Did you look for a plus sign on the Tab bar because that is where you find the new tab button in Firefox 4.

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Corrupt_localstore.rdf

Re: Plus sign on the Tab bar...

Thanks for the info, but its no substitute for an actual toolbar button ;)

Some of us auto-hide the tab bar when there is only one tab open, and without a toolbar button to open a new tab, this is now a more tedious process, unnecessarily.

Now, I'm off to continue looking for that lost toolbar button.

Another workaround... you can use CTRL+T to open a new tab from your keyboard.

You can find the New Tab button showing as a '+' on the Tab bar.
You can open the Customize window and drag the New Tab button from the Tab bar on another toolbar and it will become a regular toolbar button like the New Tab button that you have in Firefox 3 versions.
If you want the New Tab button at the far right end of the Tab bar then place a flexible to the left of it.

Open the Customize window via "View > Toolbars > Customize" or via "Firefox > Options > Toolbar Layout"

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Toolbar_customization

I have the same problem. It seems that when I had the "new tab" button on my toolbar with 3.6 and upgraded to 4.0 it kept the button as some kind of carry over. If I uninstall everything and go back to 3.6, put the button on the toolbar, then upgrade to 4.0.1 it turns into a "new window" button. Here is a picture of the missing button.

Edit- There is an add-on that can be used to put the button back although its not a perfect solution yet. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/new-tab-toolbar-button/

No add-ons are necessary. Just right click on the toolbar and go to "Customize" like you would to add/remove any other toolbar button. With that dialogue box open, simply left click the "+" button from the far right-hand side of the tab bar and drag it to where you want it on the toolbar. Presto, your Tab button is back.

Note this also works for the Refresh button if you're like me and want to move it from the address bar back to the toolbar.

If the "customize" window is open the "+" button disappears. On my Mac at home I am running 4.0.1 and I still have the new tab button but I upgraded from an older version which is probably why its still available.

In the first pic you can see that the "+" button is there and the second pic its gone when the customize window is open.

I don't think this is a question of how to move buttons to the toolbar, as most people know how to do that, but an issue of not having the "new tab" button at all.

Here is what I did to resolve this.

Open the "Customize" window (right click to the right of any tab and select "Customize", then drag the "New Tab" button that is to the left of the URL window off the page, and back into the Customize Screen.

Then drag that icon back onto the tab bar; just to the right of any open tab. If your browser is like mine, that icon will appear as the old "+" but will be on the LEFT of your open tabs. Close the Customize screen, then re-open Customize and drag that "+" icon to the right of your open tabs, and it should stay there.

That worked for me; hopefully it'll help some of you...

Thanks REWalker! Your suggestions fixed it for me. It works just like you instructed!

I hate having to hunt for "the tiny little green plus button" any time I want to open a new tab. I just want a "new tab" button next to the address bar. Why did the "reload" button go away, only to be replaced by a tiny little button way off to the right of the address bar?

Why did all this need to go away? Who decides what functionality I should and shouldn't have? Why were "new tab" and "reload" removed the "customize" dialog?

I finally "fixed" it myself, but I don't believe I should have to change my usage patterns every time Mozilla decides they're going to pull a Microsoft and redesign a user interface that wasn't broken.

You can find the New Tab button showing as a '+' on the Tab bar.
You can open the Customize window and drag the New Tab button that shows as a plus sign (+) from the Tab bar on another toolbar and it will become a regular toolbar button like the New Tab button that you have in Firefox 3 versions.
If you can't find the New Tab button then click the "Restore Default Set" button in the Customize window.
If you want the New Tab button at the far right end of the Tab bar then place a flexible space to the left of it.

• New tab toolbar button: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/new-tab-toolbar-button/

What got me is that I wanted BOTH the "+" at the end of the tab list and on the toolbar as a button - I like the "+" my wife likes the button. But you can't have them both.

Once you Customize and drag the "Add Tab" to either a toolbar or the tab bar, it is no longer available to add a second time to the other.