Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

How to open page in new tab (but not to be taken to the new tab)

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 30 views
  • Last reply by kiedis

kiedis
kiedis
more options

Let's say I'm reading a Wikipedia article which usually contains many links to other articles.

When I click a mouse-wheel button, a new website opens in a new tab. That's great. But by default, the browser makes the newly opened tab as the main window, so basically I am being presented with the newly opened website immediately.

What I want to do, is to be able to open links in a new tab, but remain on the original website and then navigate to the newly opened website in the new tab whenever I want. How can I do this?

Let's say I'm reading a Wikipedia article which usually contains many links to other articles. When I click a mouse-wheel button, a new website opens in a new tab. That's great. But by default, the browser makes the newly opened tab as the main window, so basically I am being presented with the newly opened website immediately. What I want to do, is to be able to open links in a new tab, but remain on the original website and then navigate to the newly opened website in the new tab whenever I want. How can I do this?

Chosen solution

Hi kiedis, could you check the preferences here:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste inback and pause while the list is filtered

You should see at least 4 preferences, two of which would be most relevant to your scenario. To switch between true and false, double-click.

  • browser.tabs.loadInBackground (default is true) -- this should cover your scenario if it's a regular link that would have opened in the same page tab anyway.
  • browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground (default is false) -- this should cover links coded to launch a new window that Firefox diverts to a new tab instead.

Can you find a combination that works for you?

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Hi kiedis, could you check the preferences here:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste inback and pause while the list is filtered

You should see at least 4 preferences, two of which would be most relevant to your scenario. To switch between true and false, double-click.

  • browser.tabs.loadInBackground (default is true) -- this should cover your scenario if it's a regular link that would have opened in the same page tab anyway.
  • browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground (default is false) -- this should cover links coded to launch a new window that Firefox diverts to a new tab instead.

Can you find a combination that works for you?

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

kiedis
kiedis Question owner
more options

Thank you very much, Jefferson