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.

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

open links from sidebar in new tab with ctrl without switching to it immediately

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Paskiausią atsakymą parašė cor-el

more options

When you open a link from the sidebar while holding ctrl, firefox opens it in a new tab and switches to it immediately; whereas when you click a link from a webpage with ctrl, it does not switch to the new tab (unless you hold shift as well, or check "When you open a link, image or media in a new tab, switch to it immediately" in settings > general > tabs). I would like if firefox does not automatically switch to opened links from the sidebar (history, bookmark, etc.), when I open them with ctrl? (I know I can hold shift to do that, but I was wondering if there might be a preference in about:config to change the reverse this behaviour for sidebars)


Thanks, Ibr.

When you open a link from the sidebar while holding ctrl, firefox opens it in a new tab and switches to it immediately; whereas when you click a link from a webpage with ctrl, it does not switch to the new tab (unless you hold shift as well, or check "When you open a link, image or media in a new tab, switch to it immediately" in settings > general > tabs). I would like if firefox does not automatically switch to opened links from the sidebar (history, bookmark, etc.), when I open them with ctrl? (I know I can hold shift to do that, but I was wondering if there might be a preference in about:config to change the reverse this behaviour for sidebars) Thanks, Ibr.

Chosen solution

For bookmarks you can change browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground to true. There is no such setting for history but you can drag and drop links into the tab bar.

Skaityti atsakymą kartu su kontekstu 👍 1

All Replies (4)

more options

Chosen Solution

For bookmarks you can change browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground to true. There is no such setting for history but you can drag and drop links into the tab bar.

more options

I have set browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground to true, but it seems to work for the history sidebar too (not for sync tabs). Are you sure this only works for bookmark sidebar? By the way, I am using Firefox Developer Edition.

more options

I was getting confused with browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs which is limited to bookmarks like its name implies.

more options

This could also be about browser.tabs.loadInBackground for normal links whereas browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground is about tabs.

You can toggle the default action for opening a link in the background by holding down the Shift key when you use Ctrl plus left-click or middle-click a link.

  • browser.tabs.loadInBackground (normal links)
  • browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground (javascript)
  • browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground (bookmarks)
  • browser.search.context.loadInBackground (context menu: Search)