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Just installed latest Firefox version (26), now can't move tabs around.

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  • 30 have this problem
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  • Last reply by ccarol

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Just installed latest Firefox version (26), now can't move tabs around. (Had problems with session restore, too, with 21.0.)

Just installed latest Firefox version (26), now can't move tabs around. (Had problems with session restore, too, with 21.0.)

Chosen solution

To ideato, HughHyatt, PeaceByJesus, jscher2000, nameany2,

Thank you all for your kind contributions, thoughts, questions, and answers!

Regarding the tab moving issue, that resolved itself after a couple of reboots, with no other action taken by me. Thank goodness!

nameany2 is correct; most people know most of the things to try.

But every once in a while an obscure answer will appear on this forum which I wouldn't have thought of, so thank you all.

I believe it is Adobe Flash which keeps crashing my browser. I do tend to push it by opening multiple tabs. (Flash is notorious, and I do get tired of "updating" it, most of which updates are marketing ploys.) This thread is not about that but I hope that is helpful to others with that problem.

Good job, everyone. I appreciate the work that you put in!!!

ccarol

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All Replies (20)

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Hello ccarol, try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • On Windows you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

FirefoxSafeMode

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode" Safe Mode Fx 15 - Win

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the 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 other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

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Hello ideato, thanks for the kind response.

Seems everyone recommends re-starting in Privacy Mode for every little issue that happens with Firefox. But don't want to, and never have, and never will, as I predict based on a proprietary algorithm that that will screw up a dozen other things in Firefox that right now are working just fine.

The bottom line is that Firefox 21 and now 26 have the same add-ons except for those which 26 disabled (I hate that; why I seldom "upgrade"), and I'm not disabling any of the ones which still work as they make my life easier. I hope that the ones which were disabled come back.

Next?

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Probably the problem is a faulty extension, if you like go from Tools > Add-ons > Extensions > disable one extension and check if the problem exist, if yes, enable that extension and go to the next extension...disable and so on till you find the problematic one..


thanks again

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Hello ideato,

As Firefox updated itself, my beloved Tab Utilities extension has worked less and less. It was totally Firefox-disabled with this latest update, but now that it doesn't work I can't fix anything that is broken. Not happy about either eventuation, losing all the extensions I depend on or what happened to my browser when I did.

Need a way to eliminate already-disabled add on extension pieces that I can't find, from Citrix (how the heck do I get rid of that?), and perhaps Tab Utilities.

Help? Thanks.

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Anyone know how to uninstall Citrix and fix Tab Utilities? Either one may be the problem. Thanks.

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Hello ccarol, check in Tools > Add-ons > Plugins and in Extensions session if you have something related to Citrix.

see also how to uninstall the Citrix Receiver for Windows manually :

http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/receiver-windows-33/ica-install-manual.html

(need to delete keys in windows registry)


thanks again

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This article did it for me: Move Tabs to the Bottom

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I have started it with no add ons enabled, and it does the same things as FF with add ons, meaning i cannot move/drag tabs anymore. This evidently began with 26.0.

Also, now some flash videos will not play,  despite installing the latest AFP,  but which play  in Chrome and IE. Something changed
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Hi PeaceByJesus, can you start a new question and include your Windows version, and add-on information? You can start a new question at the following link. Scroll down past the suggestions to continue with the form (I think it has 3 different screens). https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems

Regarding the Flash problem, perhaps you can give some links to page where Flash is not working so a volunteer can see whether anything special is going on there.

You also could report on whether Firefox's Safe Mode makes any difference. That's a standard diagnostic tool to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings). More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled (Plugins like Flash still work)

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Thanks. That will make it easier to give you personal recommendations.

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OP here. "Safe Mode" seems to mess up the browser even further so I didn't try that. Nor were the add-ons or extensions a problem, as I said.

However, after restarting Firefox a couple of times the tab-moving issue self-resolved.

(Still waiting for all the great features we lose with each Firefox upgrade, like "Bookmark All" and "Move Tab to New Window", to be restored.)

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Hi ccarol, regarding "Bookmark All Tabs" and "Move to New Window", you should still find these on the little pop-up context menu when you right-click a tab in Firefox 26.

