Switching back to last tab on Firefox

71

19

Is it possible to switch back to the last tab used (tab toggling)? I often like this behaviour on the Mac OSX when switching between apps with the CMD + Tab shortcut key.

Dashed

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 837

Answers

116

Switching back to last tab on Firefox:

  1. browse about:config
  2. find browser.ctrlTab.previews
  3. set true

Done! :)

You can switch back to the last tab via Ctrl + Tab.

kb44

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 1 176

Can't believe this has been around for 3 years and I just now found out about it. Thanks! – Samuel – 2015-03-18T18:13:12.343

I'd upvote this answer multiple times if I could :D – Piotr Owsiak – 2015-05-27T18:24:18.120

Useful but not so. This will override the default ctrl + tab behaviour, meaning there will be no way to have both left/right and recently used tab navigation means at the same time. – kellogs – 2015-09-22T09:41:40.490

10@kellogs: ctrl + pgup and ctrl + pgdn works fine, so it's possible to have the best of both worlds. I agree though, binding it to another key would be great. – runejuhl – 2015-09-26T22:09:05.840

@runejuhl there's no pgup/pgdn on mac :(. Do you know of any replacement ? – Ciprian Tomoiagă – 2017-09-21T12:20:22.900

found it: cmd + shift + [, cmd + shift + ] – Ciprian Tomoiagă – 2017-09-21T12:26:27.013

The "Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order" option is useful, but is there any way to do this....

a) without the annoying pop-up window? I just want it to jump straight to the relevant tab intead of using the extra pop-up with thumbnails.

b) such that Ctrl+Shift+Tab can be used to start the process? I'm used to pressing this first, but you can only invoke the pop-up with Ctrl+Tab (without Shift) – caponica – 2018-03-30T20:24:50.487

2

This setting exists also in "Options" > "General" > "Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order". Cf. @Emmanuel's answer below.

– Cristian – 2018-06-19T06:47:17.793

wow! thanks! this what i've been looking for. – Dashed – 2012-02-23T19:22:39.970

14@Dashed You poor soul, waiting 1 year for the best answer. :P – iglvzx – 2012-02-23T19:45:11.207

3And I've been waiting for several years! Thanks! – neu242 – 2012-08-23T08:00:03.850

1Odd how this isn't even available from the options window. – rhyek – 2013-07-27T20:28:25.010

9

I am not fully sure whether I've got the question right. Also on Windows you can use CTRL+Tab to cycle through tabs or CTRL+Shift+Tab to cycle reverse.

If you're looking for an option to select what happens when you close a tab I recommend to have a look at the Tab Mix Plus extension. In Events -> Tab closing you will find an option to define what happens when you close a tab. There you can select options like selecting the tab right or left to the closed one as well as going back to the previously active tab.

SkyBeam

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 3 612

Ctrl + Tab doesn't work on my FF 52 (it just go to next tab), but I found plugin cycle-last-used-tabs works well (toggling with Alt + z / Alt + shift + z)

– Noam Manos – 2018-04-03T12:46:09.750

I apologize for the confusion in my question. I've meant to find a tab toggling feature much like how you switch to the last channel viewed on a television. It seems Tab Mix Plus supports this feature. – Dashed – 2011-05-31T09:12:01.907

For anything related to taps TMP might be worth having a look at. So without even knowing it exactly it solves your problem. So actually TMP should get a reward ;) – SkyBeam – 2011-05-31T17:08:10.307

4

In addition to @kb44's answer: you can do it via the Options panel too. Open Options panel, go to General tab the tick the "Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order".

Emmanuel

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 141

4

This is default behavior in Firefox 64.0, but the toggle for this control is now stored under the browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder in about:config (enter about:config in your address bar to access this control and set it to "true").

Will C

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 41

2

There's also another add-on that does this very well (and also for all newer Firefox Versions >20): It's called simly "FLST" for Firefox 4+. (Focus last selected Tab).

https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/fww-flst

I found out that you can use your mouse by clicking on the current tab or also use a Shortcut which is Ctrl + . (Ctrl and Dot)

charly

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 21

1

Do I understand your question correctly, that you want to be able to toggle between two tabs (both of which remain open)?

Firefox's Ctrl+Tab already has this behavior (at least on a Mac): Hold Ctrl, click Tab, and release both. The previous tab you were viewing gets the focus. Repeating it toggles between the two tabs. The trick is to let go of both keys immediately.

JRobert

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 6 128

The CMD + TAB shortcut is used by the application switching feature on the OSX, so I cannot replicate this behaviour on my side. I've looked into Tab Mix Plus which supports this feature. – Dashed – 2011-05-31T09:10:20.973

@Dashed: Oops, bad fingers! I meant that to read 'Ctrl-Tab', not 'Cmd-Tab'; fixed above. – JRobert – 2011-05-31T19:08:00.323

1

THIS will toggle between Tabs in Firefox versions 34 and later. Use 'Tab Mix Plus' extension (by 'onemen' Gary Reyes) https://addons.mozilla.org/hu/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus/ Go to its Options. Here select: - Mouse - Mouse Gestures - Now enable 'Switch to last selected tab when clicking current one'. - Click Apply. Done.

NOTES:

  1. The placement in Tab Mix Plus has changed compared to older TMP versions.
  2. 'Cycling through Tabs' in other answers, was probably not asked by the OP.

Fallon

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 11

0

Starting from Firefox version 70.0 the key (at about:config) has changed from 'browser.ctrlTab.previews' to 'browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder'.

altgov3en

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 101

0

You're looking for CTRL + SHIFT + T - it opens the last tab closed in Firefox.

You can also view 'Recently Closed Tabs' and 'Recently Closed Windows' in the History menu on the menu bar.

To switch between open tabs in Firefox with the keyboard, just press CTRL + 1 or 2 or whatever the tab "number" is, from the left (e.g. if your "Twitter" tab is the 5th tab open, from the left, just press CTRL + 5).

studiohack

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 13 125

0

Before Firefox 20 http://timothyhumphrey.name/lasttab/ could do just that, ( without the option to disable the preview - which just seems slow to me.) I hope that timothy has time to update or someone else will, because the nearest that I can find will only toggle between two tabs, which is even less use than the default behaviour.

Alexx Roche

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 760

-1

I've been using the Ctrl-Tab add-on, but it is limited to 5 most recent tabs. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/ctrl-tab/?src=search I could use accessing like 10 of the most recent tabs!

LastTab doesn't seem to work for me on Firefox 20 on Ubuntu 12.04. It just does the default Firefox thing (switching linearly through the stack of tabs).

martian

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 21

-1

If you want to switch to literally the last tab in your browser (the right most tab) then use CTRL + 9.

Matthew Lock

Posted 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Reputation: 4 254

Asked: 2011-05-30T21:07:14.590

Viewed: 18 887 times

Active: 2019-10-24T19:49:45.117