Why has Firefox stopped opening links in new windows?
I always had the 'open new windows in a new tab' UNchecked so links from Outlook would open in a new window and it worked fine. This morning, for some reason, links won't open at all in a new window, either from my email or from any website that is set to open a new window when clicking on a link. If I check the 'open new window in a new tab' everything works fine! But it's not always useful for this to work like that for me, so why has Firefox suddenly stopped opening new windows? For info the links in email turn a different colour once clicked, they still do this but the window doesn't open, there are no error messages, it just doesn't open a window at all! the same applies to links/pages on websites, if that page has been set to open in a new window, Firefox doesn't open it. I'm not a PC whizz so any help in non-tech English would be more than appreciated!
This happened
Every time Firefox opened
== Today
All Replies (6)
Hello Alana.
First things first. Go into Tools > Options and check that "Open links that open in a new window in:" is set as you want it to be. If it's "New window", then there is probably some issue with your installation: try to run Firefox in safe mode to see if that fixes the issue. If it does, we'll see why that is (probably some extension you've installed that's causing some problem).
Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of your add-ons is causing your problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes). See Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems and Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems
If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all your extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears. You can use "Disable all add-ons" on the Safe mode start window. You have to close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (on Mac: "Firefox > Quit")
Hi Morbus,
Thank you for responding.
I have started Firefox in Safe Mode and having the 'open new windows in a new tab' UNchecked (which is what I want) the the links DO open in a new window whereas they don't in the normal running of Firefox. I didn't disable any add ons (or anything else) from the pop up box that came at at the beginning of safe mode. So safe mode does cure the problem but as I didn't disable anything, I'm even more confused at to what is causing the problem!
Sorry, I forgot to put my name in the above post!
Hum... I never ran safe mode without disabling addons and extensions, so I don't know what it does... Maybe cor-el (or someone else) will know.
We post links to the articles so that Firefox users can click on the links and read them so that they may understand more about Firefox and how to use the various functions and what is being recommended to help solve their problem(s).
Read the following to understand what Safe Mode is about: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
In the first article: "...you ~~red:can~~ reset some settings or disable add-ons that might be the source of the issue." (emphasis added)
"Firefox is now running in Safe Mode, which ~~red:temporarily disables~~ your custom settings, themes and extensions" (emphasis added) (i.e., temporarily disables items IF you check none of the boxes and choose only "Continue in Safe Mode. Exiting Safe Mode restores all previous functionality.) "You ~~red:can~~ make some or all of the changes ~~red:permanent~~:" (by checking any or all of the boxes)
In the second article: The 3 opening paragraphs summarize what Safe Mode is about.