There are a wide array of both basic and advanced tools for customizing Flock's features and the overall browser interface. You can easily personalize your My World page and many other aspects of Flock to work just the way you like them.

In this section:

• Important: How to Change Most Settings
• Customize Toolbars
• Customize the Favorites Toolbar
• Customize My World Favorite Sites, Friends, Feeds and Media
• Customize the Download Manager
• Set Your Start and Home Pages
• Set Your Default Browser
• Set Tab and Window Options
• Change the Look of Web Pages
• Block or Allow Pop-up Windows
• Block or Allow Images
• Enable or Disable Java or Javascript
• Adjust Automatic Updates

Important: How to Change Most Settings

1. To change a wide variety of settings in Flock, open the Options or Preferences dialog. How you access the dialog depends upon your operating system:
   • If you are using Windows, open the Tools menu and select Options.
   • If you are using Linux, open the Edit menu and select Preferences.
   • If you are using Mac OS, open the Flock menu and select Preferences.
   
2. Click on any of the tabs to access many options for changing Content, Feeds, Privacy or other settings. Detailed help regarding specific settings can be found below and throughout this User Guide. Since Flock is built on the Mozilla Firefox browser, you'll also find helpful information at Firefox Help or at the Firefox New Features page.

Customize Toolbars

1. Right-click (CTRL-click on Mac) on a toolbar or select View > Toolbars from the menu.
2. Uncheck Navigation Toolbar or Flock Toolbar to hide that toolbar.
3. Choose Customize to open the Customize Toolbar dialog and change the look of a toolbar.

4. In the Customize Toolbar dialog, click and drag buttons to and from the toolbar and the dialog to create your customized toolbar.
   Here are some special layout options:
• Separators: These separate items on the toolbars with a small vertical line.
• Spacers: These put a fixed-size space between toolbar items.
• Flexible spacers: These separate items with a space that is resized automatically to fill the empty space on the toolbar. These are good for positioning items on the right of a toolbar.
5. Click Restore Default Set to restore a toolbar to Flock's default settings.
6. Click Add New Toolbar to create an entirely new toolbar. The new toolbar will appear below the Navigation Toolbar. Drag and drop button icons onto it.
7. Click the arrow to the right of Show to choose to view the buttons as icons or text.
8. Click Done.

Customize the Favorites Toolbar

1. Right-click (CTRL-click on Mac) on the Favorites Toolbar (it's located beneath the Location Bar and to the right of the Flock Toolbar).

2. Select Delete from the drop-down menu to remove the nearest favorite button.
3. Select Properties to edit a button's name address, description etc.
4. Select New Favorite to add a new favorite button onto the Favorites Toolbar for quick access.

5. Enter a name and URL address. (For more information on saving and managing favorites, see Use Enhanced Search Tools and Favorites Organizing.)
6. Click Add, and the new button will appear on the Favorites Toolbar and under the menu Favorites > Favorites Toolbar. Check Load this favorite in the sidebar to also add this favorite into the Favorites Toolbar folder in the Favorites Sidebar.
7. To add a suite of new favorites to the Favorites Toolbar in one folder, select New Folder from the Favorites Toolbar dropdown menu.

8. Give the folder a name and click Add, and the new folder will appear on the Favorites Toolbar.
9. Click on this new folder button, scroll down to where it says "(Empty)", and then right-click (CTRL-click on Mac) to open the dropdown menu. Then select New Favorite to add a favorite to this folder.

10. Repeat as often as you like. (After the first time, the folder will no longer say "Empty", but will list the favorites you've added.)
11. When you're finished, click on your new folder and a dropdown list of the favorites inside it will appear. Select any one to visit that website, or select Open All in Tabs to open all the favorites in that folder at once.

Customize My World Favorites, Friends, Feeds and Media

1. Go to My World. (Go here for introductory information on My World.)

2. Click on the arrow icon to change the position of a column, and on the X to close it.

3. To change the columns you see in My World, click the Widgets button.

4. Check the columns you'd like to show, uncheck the ones you'd like to hide.
5. Change the title of My World by clicking the text My World and typing what you would like it to be called.

6. Press Enter to save the name.
7. To prevent My World from starting when you start Flock, select Tools > Options from the menus and click the Main tab. Then remove about:myworld from your home page.

Customize the Download Manager

1. To customize the Download Manager, select Tools > Options from the menu. (For help with downloading, go here.)
2. In the Options dialog, click the Main tab.

3. Under Downloads, choose if you want the downloads dialog to open and/or close automatically when a download begins.
4. Under Save Files To, choose whether Flock should ask where to save every file it downloads, or automatically save all files to a folder you choose.
   By default, Flock will save all of your downloaded files to the desktop.
   Note: If you have anti-virus software installed, Flock automatically notifies it to scan your downloads for viruses.

