I can click an HTTP link in another application and Firefox will become the active application, but it will not load a new tab for the link, as expected. It just shows the currently open tab. I have to go back to the other application and click the link a second time, at which point Firefox will correctly open a new tab and load the destination URL.

Other related threads:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1020580 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/992708

jscher 2000 -

Here's how it is for me:

1) Firefox is closed -- sometimes, FF will open and open the link I just clicked.

2) FF is open and not hidden on the dock, FF will open the first link I click, but none after that without a restart of FF.

3) FF is open and IS hidden on the dock, FF might, once in a while, open the first link I click but none after that without a restart of FF.

In other words, FF no longer functions well when I am trying to click on a link in an email or within FB or in any other place. Not happy.

Since yesterday, I am seeing around 99% performance on opening links (32.0.3). I hesitated to post an update here because I wanted to make sure this wasn't just some temporary thing. It is not 100% cured but nearly so. I'm trying to think of what could have changed and the only thing I can recall doing between when it was at about 50% performance in opening links was to install an update for BetterTouchTool to the latest build (V0.9981). I don't see how that could be in any way related but neither can I think of anything else that has changed, aside from the improved performance.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem running BetterTouchTool?

Not running BetterTouchTool here and never have. Still having the same issues.

Thanks younkint. That's what I thought. I was just wondering what else could possibly have led to the improvements. As mentioned, still not 100% but much better than it was before. Still hoping for a permanent fix from Mozilla.

Nothing has improved for me. Still won't open a new tab when FF is hidden in my dock.

@jam4jah this is the same for me. I have right clicked on Firefox in the doc and selected "hide" and then clicked on a link from Thunderbird and this did not open. However when the program is not hidden, the tab will open in the current session. Shift click did not work, but doubleclick and single click did.

However if you right click over the link, does the option to open the link in a browser show up?

No, when I right click it only gives me the option to Copy.

I have seen no improvement since updating to the current version, 32.0.3. Links from external applications still fail to open in Firefox maybe 50% of the time, but they always open the second time I click on them.

I hadn't thought of the variables before, but it *does* seem more frequent when the Firefox application is hidden. In fact, whenever I am not actively using Firefox, I keep the app hidden. Perhaps that's why I experience this issue so often.

This is enough of a hassle that I'm going to have to move to another browser if it isn't fixed in the next point release or two. :-(

FYI, the relevant bug on Bugzilla is here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1017595

No activity since Sept. 29, unfortunately. Seems like someone may have an idea of how to fix it, though…

It still happens to my ANY TIME Firefox is open, whether it's hidden or not. When Firefox is closed and I click on a link, voila! It works. And that, friends, is a pain in the tookus. I don't know how to contact Mozilla to ensure that they know how much we all need for them to get this fixed. Any thoughts?

Hi lgbirchall and other posters: if you register on the Bugzilla site, you can vote for the above-listed bug to get fixed. Sometimes that helps. (Adding "hurry up" comments in the bug usually does not help, though...)

• Voting: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=voting.html
• Bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1017595

The problem with most of the stuff I see (if I am reading correctly; I'm not as computer savvy as most of you who post here) -- the problem is that most of you are running Thunderbird for email. Not me. I use a Mac and I have Outlook for Mac as my email. So all these fixes that involve Thunderbird are useless for me and don't work. <insert heavy sigh>

lgbirchall -

I am also running Microsoft Outlook for Mac and am having the same exact problems as those using Thunderbird. I'm thinking we should not be concerned about the Outlook aspect, as Thunderbird users started seeing errors the same time as the Outlook users. In other words, the error is not specific to the email client, but rather it's a Firefox error.

I'm pretty certain when the fix arrives for the T-Bird users, it will cover Outlook users as well.

I've updated to the just released Firefox 33 and initial testing seems to indicate this bug may have been fixed at last. I haven't gotten it to open up without navigating to a link yet anyway. I will report back if this changes but so far so good.

younkint is correct, links from *all* external applications are affected, not just from Thunderbird, Outlook, or Mail.app.

Version 33 which was released today definitely seems to have fixed the bug for me. It has been 100% since I updated. Give it a try.

Glad to hear your having luck with version 33.0, cdanr. I would love to post that I am also, but evidently not.

With FF 33.0 hidden, clicking on a link in an external application (in my case, Outlook for Mac) brings FF to the forefront, but nothing else. The links are still not opening.

younkint, thank you for your update and for adding the important information about having FF hidden when clicking on links in external apps. I can confirm that this bug is indeed still 100% existent when I hide FF. The reason I didn't know this is because I rarely hide FF and I was experiencing the bug previously about 50% of the time or more even when FF was not hidden. Now it seems to be 100% fixed unhidden at least. Do you experience this with FF unhidden as well?

cdanr, so far, I seem to have it successfully opening links if FF is not hidden. I can make it fail 100% of the time if it is hidden, though.

I have had some work to do, so I tried setting FF to open links in a new window - but this did not help if FF is hidden. The behavior is the same as with "open in tab."

I never did have nearly the problem if FF was not hidden, although sometimes it did fail. The largest problem for me is that I do run various app simultaneously, and to keep things from being a mess, do hide most of my apps which I'm not actively using. This little FF bug has caused me much consternation, so I can understand some of the posters here who have threatened to move to another browser. I won't do that (unless this is not fixed after several months), but it is certainly trying my patience.