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How do I make Firefox stop automatically unloading background tabs?

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

necroticon
necroticon

Hi all, This seems to be a new feature in a recent Firefox build - it now does the thing I hate most about Chrome, it unloads tabs in the background after a certain amount of time, meaning they have to be reloaded when I go back into them. The whole reason I'm keeping the tab open is so it isn't reloaded. I've searched through about:config but I can't find a variable that fits - anyone able to point me in the right direction?

Ideally I'd prefer not to install an addon or mod for this.

Hi all, This seems to be a new feature in a recent Firefox build - it now does the thing I hate most about Chrome, it unloads tabs in the background after a certain amount of time, meaning they have to be reloaded when I go back into them. The whole reason I'm keeping the tab open is so it isn't reloaded. I've searched through about:config but I can't find a variable that fits - anyone able to point me in the right direction? Ideally I'd prefer not to install an addon or mod for this.

All Replies (4)

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator

hi, this change (resetting and removing the "Don't load tabs until selected" preference from the user interface) has been made in preparation for the upcoming change of firefox to a multi-process architecture. while it is still possible to change that behaviour through about:config, it will lead to a poor performance and experience in upcoming firefox releases...

Allow Firefox to load multiple tabs in the background

necroticon
necroticon Question owner

Thanks for the quick reply - I had changed that setting already, but based on the information on that page I thought that it would only relate to the startup/restore phase.

Do you know if this will also prevent it unloading the tabs after a period of inactivity?

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator

i'm not aware of a feature in firefox that would unload a tab during a session...

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Appearance
  • Do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window