Quick Tip: Open Firefox Searches in New Tab

The default action for searching with the Firefox toolbar is to open the search in the current tab. This drives me crazy, but thankfully it’s easy to fix.

 

New Search Tab with Hotkey

Just search using Alt+Enter instead of hitting the normal Enter key. This will work even if the default is still the current tab.

 

New Search Tab by Default

Type about:config into the address bar, and then put the following into the filter box:

browser.search.openintab

Double-click the value to change it to true.

 

New Search Tab with Tab Mix Plus Installed

Open Tab Mix Plus Options through the Tools menu. Click on Events.

Check the box for “Search bar” under the “Open tabs from” section.

New Search Tab with Middle-Click

You can also middle click the search button after entering text into the search box. (Thanks to markdr in the Lifehacker comments for this one)

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 04/21/07 and tagged with: Firefox, Firefox & Internet

Daily Email Updates

You can get our how-to articles in your inbox each day for free. Just enter your name and email below:

Name:
Email:

Similar Articles	Featured Wiki Articles
Quick Hits: 11 Firefox Tab How-Tos Manage Web Searches In Safari Quick Tip: Change Firefox Download File Location Clear Outlook Searches and MRU (Most Recently Used) Lists Quick Tip: Spell Check Firefox Text Input Fields	Windows OS Code Names Get Diablo II Working on Windows Vista Why Codec Packs Are Bad Easter Eggs Tweaking a Dedicated Virtual Web Server Disable Smart Quotes in Word 2007
Latest Software Reviews	Quick Linux Tips
Parallels Workstation 2.2 for Windows and Linux Folder Castle 4.1 Wondershare PPT2DVD Sothink Video Converter for Adobe Flash	Copy Just the Last Two Days of Files to Another Directory Fixing Authentication refused: bad ownership or modes for directory Mounting a Shared VirtualBox Folder from an Ubuntu Guest Change the Hostname on a Redhat Linux Machine
Geek Arcade	Popular Forum Threads
Frantic Boxhead: The Zombie Wars BubbleQuod Exorbis 2	Vista: Boot Manager Problem (Solved) - Antec 900 optical drive installation POWER ON SELFTEST (POST) DOUBLE BEEF SOUND ERROR, Help! Help! Help!!! My Book World Edition Power Patterns

Comments (13)

1. April 25, 2007 10:02 am
   kewpiedoll99

   changing about:config doesn’t seem to work. results still display in the present window. even tried restarting firefox.

2. April 25, 2007 10:04 am
   anonymous

   Or more simply, just use Alt-Enter and that will open results in a new tab

3. April 25, 2007 10:22 am
   The Geek

   @anonymous

   The Alt+Enter tip was the very first one in the list… =)

4. April 25, 2007 1:32 pm
   mr. fox

   i prefer to middle click on the magnifying glass when i want the results in a new tab. great tip though.

5. April 25, 2007 11:35 pm
   cyberbuff

   About:config does nt work in FFX 1.0

6. April 26, 2007 5:18 pm
   Rehan

   Thanks

7. April 26, 2007 5:19 pm
   Rehan

   Thank you

8. July 29, 2007 10:32 pm
   Juliana Peña

   Alt-enter. That’s no doubt the easiest way. BTW, this also works in IE7 (not that I use it…. ughhh)

9. July 30, 2007 11:04 am
   butchcassidy

   GREAT TIP
   this always drove me nuts!!

10. May 21, 2008 6:06 am
    Mersine

    ugh, I’ve had this feature from tabmixplus for so long and it drove me crazy. I finally put it back to default. Alt Enter or alt click is the best way if you do want to open the link in a new tab

11. September 13, 2008 9:13 pm
    Strangest

    Bitchen,
    config worked
    alt enter worked
    middle click magnifying glass worked

    Thanks

12. November 26, 2008 8:43 am
    amir

    is there any way to make firefox open a new window when pressing enter on the address bar ?
    without pressing alt+enter…?

    this is a really annoying issue , and i havent found a solution for it yet…

    any help ?

    10x
    Amir Tal.

13. February 17, 2009 4:13 pm
    Frank Bell

    The browser.search.openintab fix seems to be written up backwards. I set it to “true” on my computer, and it still opens searches in the same tab. Set to “false”, searches open in a new tab, which is what I want!