Force external links/URLs to open in a new tab, ALWAYS (macOS 26.3)

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Level 2

287 points

Force external links/URLs to open in a new tab, ALWAYS (macOS 26.3)

I want external links e.g. in email or whatever, could be a PDF, to ALWAYS open a new tab in the currently-active window. I have this set to "always" in the Safari preferences. But this action will always open the link in a new window, not a new tab in the currently-active window. This is not "this is expected behavior" because with these settings, it is NOT expected behavior.

I do have two profiles with tab groups set up. This should not matter; what I expect to happen is that an external link will open in the currently-active/front/most window. I find the profiles and tab groups behaviors to be baffling and there's literally no documentation on how this is supposed to work.

MacBook Air (M4, 2025)

Posted on Feb 18, 2026 9:47 AM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

59,373 points

Feb 18, 2026 11:07 AM in response to born sleepy

Can you explain a little more? I can't replicate what (I think) you're saying.

In my Safari -> Settings -> Tabs I can set the "Open pages in tabs instead of windows:" option to 'Never', 'Automatically', or 'Always'

This is my experience when I click on a link in some other app under each option:

Never -> New window opens with that URL content.

Automatically -> New tab in the frontmost window

Always -> New tab in the frontmost window

Ironically, I can't seem to see a difference between 'Automatically' and 'Always', but there may be some subtle nuance there I'm missing.

Either way, is that not the same for you?

Granted, I'm not using profiles, but I don't think that should matter since that should affect history, cookies, etc., not the overall browsing experience.

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Answer 2

born sleepy Author

Level 2

287 points

Feb 19, 2026 8:18 AM in response to Camelot

Here's my settings. I think we are using different versions. i don't have the compact tabs option in Safari 26.3.

This is something that was working fine, along with a lot of other things, that got broken in Tahoe. Don't get me started on the Music app and AirPlay...

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Force external links/URLs to open in a new tab, ALWAYS (macOS 26.3)

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