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When will Tab Mix Plus come back or be replaced by such a powerful and comprehensive extension?

  • 7 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 89 views
  • Last reply by FRF91

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Not only has FF disabled Tab Mix Plus, but none of the available extensions offer similar tab management. This forces me several times a day, when it is not several dozen times, to simple but annoying manipulations.

On the Web, I realized that I am not the only one complaining about the deactivation of Tab Mix Plus and its non-replacement.

I am not competent in this field. However, it seems to me that FF has had enough time, since Tab Mix Plus is disabled, to either help its developer comply with FF's new constraints or develop similar functions internally.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Not only has FF disabled Tab Mix Plus, but none of the available extensions offer similar tab management. This forces me several times a day, when it is not several dozen times, to simple but annoying manipulations. On the Web, I realized that I am not the only one complaining about the deactivation of Tab Mix Plus and its non-replacement. I am not competent in this field. However, it seems to me that FF has had enough time, since Tab Mix Plus is disabled, to either help its developer comply with FF's new constraints or develop similar functions internally. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Chosen solution

FRF91 said

...what I mainly look for is the possibility to manage their openings and closures: not to be forced to open a new tab to be sure not to overwrite the previous one, to differentiate the opening modalities according to the type of trigger of the opening, to be able to select on the left the tabs to close, etc.

Opening links, bookmarks, search, and address bar in a new tab instead of the same tab

You can reverse the default behavior using these methods:

Links -- There is an add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-link-with-new-tab/

You need to edit its settings after installation to choose all links, links to other sites, or Firefox's default, which is only to open links the site directs to a new window in a new tab.

Bookmarks, Search Bar, Address Bar -- There are built-in settings for these added in recent versions:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste intab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Bookmarks: Double-click the browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs preference to switch the value from false to true

(4) Search Bar: Double-click the browser.search.openintab preference to switch the value from false to true

(5) Address Bar: Double-click the browser.urlbar.openintab preference to switch the value from false to true


To be able to select on the left the tabs to close

Do you mean (A) you want to remove the "x" from the tabs and have a single "x" on the tab bar to close the current tab? Or do you mean (B) you want to "multi-select" tabs to take the same action on all of them?

(A) For a completely new "close current tab" button, you can install an add-on like one of the following, and use Customize to move the X button to the Tabs bar. I have not tested these recently.

To get rid of remaining "x" on the individual tabs, you could use custom style rules in a userChrome.css file. That's a topic for a different post...

(B) Currently, the tab-multiselect feature is turned off by default. If you want to try it:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste multis and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.tabs.multiselect preference to switch the value from false to true (this should become true by default in Firefox 64, unless there are problems that delay it)

Now, to add tabs to your selection (the current tab is already included), you can either:

  • Ctrl+click another tab to add it to the selection
  • Shift+click a tab further down the bar to select a range of tabs

To remove a tab from the selection, Ctrl+click it again. Selected tabs will have the blue line along the top like the active tab.

This is going to be really useful for moving a set of tabs to a new window. I don't know if I will use it for anything else.


Hopefully that addresses some of your immediate pain points.

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All Replies (7)

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Addon extinction is not a firefox browser issue but a addon developer issue. If they don't update their addon that is up to them to fix that or not. You should contact them about this since firefox is not the developer of that addon.

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FRF91 said

Not only has FF disabled Tab Mix Plus, but none of the available extensions offer similar tab management. This forces me several times a day, when it is not several dozen times, to simple but annoying manipulations.

Tab Mix Plus had full control of the browser and changed the structure and behavior of the user interface. Extensions are unlikely to ever be able to do that again.

To move forward, please be specific about the missing features you haven't been able to replace with built-in settings or other extensions.

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jscher2000 said

FRF91 said
Not only has FF disabled Tab Mix Plus, but none of the available extensions offer similar tab management. This forces me several times a day, when it is not several dozen times, to simple but annoying manipulations.

Tab Mix Plus had full control of the browser and changed the structure and behavior of the user interface. Extensions are unlikely to ever be able to do that again.

To move forward, please be specific about the missing features you haven't been able to replace with built-in settings or other extensions.

jscher, Thank you for your detailed answer and invitation to continue the discussion. As I can no longer open Tab Mix Plus, it is difficult for me to make a detailed list of the many settings I am missing. As a general rule, it seems that the extensions proposed in substitution of Tab Mix Plus allow to organize the tabs, whereas what I mainly look for is the possibility to manage their openings and closures: not to be forced to open a new tab to be sure not to overwrite the previous one, to differentiate the opening modalities according to the type of trigger of the opening, to be able to select on the left the tabs to close, etc. With regard to your explanation of the deactivation of Tab Mix Plus, I would like to point out that I want to be in control of the trade-off between the usefulness of a function and the risk of losing control of my private life. I do not underestimate the dangers of losing control of my private life, but I consider that the argument you give is also an infringement on control of my own life.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

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Chosen Solution

FRF91 said

...what I mainly look for is the possibility to manage their openings and closures: not to be forced to open a new tab to be sure not to overwrite the previous one, to differentiate the opening modalities according to the type of trigger of the opening, to be able to select on the left the tabs to close, etc.

Opening links, bookmarks, search, and address bar in a new tab instead of the same tab

You can reverse the default behavior using these methods:

Links -- There is an add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-link-with-new-tab/

You need to edit its settings after installation to choose all links, links to other sites, or Firefox's default, which is only to open links the site directs to a new window in a new tab.

Bookmarks, Search Bar, Address Bar -- There are built-in settings for these added in recent versions:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste intab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Bookmarks: Double-click the browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs preference to switch the value from false to true

(4) Search Bar: Double-click the browser.search.openintab preference to switch the value from false to true

(5) Address Bar: Double-click the browser.urlbar.openintab preference to switch the value from false to true


To be able to select on the left the tabs to close

Do you mean (A) you want to remove the "x" from the tabs and have a single "x" on the tab bar to close the current tab? Or do you mean (B) you want to "multi-select" tabs to take the same action on all of them?

(A) For a completely new "close current tab" button, you can install an add-on like one of the following, and use Customize to move the X button to the Tabs bar. I have not tested these recently.

To get rid of remaining "x" on the individual tabs, you could use custom style rules in a userChrome.css file. That's a topic for a different post...

(B) Currently, the tab-multiselect feature is turned off by default. If you want to try it:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste multis and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.tabs.multiselect preference to switch the value from false to true (this should become true by default in Firefox 64, unless there are problems that delay it)

Now, to add tabs to your selection (the current tab is already included), you can either:

  • Ctrl+click another tab to add it to the selection
  • Shift+click a tab further down the bar to select a range of tabs

To remove a tab from the selection, Ctrl+click it again. Selected tabs will have the blue line along the top like the active tab.

This is going to be really useful for moving a set of tabs to a new window. I don't know if I will use it for anything else.


Hopefully that addresses some of your immediate pain points.

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After expressing my satisfaction, I have just realized that I am still obliged to create a new tab before clicking on a link in the library, to avoid that a tab I am working on is "overwhelmed" by the new tab. Have I made a configuration error or can't this problem be solved for now?

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There is no preference for history entries. If you open a history entry from the library (or sidebar, or menu), it will load into the last active tab by default. I don't know whether anyone has suggested providing a preference for that, too.

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Thanks anyway for the time you gave me.