Address bar no longer activated when opening blank tab
Since today, when I open a new tab (either with ctrl+T or by clicking the green plus symbol), the address bar is no longer activated, which means I have to click it before I start typing. When I have about:newtab (the one with the tiles and the search bar) as default page (in browser.newtab.url) I can get to the search bar by hitting Tab, but that is not what I want anyway. I tried to change browser.newtab.url to about:blank following advice from a different question, but that didn't change anything.
Up till now I could just hit ctrl+T and start typing in the address bar, which I found a very useful behaviour. Is there any way of getting it back?
I didn't install anything, except a few libraries maybe (automatic Linux updates), but there was nothing that said firefox there as far as I remember.
Chosen solution
If you have the Tile Tabs extension, it happens to cause this issue. But version 13.1 released today fixes the issue.
If you don't have Tile Tabs but you have other extensions or themes, one of them might be the cause.
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
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Chosen Solution
If you have the Tile Tabs extension, it happens to cause this issue. But version 13.1 released today fixes the issue.
If you don't have Tile Tabs but you have other extensions or themes, one of them might be the cause.
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button , click Help and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
Deactivating Tile Tabs from the Add-on Manager solved the problem!
Thanks a lot!