Stay-Open Menu -- Firefox Extension

Stay-Open Menu is a extension created for Firefox® which facilitates opening multiple tabs from the Bookmarks Menu and various other bookmark/history/tab related dropdown menus. It keeps the menu open when middle-clicking (optionally ctrl-clicking) and is especially handy for RSS feed (Live Bookmark) items.

Usage Notes

• Middle-clicking each bookmarked item in the Bookmarks Menu will open it in a tab, while leaving the menu open for further selections. (Left-click the desired menu to open it, find the items you wish to open, then middle-click each desired item to open it in a tab.) If you have turned on the autoclosing option, just move the mouse away from the menu when you are done making selections. Otherwise, click somewhere outside the menu (or press ESC) to close the menu.
• Also works in the same way with the Bookmarks Toolbar, Bookmarks Menu Button, and the History Menu.
• Middle-clicking a bookmarks folder will open all contained bookmarks in tabs and leave the menu open.
• Middle-clicking "Open All in Tabs" and "Open (Feed Name)" also leave the menu open.
• Also works on the Smart Location Bar (aka awesomebar) dropdown list
• Option to enable use of Ctrl-click (Meta-click on Mac) as an additional alternative to middle-click. Handy for laptop computers and those who have set their middle-mouse button system-wide to another function instead of the default 'middle-click'.
• Option to automatically close when mouse moves off menu, after any stay-open click.Also great for when you only wanted to middle-click one item!
• Option to keep menu open with left-click. (Ctrl-click must be enabled in order to enable left-click.) The left-click option is mainly intended for when another extension is being used to cause bookmarks to open new tabs. (Extensions with this option include Tab Mix Plus and Tab Kit.) Otherwise, the left-clicked items overwrite each other in the same tab, not usually the desired behavior. For this reason, (non-Ctrl) left-clicking does not cause the Smart Location Bar dropdown to stay open.
• Works with History Button add-on.
• Option to keep menu open for multiple selections on the 'Permissions' subitem added by Tab Mix Plus (TMP) to the tab contextmenu (only applicable if TMP is installed and its 'Permissions' option is enabled). Enable via Tools > Add-ons > Stay-Open Menu > Options. Left-click TMP's permissions items to use feature. Same functionality added for TMP's Lock/Protect/Freeze tab.
• Option to redisplay the menu after using 'right-click > Properties' on a bookmark to view/edit it's properties. Enable via Tools > Add-ons > Extensions Tab > Stay-Open Menu > Options.
• Note: The Bookmarks Sidebar stays open by default even without this extension, but I prefer the Bookmarks Menu because I like the way the folders automatically open when hovered.
• Details on version-specific changes at versions page at AMO.

Notes on the Boox-related feature

• Keeps menu open (via middle-click, etc.) when clicking the "Mark as read" and 'Open unread' context-menu items added by the Boox extension.
• Option must be enabled via Tools > Add-ons > Stay-Open Menu > Options.

Details of how Stay-Open Menu works on Smart Location Bar

• Middle-click as many items as you'd like before closing the dropdown list. Each item gets opened in a new background tab. When you exit the dropdown, focus switches to appropriate tab. (Switching immediately would likely be preferable; unfortunately, I know of no way to implement that behavior.)
• You can exit dropdown via the autoclosing feature, if enabled (version 1.5 only), or by clicking outside the dropdown/location bar, pressing ESC, or left-clicking an item in the list. If you exit via left-clicking, that item loads in the current tab, and that current tab remains in the foreground.
• Ctrl-click (if enabled) will also work on the Smart Location Bar.

Known Issues

[Mac OS] Stay-Open Menu does not work with the native Mac OS X Menu Bar (middle-click and Cmd-click don't work properly there anyway - Bug 49002 & Bug 313718). Workaround: Use it with the Bookmarks Toolbar, Bookmarks Menu Button, etc.

[Ubuntu with 'Unity'] Stay-Open Menu is not compatible with 'Global menu bar integration' add-on.

Bug: If Ctrl-clk option is turned off, Ctrl-clk on a folder should not keep menu open. (Low priority; should be fixed eventually.)

Incompatibility (minor): Personal Menu extension also has a keep open on middle-click feature. If you wish to use both extensions together (for Stay-Open Menu's additional capabilities), keep the option in Personal Menu (Miscellaneous Tab) 'Close menu after middle-clicking bookmarks' turned ON (checked). This prevents a conflict which causes middle-clicking a bookmarks folder to have no effect. (It should open all bookmarks in the folder in new tabs.)

Visit addons.mozilla.org to Install Stay-Open Menu

View another extension by same author