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firefox opening tabs in new window

  • 6 replies
  • 36 have this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by zeira

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Whenever I "open in new tab" Firefox will open said tab in a new window instead of the current one. If I repeat this four times with the same link in one window, I will have four tabs in one new, separate window. I'd rather have those four tabs in the original window.

I do have the "open new windows in a new tab instead" option selected.

Probably just a setting I have flipped to the wrong position, but any help would be appreciated.

Whenever I "open in new tab" Firefox will open said tab in a new window instead of the current one. If I repeat this four times with the same link in one window, I will have four tabs in one new, separate window. I'd rather have those four tabs in the original window. I do have the "open new windows in a new tab instead" option selected. Probably just a setting I have flipped to the wrong position, but any help would be appreciated.

All Replies (6)

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This could be due to the way Firefox 4 handles windows popped up by a script in a web page. In some cases, Firefox judges the window to be a "dialog" and diverts all new tabs to a different window.

When you encounter this can you do the following test: Copy the URL of the "problem" window, open a new normal window (e.g., Ctrl+n), paste the URL into the location bar, and press Enter. Then try right-click > Open Link in New Tab in that window. Does it work normally there?

If so, it's the dialog problem. This thread has more information: How to allow tabs in dialog boxes again? | Firefox Support Forum | Firefox Help.

If not, it must be something else.

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I appreciate the help.

Seems I have a dialog problem then. Crap. From the linked thread it doesn't seem like there's much to do except deal with it for now.

Thank you for the advice.

Modified by Bubbhotep

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Well, you know the workaround is to re-open the page in a new window. If you have to do that more than once a day, it will be a hassle. The Greasemonkey userscript I posted makes it a one-click operation, but that's one more extension to install...

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This may work with FF4, but what about the latest version FF11?

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Hi zeira, I'm not sure what you mean by "this". What have you tried and what has and hasn't worked for you? Do you want to post the URL and steps needed to re-create the problem?

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I was referring to your comment posted by Bubbhotep about ten months ago, to which you replied "This could be due to the way Firefox 4 handles windows . . ." etc. Sorry, if I wasn't clear enough with my comment, but I had the same problem with FF11 running in MAC OSX 10.7.3. I said "I had" because, in meantime I was able to solve this problem, but unfortunately I don't remember all the details to share with all Firefox users having the same problem. What I remember is, that I played around with Firefox Preferences, I restarted Firefox after changing some preferences, then changed those preferences back again and restarting Firefox. I was so happy that my annoying problem had disappeared that I forgot to write down what I really did, and now I don't remember all the details. Thank you anyway for responding to my comment.