The Back Button doesn't work on Youtube.
I noticed that someone else had this question, but instead of answering it, it just got archived.
When browsing Youtube, the browser Back Button doesn't work. For example, if I start on the Youtube main page, then click on a video, it will show the video. But then, when I click the browser's "Back" navigation buttion, it does not take me back to the main page. The URL in the address bar will be the main page, but it will continue to display the video I just watched instead.
This only seems to happen on Youtube. It's been a problem for a while - possibly as much as 2 years or even more. And it doesn't happen every single time. However, it has been happening a lot more frequently lately.
It's almost as if Firefox just doesn't want to refresh.
I've tried clearing the cache. The problem persists. I've dried disabling all add-ons. It still happens. I've tried running it in troubleshooting mode. Still a problem.
I've tried to duplicate this in Microsoft Edge; it doesn't seem to happen there.
Chosen solution
suram080 said
Hey there! Thanks for reaching out and describing the issue so well. It sounds like you're experiencing a common problem with the Back button on YouTube. This could be due to how YouTube dynamically loads content, which sometimes interferes with the browser's navigation. To fix this, you can try a couple of things: first, make sure your Firefox is up to date. Sometimes updates come with fixes for such issues. Additionally, you can try clearing both cookies and cache, as this might help refresh the page loading behavior. If the problem persists, you could consider using keyboard shortcuts like "Alt + Left Arrow" instead of the Back button. Give these a shot and see if it helps.
Turns out, the latest update fixed the problem (or at least seems to so far). This really started getting bad when I updated to a previous version.
Incidentally, the "Alt + Left Arrow" just does the exact same thing that the Navigation Back button on the address bar does; that didn't help at all, since it's just a shortcut that did the exact same thing.
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Hey there! Thanks for reaching out and describing the issue so well. It sounds like you're experiencing a common problem with the Back button on YouTube. This could be due to how YouTube dynamically loads content, which sometimes interferes with the browser's navigation. To fix this, you can try a couple of things: first, make sure your Firefox is up to date. Sometimes updates come with fixes for such issues. Additionally, you can try clearing both cookies and cache, as this might help refresh the page loading behavior. If the problem persists, you could consider using keyboard shortcuts like "Alt + Left Arrow" instead of the Back button. Give these a shot and see if it helps.
Since Firefox 87, the backspace action to take you back in the history has been disabled (browser.backspace_action is 2 by default). See Changed:
To restore this action you can set the pref to '0' on the about:config page.
- about:config => browser.backspace_action => 0
0 goes Back/Forward 1 act like PgUp/PgDown 2 and other values, nothing
cor-el said
Since Firefox 87, the backspace action to take you back in the history has been disabled (browser.backspace_action is 2 by default). See Changed: To restore this action you can set the pref to '0' on the about:config page.0 goes Back/Forward 1 act like PgUp/PgDown 2 and other values, nothing
- about:config => browser.backspace_action => 0
This has absolutely nothing to do with my problem. Nobody's talking about a backspace button. We're talking about the Navigation button on the address bar.
Chosen Solution
suram080 said
Hey there! Thanks for reaching out and describing the issue so well. It sounds like you're experiencing a common problem with the Back button on YouTube. This could be due to how YouTube dynamically loads content, which sometimes interferes with the browser's navigation. To fix this, you can try a couple of things: first, make sure your Firefox is up to date. Sometimes updates come with fixes for such issues. Additionally, you can try clearing both cookies and cache, as this might help refresh the page loading behavior. If the problem persists, you could consider using keyboard shortcuts like "Alt + Left Arrow" instead of the Back button. Give these a shot and see if it helps.
Turns out, the latest update fixed the problem (or at least seems to so far). This really started getting bad when I updated to a previous version.
Incidentally, the "Alt + Left Arrow" just does the exact same thing that the Navigation Back button on the address bar does; that didn't help at all, since it's just a shortcut that did the exact same thing.
I want to chime in on this one with my own experiences:
- Yes, this issue is maddening for me. It completely breaks video search functionality in search engine searches for me.
- The latest update did not fix this ongoing issue for me.
- This appears to be specifically tied to the "Enhancer For YouTube" extension. When I disable said extension or when I use a private window (where I have Enhancer for YouTube disabled by default), the back button for YouTube video clicks works again.
- I checked and this does not appear to be tied to any one setting that I can see in the extension. It clearly is a broken feature of the extension.
Modified by SuperPigDots
SuperPigDots said
3. This appears to be specifically tied to the "Enhancer For YouTube" extension. When I disable said extension or when I use a private window (where I have Enhancer for YouTube disabled by default), the back button for YouTube video clicks works again. 4. I checked and this does not appear to be tied to any one setting that I can see in the extension. It clearly is a broken feature of the extension.
That wasn't the case for me. When I disabled the Enhancer extension, that didn't fix the problem. Even completely removing it didn't help. However, as I said, the latest FF update fixed the problem for me.