hello NeilFKMcLachlan, unfortunately it isn't possible to deactivate the warning which shows up when you select "close other tabs" at the moment due to a side effect by another bug fix. in firefox 18 there will be a preference added in about:config (browser.tabs.warnOnCloseOtherTabs) which makes it possible to hide the warning again, see bug #772319.

To madperson: Please note that my remarks are directed at Mozilla, not you.

That simply isn't good enough. The warning is a nuisance that I'd got rid of by setting an option. Now some twerp has decided I'm too stupid to be allowed to do that. The explanation of why & the advice to wait until version 18 for a fix both simply add insult to injury.

In the Options dialog, you ask me if I want a warning when I close multiple tabs. I've said "No". What part of "no" don't you understand?

The more I encounter this piece of stupidity, the more annoying it gets. The assumption that no user knows what he/she is doing is one of the things that made Windows Vista such a disaster. Firefox shouldn't be copying failure. If Mozilla had time to cause this problem in version 16, it has no excuse for waiting until version 18 to undo the damage. It has time to reverse the change now.

There's a good argument for the warning option to be enabled by default. There's none whatever for making it compulsorily enabled, regardless of the user's wishes.

It is, of course, possible that someone will go into the options dialog, disable the warning option & then close multiple tabs by mistake. In that situation, it's the user's own fault. If it's too much trouble to undo the error, the user can re-enable the warning option & stop it happening again.

If there's unsaved data on one of the pages, that page ought to (& most will) warn the user that closing/leaving the page will lose the data. If there's no warning, it's the fault of the page code -- provided, of course, that the browser raises the relevant event when the tab is about to be closed. If the browser isn't raising that event for some reason (e.g., because the tab with the page isn't the active tab), that is the problem requiring attention.

Yup, the same thing happened to me. I've checked the options page, checked and rechecked the no warning option and it didn't work. Also checked config as well and the option for browser.tabs.warnOnClose = false as it should be.

Unfortunately, the option/config are doing nothing. This needs to be rectified.

I've been pulling my hair out on this. It brought me to the support forum for the first time. I absolutely hate "Nag" screens and prompts that I have to click through to confirm that I want the product to do exactly what I asked it to do. If I can't get rid of them, I'll try another product. I'll be patient, but really, wait for the next full release?

Hallo Firefox its been a week already, Firefox come out and play.......Firefox come out and play........Firefox come out and play.......version 18? No that’s not an answer sorry!

Or maybe you could make a popup saying “We will now update your browser to a crappy version with annoying popups and perhaps general malfunction in your browsing experience” Many regards the hard smoking cigar team at Firefox!

I just patched my Firefox to disallow this annoying behaviour. On OS X, unfortunately, but the patch should be similar on Windows, although the paths will differ. Used Midnight Commander to edit inside omni.ja, which is a plain Zip archive.

Thanks, unicodefreak. I might do the same. However, it doesn't realy solve the problem. An update to Firefox is liable to overwrite the patched file & bring the unwanted nagging back, in which case the patch would need to be repeated. That could happen many times & I don't like having to apply the same fix multiple times.

Also, from what I can see, this fix still commits the mistake of ignoring the setting of the "Warn me when closing multiple tabs" option. If I decide that I want the warning -- temporarily, for an inexperience user, say -- I'd need not only to set the option but also to reverse the code patch.

Furthermore, this is a problem created by Mozilla & ought to be fixed by Mozilla. They need to know they've got it wrong. They need to know that "Wait a couple of versions" isn't good enough. Anyone who actually wanted the warning message could have had it, just by setting the option. The sole effect of their change is to impose the warning on users who don't want it. It doesn't in any way help those users who do want it. Mozilla ought to have known better. Since it seems they didn't know better, we need to get the message across to them so that they will know better in future.

Hi everyone,

It is probably worth noting that the bug fix is now included in Firefox beta Aurora, so some of you may consider changing channel and flipping the pref browser.tabs.warnOnCloseOtherTabs

• http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/#beta/beta-desktop
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config

UPDATE

1. the feature is on 17 beta 4, you will need to wait till next week, for the fix
   ^{Thanks for the prompt Madperson -J99}
2. or use the Aurora channel, where I can confirm the fix is live
3. any 64 bit Ubuntu users note the Firefox standard installers on Firefox Beta and Aurora all seem to try to install 32bit instead of 64 bit versions, and the download files are likely to have the same names, you may need to specifically manually download 64 bit versions. Drill down from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases

I think it is realised that the changes are contentious, & whilst I am not attempting to censor discussion I feel I should point out that this is not the best place for such a conversation.

• this forum is intended to provide solutions to individual problems, not to discus or propose Firefox changes
• Firefox developers are unlikely to see or be influenced by posts in this forum
• feedback may be provided by using a current Firefox browser to post in
  http://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback
  and there are various fora http://www.mozilla.org/about/forums/

_{(2nd edit minor typos -J99)}

Hi NeilFKMcLachlan:

Why dont YOU fix it? Firefox is open source... So if You have a firefox that doesnt do what You want it is your fault !!!!!!!!!!

