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User profile for user: Larry McJunkin
Larry McJunkin Author
User level: Level 2
156 points

Forcing Safari to open new links in a new tab

Without sounding cynical, I love Safari but have been using Chrome for several years because it behaves like "I" want...not like "Apple" wants. I keep hoping Apple will fix the remaining two quirks (for me anyway) that keep me from using it full time. One of them I can live without...the other I can't, but perhaps there's a way around it that someone here might know about.


1. I want EVERY link on which I click to always open in a new tab (or at least in a new window if it's coded to do that). Safari insists on opening almost every link in the same window I'm already in, forcing me to page back to get to where I started. I have the Tab Preferences set to "Open pages in tabs instead of windows AUTOMATICALLY" which is supposed to use the tabs, except where the link is coded to open a child window. BUT...this simply does not happen. I could change this preference to ALWAYS instead of AUTOMATICALLY but then I lose the child windows when they're supposed to open. Chrome does this perfectly...why can't Safari?


2. The only other thing is not fixable yet, but perhaps someday Apple will realize it (I've submitted it as a Safari suggestion already). When I open a page in Safari, why must I have to move my cursor to the address window? It's so amazing how Chrome as always opened with the cursor already positioned in the address window already...where else would you want it if you're going to open the browser and type something?


Anyway, it's the first item that really irks me, but perhaps it's just something I'm doing wrong. Thanks for any help.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion, + 24-inch LED Cinema Display

Posted on Nov 23, 2012 1:32 PM

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User profile for user: 22danR
22danR
User level: Level 1
14 points

Posted on Jun 12, 2017 8:00 AM

Buzz is correct. This isn't simply a Safari parameter alone. You have probably been signed into Google all the time and/or had a Google cookie, that has been lost or corrupted, with the setting:


Where results open

√ Open each selected result in a new browser window
checked.
You have fix both the Safari and the Google setting, the former to open in new tab: always, and the latter as shown above. If the Google setting's already checked, uncheck and save, and re-check and save. It may take a few tries or minutes before the setting kicks in, so be patient and/or look over the settings in both again.
Google will force a new window, and then Safari will override the window parameter and force it to be a tab instead.
Hope this helps, because it sounds exactly like my problem: years and years of links always opening in a new (active) tab. Then today... gone. I've just upgraded to Sierra and decided to start from a completely clean Safari slate: Except for favourites imported, clean as the new driven snow. And clean of that Google search setting as well.


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User profile for user: 22danR
22danR
User level: Level 1
14 points

Jun 12, 2017 8:00 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Buzz is correct. This isn't simply a Safari parameter alone. You have probably been signed into Google all the time and/or had a Google cookie, that has been lost or corrupted, with the setting:


Where results open

√ Open each selected result in a new browser window
checked.
You have fix both the Safari and the Google setting, the former to open in new tab: always, and the latter as shown above. If the Google setting's already checked, uncheck and save, and re-check and save. It may take a few tries or minutes before the setting kicks in, so be patient and/or look over the settings in both again.
Google will force a new window, and then Safari will override the window parameter and force it to be a tab instead.
Hope this helps, because it sounds exactly like my problem: years and years of links always opening in a new (active) tab. Then today... gone. I've just upgraded to Sierra and decided to start from a completely clean Safari slate: Except for favourites imported, clean as the new driven snow. And clean of that Google search setting as well.


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User profile for user: Eucharistal
Eucharistal
User level: Level 1
9 points

Jun 11, 2013 2:34 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

Start by opening a Terminal window (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal). Enter the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true


Restart Safari.

If you decide you want to change back, just re-enter the command but replace true at the end of the command with false.


Via http://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/how-to-force-safari-4-to-open-links-in-a -new-tab-instead-of-a-new-window/

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User profile for user: Skyzyx
Skyzyx
User level: Level 1
14 points

Dec 7, 2013 10:01 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

Webpage authors determine whether a link opens in the same viewport (i.e., generic word for a tab or window) or a new viewport.


The setting you selected means: "For links that the webpage author wants to open in a new viewport, always open as a tab" (or a window, depending on your preference).


If you *always* want to open *every* link in a new viewport, you simply hold down the Command key while you click on it.


This is Tab Management 101. Every browser supports this key-click combination.

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Forcing Safari to open new links in a new tab

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