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Open links in tabs instead of new windows

mortonpotash
mortonpotash
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Hi, I have set Firefox to "Open previous windows and tabs" and to "Open links in tabs instead of new windows". When the system opens Firefox for me because I've clicked a link in a document, I would like the link to open in a new tab of that previous window which Firefox opens at startup. For many years this was its behaviour. In Chrome for example, this was not and is still not the case.

Recent upgrades to Firefox have changed its behaviour to that of Chrome. When I click a link, Firefox now opens the link in a new window and then opens the previous window on top of that. The link I wanted to follow is behind and invisible.

Could someone check and see if this is related to my system (I'm running Monterey) or if it's reproducible? I can't think of a reason for this change so it feels like a bug, either on my system or in the app itself.

Thanks for any help!

Hi, I have set Firefox to "Open previous windows and tabs" and to "Open links in tabs instead of new windows". When the system opens Firefox for me because I've clicked a link in a document, I would like the link to open in a new tab of that previous window which Firefox opens at startup. For many years this was its behaviour. In Chrome for example, this was not and is still not the case. Recent upgrades to Firefox have changed its behaviour to that of Chrome. When I click a link, Firefox now opens the link in a new window and then opens the previous window on top of that. The link I wanted to follow is behind and invisible. Could someone check and see if this is related to my system (I'm running Monterey) or if it's reproducible? I can't think of a reason for this change so it feels like a bug, either on my system or in the app itself. Thanks for any help!

All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You can override how external links are opened via the browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external pref. If this pref has the default value -1 then browser.link.open_newwindow is used. The meaning of the value of browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external is the same as of browser.link.open_newwindow

  • 1:current tab; 2:new window; 3:new tab;
  • browser.link.open_newwindow

To specify the behavior for links opened via JavaScript window.open() this pref is used:

  • browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction = 0 [0:divert always; 1:divert never; 2:divert w/o features]

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. If you get the warning page, you can click the "Accept the Risk and Continue" button.

Modified by cor-el

mortonpotash
mortonpotash Question owner
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Thank you cor-el for the ultra-rapid reply. I have tried setting browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external to 3 to -1 and then pretty much exhausted the possible permutations of values in both parameters, the above and also browser.link.open_newwindow.

I was loathe to hit the "This doesn't solve my problem" button in the email I received but finally have done so. To my surprise I see that the email did not include the totality of your response to my problem. The response was cut off after the line "To specify the behavior for links opened via JavaScript..." and did not include the parameter "browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction = 0". So I will now try that.

To no avail.

But I have found a work-around. I disabled in Prefs "Open previous windows and tabs". Now a clicked link opens Firefox and is visible. I then use >History>Recently Closed Tabs>Reopen All Tabs to add the previously open tabs to the window. Without being ideal, this solves my problem.

Thankyou for your help.