On the main Bookmarks Menu, "Bookmark All Tabs" only appears under limited circumstances: if you click the menu with the mouse it's hidden, but if you open the menu using the keyboard shortcut Alt+b then it's there. Not being a UI designer, I'm not sure I understand why it's important to avoid duplication of this command in two places for mouse users...

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jscher2000, thank you very much! Perhaps they moved these two commands. They get moved around or disappear entirely some upgrades.

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PS jscher2000, not sure why Mozilla does these things either. ;) But it's still my favorite browser, despite its crashing several times per day, so that's something.

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By the way, to everyone on this question, a Citrix Online Web Deployment plug-in was installed when I needed to use Go to Meeting. I disabled it, but I couldn't find whatever I need to find (in Add and Change Programs) to delete it entirely from my computer. Any ideas, or are there answers posted elsewhere on this forum that you can point me to? Thank you very much.

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Hi ccarol, regarding Citrix, if there is no entry in the Windows Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs to cleanly remove it, you can discover its physical location on disk using the about:plugins page. Type or paste about:plugins in the address bar and press Enter. Each plugin should show the full path on disk.

If it's in a Mozilla folder (either under your Windows profile or in Firefox's program folder), then deleting it should be the end of the story. If it's in a different folder, Firefox probably is finding the plugin through a registry entry. Whether you want to clean that out is another question....

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Hi ccarol, regarding the crashes, probably best to start a new thread on those.

When Firefox crashes, it usually records information about what was happening at that moment. You may have seen a reporter dialog come up. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. Please check the support article "Firefox Crashes" (especially the last section) for steps to get those crash IDs.

If Firefox not crashing per se but is hanging and needs to be killed, then unfortunately you probably won't have any relevant crash data. Then it's more of a try this, try that, process.

Either way, as you know, you can start a new question at the following link. Scroll down past the suggestions to continue with the form (I think it has 3 different screens).

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems

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The flash problem was due to my having Shockwave disabled, not knowing it was Adobe.

But since this thread is about "Firefox version (26) can't move tabs around." why would i want to start a new question?

HOWEVER, i just found out this problem only is under Windows 8.1, but i can under XP which also is running FF 26.0. In fact, in W/8.1 i can no longer move/reposition desktop icons (and i do not have Stardoc installed) or shortcuts in my QuickLaunch bar like i could before (yes, i know there is none by default, but you can add one from C:\Users\place your user name here\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.)

But as i said, i did restart FF with add ons disabled, and it still disallows moving tabs. And it does this on two separate profiles of FF 26.0, as well as under a FF 29 Nightly build.

I also created a brand new profile, and i still cannot drag/move tabs to a different position on the tab bar.

In addition, i found out today that i cannot customize the toolbar by dragging (View>Toolbars>Customize).

Let me start W/8.1 in Safe Mode with Networking and experiment and get back to you.

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OK, the problem did not occur in W/8.1 in Safe Mode, nor now in normal mode after a reboot. The problem had to do with Windows, not FF, so all is well now. Thank God for reboots.

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Not sure how to reply to the particular answer or even refer to it. Anyways, HughHyatt's link does it. Moreover, I reverted it back to tabs on top and it still works after that. I am on Linux. This is purely a Firefox issue, I am sure.

Wherever you look for support, the Internet is full of "helpful" answers - "reset everything to defaults", "disable all add-ons/plugins" and "restart your computer". Oh, and "clear cache/history". I guess they do help in 95% of PEBCAK cases. But for anyone who moved past the complete ignorance stage, they are just a nuisance. Making it very hard to find the right answer (it's usually the shortest and lowest rated, too!)

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Chosen Solution

To ideato, HughHyatt, PeaceByJesus, jscher2000, nameany2,

Thank you all for your kind contributions, thoughts, questions, and answers!

Regarding the tab moving issue, that resolved itself after a couple of reboots, with no other action taken by me. Thank goodness!

nameany2 is correct; most people know most of the things to try.

But every once in a while an obscure answer will appear on this forum which I wouldn't have thought of, so thank you all.

I believe it is Adobe Flash which keeps crashing my browser. I do tend to push it by opening multiple tabs. (Flash is notorious, and I do get tired of "updating" it, most of which updates are marketing ploys.) This thread is not about that but I hope that is helpful to others with that problem.

Good job, everyone. I appreciate the work that you put in!!!

ccarol