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Why do links not open in a consistent manner?

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 26 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Why, when I click on links with they sometimes open in the same window, sometimes open in a new tab, & sometimes open in a new window? There doesn't seem to be any real default method, as I never know what is going to happen, and as it goes, it usually chooses to do the action I don't want it to do. The same is true when I click on links from an email message, sometimes it opens in a new window, a new tab, or overwrites a currently open tab! Why is it doing this?

Why, when I click on links with they sometimes open in the same window, sometimes open in a new tab, & sometimes open in a new window? There doesn't seem to be any real default method, as I never know what is going to happen, and as it goes, it usually chooses to do the action I don't want it to do. The same is true when I click on links from an email message, sometimes it opens in a new window, a new tab, or overwrites a currently open tab! Why is it doing this?

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You can set via these two prefs how clicking a link in handled.

For links opened via JavaScript (window.open) you can check the browser.link.open_newwindow.restrict pref:

This only works for links that do not specify a target window.
You can always override this by holding down the Command key and left-clicking the link or middle-clicking the link or use the right-click context menu.

You can override how external links (e.g. links in a email program that open the default browser) are opened via the browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external pref.

The meaning of the values of browser.link.open_newwindow.override.external are the same as for browser.link.open_newwindow

  • 1: current tab; 2:new window; 3:new tab;