Do you frequently access more of Google's services besides just the search engine, such as Google Books, Google Docs, Google Maps, and YouTube?

If so, instead of navigating Google's website to find each needed service or entering the URLs directly, you might find it easier to visit the services via a toolbar or dropdown menu inside Mozilla Firefox - and that's just what the "GButts" add-on does. You can even customize the buttons shown, so that if you never access a particular service it will be hidden from view.

1. Visit the following page from within Firefox:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3576

2. Click the "Add to Firefox" button.

3. The "Software Installation" dialog box will eventually appear. Click "Install Now" as soon as the button is enabled.

4. Once the add-on has installed, click the "Restart Firefox" button. Depending on your configuration, Firefox may note that it will try to restart your windows and tabs.

5. Once Firefox has restarted, return to the "Add-Ons" dialog box if you closed it by selecting the "Tools" menu, then "Add-ons". Then select "Extensions".

6. Underneath "GButts", click the "Options" button.

7. The "Settings" dialog box appears. From here you can decide which buttons for show. For example, I checked "YouTube", "Google Maps", "Google Groups", and a couple other services. You can also decide whether or not to enable a "Settings" button to make accessing the GButts options easier.

Underneath "Show Buttons like a", decide whether you want all buttons displayed ("Toolbar") or a "Dropdown Menu".

If you chose "Toolbar", you can then decide underneath "Orientation on Toolbar" whether to show the buttons horizontally (default) or vertically. If you have many buttons enabled you may not wish to show them vertically as this will increase the size of the Firefox toolbar, but this is your choice.

Finally, under "Tab Behavior", you can check "always open a new tab" instead of replacing the contents of the current tab. If desired, check "do NOT focus new opened tab" to keep viewing the current web page while the Google service opens in a new tab.

8. When done, click "OK" to close the "Settings" dialog box.

9. Now it's time to view the Google services. Select the "View" menu, choosing "Toolbars" , then "Customize".

10. The "Customize Toolbar" dialog box appears. Scroll down and you should see "GButts Toolbar". Click on it with your left mouse button and keep it held down as you drag the icon to the right of the "Home" button on the Firefox toolbar. Release the left mouse button and you're almost done!

11. Click "Done" to close the "Customize Toolbar" dialog box.

Google services should now be accessible in your Firefox toolbar.

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