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

Mulongo oyo etiyamaki na archive. Tuna motuna mosusu soki osengeli na lisalisi

New tab vs. new window

fedcompsrv
fedcompsrv
more options

In Firefox 4, I could either right-click a link and choose "open in a new tab", or better yet center-click the link to open it in a new tab. After upgrading to Firefox 5, both those options will open the link in a new window instead, even though my settings in Options is to open links in a new tab and switch to the new tab immediately.

Strangely, after the new window opens I can center-click links in THAT window and have them open in a new tab.

Any ideas on how to get the previous behavior back in the new version?

In Firefox 4, I could either right-click a link and choose "open in a new tab", or better yet center-click the link to open it in a new tab. After upgrading to Firefox 5, both those options will open the link in a new window instead, even though my settings in Options is to open links in a new tab and switch to the new tab immediately. Strangely, after the new window opens I can center-click links in THAT window and have them open in a new tab. Any ideas on how to get the previous behavior back in the new version?

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

This can happen when you are working in a "dialog" window. A dialog window usually is opened by a script with a set size or missing features (e.g., no menu bar or not resizable). Starting in Firefox 4, you can no longer open a new tab in a dialog window and they are diverted to a different window. There have been complaints about this, so it may change in the future.

To see whether that is the situation, copy the URL from the problem window and open a new window with that URL. Then you should be able to create new tabs.