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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

Top-ranking reply

22danR

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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21 replies

buzz802

Level 1

4 points

Feb 2, 2014 7:13 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

i discoverd on one of my macs that it opens clicked links in a new tab but my other mac did not. After comparing the two I discovered the difference is actually in the Google settings. If you are using Google as your seach engine then there is a setting in Google to open the results in a new window which Safari will then force to open in a new tab since you have that setting enabled in the Safari preferences.

The only annoyance is that after clicking a link, the new tab becomes the active tab instead of staying on the search results page. The only way I've found to force it to remain on the search results page is to cmd-click the link so I just got in the habit of cmd-clicking links.

odsantos

Level 1

0 points

Feb 24, 2014 10:10 AM in response to buzz802

Thanks buzz802. I do like to have the tab active.

jonnek

Level 1

8 points

Apr 5, 2014 4:25 AM in response to Eucharistal

It seems that almost everyone in this thread has an understanding issue.

That WASN'T the initial problem, Eucharistal, the guy doesn't want to open a tab instead of a window but a new tab (or a window) instead of the SAME window where he is already in.

May 27, 2015 5:24 AM in response to Linc Davis

You are awesome.

Aug 23, 2015 8:41 AM in response to dominic23

My issue using Safari 7.0.6 is my search results don't persist, meaning:

I do a Google search > Google results page > click a link and the page of the link becomes active, but the Google results page is over taken by the new linked to page. Meaning: I don't see a tab for the Google results page, I only have the new page with an active Back button to I have to click to get back to the Google results page.

If I Command + Click a link, a new active tab opens to the right of the page the link I just clicked is on. That's the way I somehow had Safari set for years and can't seem to get that back. Command Clicking links isn't the end of the world of course, but I'm so used to Safari treating the clicking of links as if I Command + Clicked them, It's an old dog, new tricks thing.

Is there a way to set this behavior any more? Or is it only available with Cmd + Click?

Feb 28, 2016 2:32 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

Hi Larry

In Safari Preferences, where it has "open pages in tabs instead of windows" put Never in the box and it opens a new tab and leaves any existing ones open intact each time you click on a new link. 🙂

Forcing Safari to open new links in a new tab