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what is the difference between tabs and windows?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I know this seems like a dumb question but I have been using windows for quite a few years and have never really understood the difference between "open in a new tab" and "open in a new window".

I know this seems like a dumb question but I have been using windows for quite a few years and have never really understood the difference between "open in a new tab" and "open in a new window".

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Hi, a window is like a new page, and many tabs can be set to open in each window. This article should help - Use tabs to organize lots of websites in a single window.

If your question is resolved by this or another answer, please take a minute to let us know. Thank you.

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The Tabs setting in "Tools > Options > General: Open new windows in a new tab instead" is for links that specify a target window (e.g. target=_blank) to open a link. That option allows to divert such links to a new tab instead of opening a new window. Links that do not specify a target always open in the current tab unless you override that with a middle-click or Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) left-click (new tab) or Shift left-click (new window) or via the right-click context menu.

JavaScript running on the page or an installed extension can also change (override) the default behavior. This applies to bookmarks and other links as well, i.e. you can middle-click the View Image item in the right-click context menu of an image or middle-click the Reload button on the location bar to get a new tab with that link. Left-click a JavaScript link (e.g. you see "#" on hover) to avoid getting a blank tab.


Some information about involved prefs:

For links opened via JavaScript you can look at this pref: