard or even impossible to drag and drop things. Is it possible to install the add-ons by extracting them in %userdata%\Thunderbird and/or %userdata\firefox?
    Thanks a lot.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on April 20, 2014 at 6:18 pm
      Reply

      You click on Tools > Add-ons, and click on the icon on the left side of search on the page that opens up. Here you can select an add-on from the hard drive that you want to install. No drag and drop involved.

  5. mike said on April 20, 2014 at 2:31 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for the tip.
    Compatibility has been a major issue over the years.
    I’ve been using DownThemAll, which allows resume. Right-click the link, choose DTa oneclick, which downloads the xpi file.
    As Izarc (like 7-zip) recognises xpi as a zip file it’s easy to open it up and customise the installation.

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