Safari won't open new links in new tab

Currently trying to open new tabs from carfax.com site. When I click on a car listing , it usually opens up in new tab. Well all of a sudden it just opens a blank new tab. Have restarted computer, cleared history, cache. Don't know what else to do.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Oct 3, 2021 7:57 PM

Reply
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 4, 2021 2:23 PM

@stilltrell, I am having this issue too in Safari 15. This only seems to be happening in Tab Groups, not in the main tab area.


Here's what I see happening ... if you go to Safari > Preferences > 'New tabs open with' there are 4 options:

    • Start Page
    • Homepage
    • Empty Page
    • Same Page


I am finding that in Safari 15 Tab Groups (new feature), ALL new tabs open with whatever you have set above.


When you click the carfax link (or any link that opens in a new tab), watch the address bar. It looks like it opens the link and then quickly redirects to your new tab setting above. From what I can tell it's a bug and I do not have a solution.


The work around is to right click on the link, 'Copy Link', and paste it into the new tab to open.


Here is the Reddit Thread on the issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/Safari/comments/ps4l7z/open_link_in_new_tab_taking_me_to_my_start_page

15 replies
Sort By: 
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Oct 4, 2021 2:23 PM in response to stilltrell

@stilltrell, I am having this issue too in Safari 15. This only seems to be happening in Tab Groups, not in the main tab area.


Here's what I see happening ... if you go to Safari > Preferences > 'New tabs open with' there are 4 options:

    • Start Page
    • Homepage
    • Empty Page
    • Same Page


I am finding that in Safari 15 Tab Groups (new feature), ALL new tabs open with whatever you have set above.


When you click the carfax link (or any link that opens in a new tab), watch the address bar. It looks like it opens the link and then quickly redirects to your new tab setting above. From what I can tell it's a bug and I do not have a solution.


The work around is to right click on the link, 'Copy Link', and paste it into the new tab to open.


Here is the Reddit Thread on the issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/Safari/comments/ps4l7z/open_link_in_new_tab_taking_me_to_my_start_page

Reply

Oct 4, 2021 5:31 PM in response to coolbluefrog

@coolbluefrog


I don't see the options you are suggesting but this issue ONLY occurs with the carfax site. I have no issues with any other sites. I even tried the same carfax site using safari on my iPad and I have no problems.


It is definitely something going on with Safari on Mac.


Perhaps this is one of the minor bugs with Safari 15.


Thanks for the suggestion(s) and any future troubleshooting.


Below is a screenshot of the tab safari options.

Reply

Oct 23, 2021 9:54 PM in response to stilltrell

So I figured out how to fix one of the bugs!

When I would use the Tab Groups, very randomly when I clicked a link it would go to my Start Page. I had my setting under General/New tabs open with: Same Page. I changed it to: Empty Page, and now the link opens in a new tab just fine.

Hopefully this works for you guys, it was driving me insane.

Reply

Jan 6, 2022 8:52 AM in response to stilltrell

I am having problems with links consistently opening an empty page or briefly opening and closing the target page.


I did discover a couple of additional work-arounds.


  • Control-click or right-click and choose Open Link in New Window. If you want it in a tab in the current group you can Control-click/right-click the location field and use Move to Tab Group before closing the extra window.
  • Deleting and re-creating the tab groups also fixed it for me. After doing that links are opening it tabs fine.


Note that I have it set to "Open new tabs with: Start Page" and "Open pages in tabs instead of windows: Always".


I hope it works for other people. It got me past a very irritating problem.

Reply

Oct 15, 2021 2:35 PM in response to coolbluefrog

I'm just glad I'm not the only one having this issue. thought I was losing my mind.


thanks for the suggestion, coolbluefrog. I also found right clicking and selecting open in new tab group works. And, even more baffling, successive links opened in that new tab group open fine. C'mon Apple, test your software.

Reply

Oct 24, 2021 4:53 AM in response to Milomavi

Thanks. I don't know what happened but over the past few weeks, I have not had any issues. Not sure if Apple had an update or fixed the issue but all is good now.


I did go to my options and change them just in case but all is good.


Appreciate the help again!

Reply

Nov 18, 2021 2:08 AM in response to stilltrell

Safari 15 on the Mac M! is a real disaster, and there re no signs of it getting fixed anytime soon. It's really depressing. Links opening empty tabs, bookmarks causing the browser to crash immediately... Tabs that make it impossible to figure out which one is active.... how did this browser ever get released past alpha?

Reply

Jan 5, 2022 2:50 PM in response to macguyincali

Same here, if I have a tab group selected and click to open a link from e.g. Reminders it will open in a new window completely, regardless of my settings.


If I move away from the tab group to the "default".. "group" then opening links will happen in the same window in a new tab.


Tab groups are pretty neat though!

Reply

Jan 6, 2022 10:29 AM in response to MajorZippy

Safari 15 works well on iOS but it doesn’t look like they will ever fix the one on the Mac. They had months to do it and it’s crashing with problems all the time on the new M1. My solution eventually was to switch to brave and chrome . I can’t keep using safari when I can’t even add bookmarks without crashing it

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Safari won't open new links in new tab

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.