Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Lolu chungechunge lwabekwa kunqolobane. Uyacelwa ubuze umbuzo omusha uma udinga usizo.

Mac:- Open New Tab in the Background

  • 14 uphendule
  • 1 inale nkinga
  • 14 views
  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu McCoy

more options

Similar to the question here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1239720 I'm finding that on a Mac I'm getting inconsistent results. If I hold CMD while clicking on a link in Gmail then I will be taken away from the tab I'm currently looking at and straight to the new tab.

If I'm on other web pages holding CMD and clicking on a link means that the new tab will open in the background and I will stay on the current tab. This is the expected behaviour and is consistent with Safari, Chrome, and other browsers.

How can I stop FF from taking me away from the tab I'm currently viewing?

Similar to the question here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1239720 I'm finding that on a Mac I'm getting inconsistent results. If I hold CMD while clicking on a link in Gmail then I will be taken away from the tab I'm currently looking at and straight to the new tab. If I'm on other web pages holding CMD and clicking on a link means that the new tab will open in the background and I will stay on the current tab. This is the expected behaviour and is consistent with Safari, Chrome, and other browsers. How can I stop FF from taking me away from the tab I'm currently viewing?

All Replies (14)

more options

Hello GregMB,

Would you do this please :

Preferences => General => under 'Tabs' uncheck :

'When you open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately'.

Now when you press the Cmd key and click a link, the link will be opened in a new tab, but you will still be on the same tab.

more options

Thanks McCoy. But that option was already unchecked and still is and the inconsistent behaviour still happens.

Any other suggestions?

more options

GregM8 said

Thanks McCoy. But that option was already unchecked and still is and the inconsistent behaviour still happens. Any other suggestions?

I just tried it and it works for me - do you press the Cmd key and then click a link  ?

more options

Yes, definitely holding down Cmd key and tried it multiple times. This only happens with links in Gmail. Outside of Gmail everything works as it should.

more options

GregM8 said

This only happens with links in Gmail. Outside of Gmail everything works as it should.

I should have paid better attention to your original post - my apologies ......

Would you try this please :

Type in the address bar about:config and press Enter (promise to be careful, if asked)

Type in the search bar browser.tabs.loadDiverted.

and look for the preference :

browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground

and set its value to true (default = false)

Then close and restart Firefox.

Does that work  ?

If this doesn't make a difference, then change the value back.

more options

Another thing to try is to go to :

www.google.com

Click on 'Settings' (bottom right) => Search settings

Scroll down to 'Where results open' and uncheck 'Open each selected result in a new browser window'

Then click the blue 'Save' button at the bottom.

more options

Thanks McCoy

Adjusting browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground to true works.

Cheers

more options

Although now that I look closer it now opens all new tabs in the background even if I'm not holding the Cmd key.

more options

"Scroll down to 'Where results open' and uncheck 'Open each selected result in a new browser window'"

Had a look here and it was already unchecked.

more options

GregM8 said

Although now that I look closer it now opens all new tabs in the background even if I'm not holding the Cmd key.

If that is not what you want : change the value of that preference back to "false" .....

'Must admit that I haven't checked to see how this works (checked the setting in Preferences only), as I don't want those tabs to open in the background all the time.

more options

Yeah, I've changed the setting back. But I still have the fault. Is this something that should be reported as a bug?

more options

GregM8 said

Yeah, I've changed the setting back. But I still have the fault. Is this something that should be reported as a bug?

I went to see if maybe there already was a bug report about this issue and on this page I found this bug report :

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=661801

Started 8 years ago, last updated 2 years ago, status : NEW, and apparantly not being worked on right now .....

more options

8 years huh? I guess it's not going to be addressed any time soon.

Thanks for all your help McCoy.

more options

GregM8 said

8 years huh? I guess it's not going to be addressed any time soon.

You could add a comment to that bug report and explain your problem (in a concise manner) and get the ball rolling again (hopefully .....)