How to Take Region, Visible Area and Scrolling Screenshots in Firefox?

Capturing screenshots is one of the routine tasks you need to do while taking notes and references online. Both Windows (Snipping Tool) and Mac (Screenshot) offer system apps to make this task easier. Though these apps are useful in other situations, it is convenient to use in-built screen capturing feature in browser when you are surfing internet. In this article, we will explain various methods to take screenshots in Mozilla Firefox browser.

Methods to Capture Screenshot in Firefox

While taking screenshot in Firefox, you can select the portion of the page, elements on the page or capture the whole visible area. It is also possible to scroll vertically to capture the full-page screenshot. So, follow one of the below methos depending upon your need.

1. Take Screenshot in Firefox Using Developer Tools

Many users think Developer Tools section in browsers are useful only for developers for analyzing webpages. However, you can also use the Developer Tools in Firefox for capturing screenshot with different device mockup. Remember, Chrome and Edge also offer screenshot option through Developer Tools section. However, the steps are bit different in Firefox as the backend is different from Chrome and Edge.

• Open your webpage in Firefox and right-click on any area.
• Select “Inspect” option from the context menu to open Developer Tools section.
• Click the “Responsive Design Mode” icon to open responsive toolbar.
• Click the device list dropdown and select the device and change the orientation if required.
• You will see a preview and the screenshot will be taken exactly as a mockup based on the view ports you have selected.
• Click the camera icon showing on the top right corner of the toolbar.

• Firefox will instantly take a screenshot of the visible content area as seen in preview.
• You will see the image appears from the download list.
• Click on the image to open it or go to your “Downloads” folder and find the screenshot.

If you see the screenshot image is trimmed or cut off, make sure the preview is showing properly when you select a device/orientation from the responsive toolbar. To adjust the size, click “Refresh” button on the address bar to reload the page for the selected device before taking your screenshot.

2. Taking Region Screenshots in Firefox

The above method will capture all visible screen area and does not allow to select the portion. Follow this method if you want to select the portion on the screen:

• Open your webpage and right-click on any area.
• Select “Take Screenshot” option from the menu.

• Move the cursor on the page and Firefox will automatically highlight the page elements for capturing.

• If you do not want to capture the element, drag the cursor with mouse and manually select the region.

• Click “Download” button to get the screenshot image or click “Copy” button to copy the screenshot image into your clipboard.

3. Capture Full-Page Scrolling Screenshots in Firefox

You can also take automatic scrolling screenshots to capture the full-length webpage covering hidden content below the screen.

• Right-click on the webpage and select “Take Screenshot” option.
• Click “Save full page” button showing on top right corner.

• Firefox will show the preview of captured screenshot.
• Click on “Download” or “Copy” button to get your screenshot.

Instead of full-page option, you can use also use “Save visible” button to capture only the visible area. This is like taking screenshot from Developer Tools section without adjusting view ports.

4. Using FireShot Add-on

If you do not like the in-built features, then there are hundreds of add-ons available for taking screenshots in Firefox. FireShot is the most popular add-on allows to capture portion, visible part or entire page. The add-on also offers additional features like annotation, uploading and emailing for Windows users.

• Go to official Mozilla add-on website.
• Type “screenshot” in the search box and press enter to filter the results.
• Select “FireShot: Full Web Page Screenshots” add-on and click “Add to Firefox” button.

• Check the permissions needed for the add-on and click “Add” button.

• You will see a notification and check “Allow this extension to run in Private Windows” option if required and click “Okay” button.

• Open the page you want to capture and click the extension icon in address bar.
• Select FireShot extension and then select capture entire page or visible part or region as you need.

• You will see a neat preview and save the screenshot as image or PDF or copy to clipboard.

• When saving as PDF, click the small arrow showing in “Save to PDF” button and select additional options like disabling text selection, searchable text, etc.

 You can go to extension’s options page and change the file format to PNG or JPG and the default saving location in your Downloads folder.

Wrap Up

Firefox offers integrated Pocket tool for saving your webpages offline and read them later. However, this needs an account creation which is not required for taking screenshots. Bookmarking is also not an option as it always needs internet connection. Though extensions are good, you need to be careful with privacy as they can read all webpage’s content including username and password you enter in login pages. Since it is possible to capture region, all visible area and scrolling screenshots, in most cases it is sufficient to use in-built Firefox screen capture feature safely. If required, you can use additional app for annotating and writing text on the captured images.