Dalroi

Q: Why does safari pick a minimized instance to open a link from e-mail in a new tab?

Often when I open an URL from an e-mail message (Mail.app) it unminimizes a minimized Safari window to open the link in a new tab, while there are unminimized Safari windows available. This gets very annoying; those windows weren't minimized for nothing, please fix.

Intel Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jul 30, 2013 2:06 AM

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Q: Why does safari pick a minimized instance to open a link from e-mail in a new tab?

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  • by yodathejedi,

    yodathejedi yodathejedi Aug 1, 2013 2:03 PM in response to Dalroi
    Level 3 (642 points)
    Aug 1, 2013 2:03 PM in response to Dalroi

    so, it seems this is expected behavior. same thing happens for me. I think each application has a "Main" window, which for Safari is where the new links open. If you test by opening a second window, and minimizing that window (hence keeping the "Main" window open), the link will open in the maximized window.

  • by Rey Mo,

    Rey Mo Rey Mo Nov 1, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Dalroi
    Level 4 (3,844 points)
    Nov 1, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Dalroi

    I believe the default behavior of Safari is to open a link in the oldest open window. Minimized windows tend to get old, hence the annoyance of Safari bringing up minimized windows when opening a link from another app.

     

    You can easily test this. Wait for it to happen. Then re-minimize the window. The behavior should be repeatable infinitely. Next copy the URL of the window you want minimized and close that window. Open a new window, paste the URL, hit return, and minimize it. Then open the external link and it will no longer go to that window.

     

    Of course this doesn't help - it just explains the behavior. The only thing that might eventually help is filing a bug report:

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/safari.html

  • by sbilt,

    sbilt sbilt Dec 21, 2013 2:58 PM in response to Rey Mo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2013 2:58 PM in response to Rey Mo

    It opens the last safari window that was in context. So if the last safari window that was touched is minimized then that one will open. If one is minimized and another safari window is touched then the link will open the one that is not minimized. So it's not a bug, just the way it works.

  • by Dalroi123,

    Dalroi123 Dalroi123 Dec 21, 2013 3:30 PM in response to sbilt
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 21, 2013 3:30 PM in response to sbilt

    That's not what I am seeing. The windows that get unminimized (to open a link from Mail) generally haven't been touched in days, while I use Safari all the time!

     

    It makes no sense to unminimize an existing window for that. A new window would make much more sense, especially because a link in an e-mail shares no context with any page you're viewing in Safari - if it does that's merely coincidence.

     

    I can't speak for others, but in general I minimize windows when they contain groups of related pages about something I am going to continue working on at some later time. Getting new pages with unrelated content mixed into those is quite a nuisance.

     

    I think Rey Mo's explanation of the problem is more accurate.

  • by sbilt,

    sbilt sbilt Dec 21, 2013 4:56 PM in response to Dalroi123
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2013 4:56 PM in response to Dalroi123

    Your description is so different from what was so obvious to me on my iMac I felt compelled to go back and investigate. What I'm finding is radically different behavior depending on whether there are one or more monitors and how you have them configured with respect to spaces. The behavior I originally described was with two monitors sharing a space and a single safari window open on both monitors.

     

    When I moved both safari windows to the iMac monitor the behavior changed considerably. In this case a minmized safari window will open when the URL is already open in a minimized window. Or if both safari windows are minimized it will apparently open the one that was created first. This is still different than what you describe.

     

    When each monitor has it's own space with a safari window it will use the safari window in the space where the link was clicked which sort of makes sense.

     

    So it appears configuration has much to do with Safari behavior and it's got my head spinning at this point. Incidentally I'm on the latest version of Mavericks.

  • by reedvicktor80,

    reedvicktor80 reedvicktor80 May 12, 2016 11:03 PM in response to Dalroi
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 12, 2016 11:03 PM in response to Dalroi

    I've noticed this behavior for a while myself and have always been annoyed by it. I finally got so fed up I googled it and found this thread. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates this behavior! I do the same thing as Dalroi. I minimize things to get back to them later. Any updates on this behavior or a way around it? No, using Chrome is not a fix for me. I don't like using Google's tracking device, and Safari syncs across all my devices and has all my history so I'm sticking to it.

  • by Rey Mo,

    Rey Mo Rey Mo May 12, 2016 11:29 PM in response to reedvicktor80
    Level 4 (3,844 points)
    May 12, 2016 11:29 PM in response to reedvicktor80

    I'm surprised to see this thread revived because I was under the impression that Apple fixed this. It hasn't happened for me in quite a while. What version of the OS are you using?

  • by reedvicktor80,

    reedvicktor80 reedvicktor80 Jul 19, 2016 12:14 PM in response to Rey Mo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 19, 2016 12:14 PM in response to Rey Mo

    When I wrote that I was using 10.11.4 or .5, and now I'm using the macOS Sierra beta and the same thing still happens every time.

    So it doesn't seem they've fixed it yet. I notice a lot because I have a 13" MBP with 16GB of RAM and I always have a lot of programs open in different Spaces to make the most of my virtual real estate.

  • by philgyford,

    philgyford philgyford Aug 20, 2016 3:29 AM in response to Dalroi
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Safari
    Aug 20, 2016 3:29 AM in response to Dalroi

    I just came to say this annoys me too, in the hope saying it will ease the pain a little. I'm on 10.11.6 but it's been happening for as long as I can remember.

     

    With two displays and three Spaces, it's quite disorienting when clicking a link in Mail whizzes me to a display/space containing a Safari window I'd forgotten was open, rather than where I expected to be.

  • by LonTS,

    LonTS LonTS Sep 7, 2016 1:23 AM in response to philgyford
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 7, 2016 1:23 AM in response to philgyford

    Same problem as everybody else. For me it seems to pick the same minimised window every time which does appear to the oldest window I have.

     

    Very annoying problem...definitely needs a fix or work around.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 7, 2016 6:24 AM in response to LonTS
    Level 9 (69,976 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 7, 2016 6:24 AM in response to LonTS

    Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem or a suggestion for improvement. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem/suggested change solved sooner.

     

    Feedback