Mozilla has added a beta feature called Firefox Mini Window that lets users detach an open page, or just a highlighted section of one, into a small floating window. The window sits above other Firefox windows, so the content stays visible while you work elsewhere. It is available now in Firefox Nightly, and Mozilla plans to bring it to the stable release on November 10.
What the Mini Window does
The feature turns a tab into something that resembles a standalone web app. The new window opens without the usual browser furniture: no address bar, no scroll bar, no visible controls. When the cursor moves inside the window, a slim set of tools appears: the address bar, back and forward buttons, a reload control, and the close button. Move the cursor away and those elements disappear, leaving only the page content.
The key behavior is the stacking. A Mini Window stays on top of other Firefox windows, which means a reference page, a search engine, or an AI service can remain in view while the main browser window handles something else. That matters most on a laptop or any setup with limited screen space, where switching back and forth between tabs interrupts the task at hand.
How to open one
Until the feature leaves beta, it is found only in Firefox Nightly, the test build that can run alongside the standard Firefox release. No extra setting is required. Right-click an open tab and choose Move Tab, then Move to Mini Window. The page pops out immediately and hovers over Firefox.
For a smaller extract, highlight the desired section of a page, right-click the selection, and choose Move Section to Mini Window. That opens only the selected content in its own floating window.
Where it fits into a workday
The most direct use is reference material. A writer working on a document can keep the source article in a Mini Window while typing in the main window, reading without clicking between tabs. A search engine can be parked in a Mini Window as an always-ready lookup tool, and the same approach works for an AI service used alongside other work.
The feature also gets around a limitation in MacOS Stage Manager, which normally shows only one window at a time. Because the Mini Window floats above the focused browser window, both the main page and the popped-out content remain available at once.
How Chrome compares
Chrome does not offer an equivalent. Its closest options are -in- mode and the Mini Player, but both are limited to video and media playback. Chrome can also save a website as a web app and open it next to the main window, yet that approach is less flexible than Firefox’s Mini Window and does not guarantee the saved app will stay above the main window.
For anyone who wants to try the feature before the stable release, installing Firefox Nightly and right-clicking a tab is all it takes. The stable version is scheduled to arrive November 10.