Your benefiting from countless peoples work by using this program free but act as if You had paid a million dollar for software that doesnt work....

Here just do this and you will be perfectly fine... even if option is selected the about:config is always set to "true" by default (on new firefox version)

Thanks, haruhista4. Tried it & it worked fine. Most helpful.

Ah! Setting the WarnOnCloseOtherTabs to false does the trick.

It seems that changing "Warn me when closing multiple tabs" from Tools/Options is actually changing WarnOnClose, which should be the option to be warned when closing the browser with multiple tabs open. That actual option doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Thanks...

Still an issue in Firefox 19.0.

I do not want to be warned when I use the "Close Other Tabs" feature. And forcing users to modify the "about:config" page for such a simple option looks like a bad idea. "about:config" is an Admin tool, isn't it?

Firefox is great, but this issue is so annoying that it made me register here, for the first time ever.

Please make the "Warn me when closing multiple tabs" option do what it is supposed to do.

I wonder if you have already been changing some of the preferences ?

Most things can be changed without resorting to about:config and it is a bad idea to change anything there unless you understand it and or have had reliable advice. (With the possible exception of resetting to default values, which should be relatively safe.

At the moment I am in Firefox 20 and this feature works as intended for me. This thread is old and related to Firefox 16. I suggest you start a new thread by asking your own question using /questons/new. When you do so please ensure you follow the manual steps to include the troubleshooting information. (There is an offer to use an automated method but that is broken at the moment)

Please post back here once you have started a thread. I will make sure it is cross linked, and try to ensure you get a solution.

So, if an issue has been ignored through several version updates, you want a new topic which will basically have all of the helpful workarounds in this topic fall out of the spotlight?

Why not just change the title of this topic to Firefox v16.01 - v19 warns on...

It's really pretty simple. There were two options for closing multiple tabs. One disappeared from the options screen, but its function was assigned to the remaining one, without the screen text changing. If the developers have decided that they no longer want to offer the function through the options screen, then they should at least re-title the remaining option so it does what people expect it to do.

Hi donjag,

Please read my reasoning in my post above. But remember we are now on Firefox 19 and the initial problem no longer exists. If Firefox is set not to warn it now will quietly closes all tabs.

The original Firefox 16 problem was fixed in Firefox 17. All ordinary users should by now be on Firefox 19 or about to update to that.

Other things may have some influence on this, like changed preferences, and what software extensions are in use, if a new thread is started the user is prompted to provide such information, about the new problem

Requests for changes to Firefox

 If the developers have decided that they no longer want to offer the function through the options screen, then they should at least re-title the remaining option so it does what people expect it to do. 

Again see my other post: developers are unlikely to see this forum or this thread. The simplest method of registering the fact you want a change is to use http://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback

have all of the helpful workarounds in this topic fall out of the spotlight?  

Please confirm you have started a new thread by posting back here after you have done so and i will make sure the thread is cross linked for anyone wishing to look back at the historical changes.

• you may use this link yourself as a cross link or bookmark /questions/939340

Hello once again.. I have upgraded few days ago and am NOT getting any warning .. My settings are still the same on about:config (scsreenshot is on my previous reply) as well as the tab-settings unchecked..

Check yours if the were "reseted" after upgrade and try again.. Dont be afraid to use the About:config.. It's there for things like this...

Now if this wont solve i have a few other solutions that WORK

Let me restate the point and then I'll be done with it. In Tools/Options/Tabs there is a checkbox for "Warn me when closing multiple tabs". Checking or unchecking it does not seem to affect Firefox 19 in any way. It has been this way since FF16 so saying that the problem has been fixed is simply not true. Going into about:config and changing the proper browser.tabs.warnOnCloseOtherTabs setting does give you the behavior that you desire, but many users are intimidated to go to this area because they feel that they may mess something up, and Firefox itself gives a very ominous warning when you first try to enter the config area.

This is no longer an issue for me as I am not afraid to change my settings through about:config and have done so, but you have a lot of users scratching their heads because the option under the menu does not do what they expect it to do.

Donjag, thanks a lot. Your description of the issue is absolutely precise. Indeed, this was not fixed in FF 17; behavior of the "Warn me when closing multiple tabs" option remains the same since FF 16 and up to now. And "Close Other Tabs" menu item always displays a warning, since FF 16 and up to now.

> developers are unlikely to see this forum or this thread

What is the purpose of this forum then? Thanks for the link, I've already submitted a feedback here: http://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback. But it provides no feedback on my feedback :)

Haruhista4, your solution via "about:config" is clear to me. But users do not go to Windows Registry to modify preferences for MS Word. Similar to this, "about:config" is an admin tool, and most users avoid using it.