Set Your Start and Home Pages

1. Go to the web page you want opened when you start Flock. For multiple start pages, open all the starting pages you want in tabs.
2. Open the Tools > Options dialog (see above).
3. Select the Main tab.

4. Click Use Current Page or Use Current Pages to set the website(s) that Flock opens when you click the Home icon on the Navigation Toolbar.
5. Click the arrow to the right of When Flock starts: to set this same website as the one Flock opens when it starts up, or to instead select a blank page for start-up.
6. To change your home page back to the way it was before, choose Restore to Default and then click OK.

Set Your Default Browser

1. Open the Tool > Options dialog (see above).
2. Click the Advanced tab and, beneath it, the General tab.
3. Click in the box to put a checkmark next to Always check to see if Flock is the default browser on startup.

4. Click OK.
5. If you also use other browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari, you may need to tell them to stop checking to see if they are the default browsers. Consult those browsers' help files for information on how to do that. Uncheck this box if you do not want Flock to be browser that starts automatically when you click on links in emails etc.

Set Tab and Window Options

1. Using tabs provides several advantages over using windows, including the ability to drag and drop tabs into any order you prefer, as well as to restore tabs you've accidentally closed by selecting History > Recently Closed Tabs from the menus. However, to set preferred options for tab or window behaviors, select Tools > Options from the menus.
2. Click the Tabs tab.

3. Under New pages should be opened in, choose either a new window or a new tab.
4. You may wish to check or uncheck the other options for controlling tab behaviors.
5. Click OK.
   Note: When you exit closing multiple tabs, Flock will ask if you want to be able to re-open the same tabs the next time you start Flock. Click Save and Quit to save the tabs, or Quit to exit without saving. Check Do not ask next time if you want the option you choose to be Flock's default behavior.

Change the Look of Web Pages

1. Select View > Zoom from the menus to increase or decrease the size of the web page you're viewing. This can also be done by pressing the CTRLand Shift and + (plus) keys together to enlarge the size. Press CTRL and the - (minus) sign to shrink the size, or CTRL and the 0 (Zero) key to return to the default. (On Mac, press Cmd (Apple key), Shift, and the plus or minus sign together.)
2. For a wider array of options for changing the look of content, select Tools > Options and then click the Content tab. Here, you'll notice you have a wide variety of options for changing how web pages appear to you, including for changing fonts, colors, blocking images (helpful if you're on a slow dial-up) and stopping pop-up windows. You can also access advanced options and opportunities for creating specific exceptions to the settings you create by clicking on the associated buttons. (Some of these options are discussed in more detail below or elsewhere in this User Guide.)

Block or Allow Pop-up Windows

1. Select Tools > Options, and click the Content tab.

2. Uncheck the box beside Block pop-up windows to allow all popup windows. Check the box to block all pop-up windows.
3. To specify which sites can or cannot launch popup windows in your browser, check the box and click Exceptions to the right of it.

4. In the Exceptions box, enter the web site's address.
5. Click Allow.
6. To remove a web site from the list of allowed sites, highlight it and click Remove Site.
7. To clear the list completely, click Remove All Sites.
8. When you're done, click Close.

Block or Allow Images

1. Select Tools > Options, and click the Content tab.

2. Check or uncheck the box beside Load Images Automatically.
   Note: Blocking images from loading can be useful if you're using a slow dial-up internet connection, because some image files can be very large.
3. To specify which sites can or cannot load images, click Exceptions.
4. In the Exceptions field, enter the web site's address.
5. Click either the Block or Allow button.
6. To remove a web site from the list of excepted sites, highlight it and click Remove Site.
7. To clear the list completely, click Remove All Sites.
8. When you are done, click Close.

Enable or Disable Java and Javascript

1. Select Tools > Options, and click the Content tab.

2. Check or uncheck the box beside Enable Javascript and/or Enable Java.
   Note: Be cautious when setting these options. Some sites require certain Java or JavaScript functions to be enabled to work properly.
3. To allow or block specific Java or JavaScript functions, click the Advanced button.

4. Check or uncheck the specific features to block and click OK.

Adjust Automatic Updates

1. Select Tools > Options.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Update tab.

4. Put a checkmark next to the items you want Flock to check for updates. (Most people keep all three checked.)
   Note: Be careful when changing these preferences, because regular updates are an important ongoing security feature for any browser.
5. Tell Flock what to do when updates to Flock are found.
   • Ask me what I want to do: Flock asks for your approval before updating something.
   • Automatically download and install the update: Flock updates items without asking you first.
   • Warn me if this will disable extensions or themes: sometimes an update to one extension can disable another. This warning lets you reconsider and postpone such an update.

You may also wish to learn how to customize your privacy and security settings in Flock...

Back to Flock User Guide Contents.