15

In Firefox 4, the URL bar autocomplete pop-down now has an entry called "Switch to Tab", for URLs which are already open in other tabs.

I never want this, and always end up hitting it by mistake. Is there a way to disable it?

Most new features of FF seem to have a switch in about:config to turn them off, but I didn't see anything obvious for this.

2

2 Answers 2

6

Here's how to disable it for Firefox Quantum (tested version 68)

  1. Hamburger menu
  2. Options (preferences on Mac/Linux) (about:preferences)
  3. Privacy & Security (about:preferences#privacy)
  4. Address bar
  5. Uncheck Open tabs

That's it!

3
  • 2
    This is the only one out of these answers that actually does the trick with current Firefox.
    – FUZxxl
    Dec 6, 2019 at 19:17
  • 1
    Using FF 76 and this still works. Thanks!
    – trebor
    Jun 2, 2020 at 21:38
  • 1
    ...still correct for FF 93!
    – zb226
    Oct 13, 2021 at 14:26
3

a quick search on google showed a massive pile of flame on mozillazine.org. ( http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1977593 )

Code by lithopsian ( originally on http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1977593&start=30 )

This is obviously inside an existing extension, but place the code anywhere you like.

CSS like this:

#urlbar
{
    -moz-binding: url("chrome://NoTabs/content/NoTabs.xml#NoTabsUrlbar");
}

.autocomplete-richlistitem
{
    -moz-binding: url("chrome://NoTabs/content/NoTabs.xml#NoTabsRichlistitem");
}

And bindings like this to replace two key methods:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<bindings id="NoTabs-urlbarBindings"
      xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/xbl"
      xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
      xmlns:xul="http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"
      xmlns:xbl="http://www.mozilla.org/xbl">

  <binding id="NoTabsUrlbar" extends="chrome://browser/content/urlbarBindings.xml#urlbar">
    <implementation implements="nsIObserver, nsIDOMEventListener">

      <!--
        onBeforeValueSet is called by the base-binding's .value setter.
        It should return the value that the setter should use.
      -->
      <method name="onBeforeValueSet">
        <parameter name="aValue"/>
        <body><![CDATA[
          this.removeAttribute("actiontype");
          this._value = aValue;
          var returnValue = aValue;
          var action = this._parseActionUrl(aValue);
          if (action) returnValue = action.param;
          return returnValue;
        ]]></body>
      </method>

    </implementation>
  </binding>

  <binding id="NoTabsRichlistitem" extends="chrome://global/content/bindings/autocomplete.xml#autocomplete-richlistitem">
    <implementation implements="nsIDOMXULSelectControlItemElement">

      <method name="_adjustAcItem">
        <body>
          <![CDATA[
          var url = this.getAttribute("url");
          var title = this.getAttribute("title");
          var type = this.getAttribute("type");

          this.removeAttribute("actiontype");

          var setupUrl = true;

          // If the type includes an action, set up the item appropriately.
          var types = type.split(/\s+/);
          var actionIndex = types.indexOf("action");
          if (actionIndex >= 0) {
            let [,action, param] = url.match(/^moz-action:([^,]+),(.*)$/);
            url = param;

            // Remove the "action" substring so that the correct style, if any,
            // is applied below.
            types.splice(actionIndex, 1);
            type = types.join(" ");
          }

          // If we have a tag match, show the tags and icon
          if (type == "tag") {
            // Configure the extra box for tags display
            this._extraBox.hidden = false;
            this._extraBox.childNodes[0].hidden = false;
            this._extraBox.childNodes[1].hidden = true;
            this._extraBox.pack = "end";
            this._titleBox.flex = 1;

            // The title is separated from the tags by an endash
            let tags;
            [, title, tags] = title.match(/^(.+) \u2013 (.+)$/);

            // Each tag is split by a comma in an undefined order, so sort it
            let sortedTags = tags.split(",").sort().join(", ");

            // Emphasize the matching text in the tags
            this._setUpDescription(this._extra, sortedTags);

            // Treat tagged matches as bookmarks for the star
            type = "bookmark";
          } else if (type == "keyword") {
            // Configure the extra box for keyword display
            this._extraBox.hidden = false;
            this._extraBox.childNodes[0].hidden = true;
            this._extraBox.childNodes[1].hidden = false;
            this._extraBox.pack = "start";
            this._titleBox.flex = 0;

            // Put the parameters next to the title if we have any
            let search = this.getAttribute("text");
            let params = "";
            let paramsIndex = search.indexOf(' ');
            if (paramsIndex != -1)
              params = search.substr(paramsIndex + 1);

            // Emphasize the keyword parameters
            this._setUpDescription(this._extra, params);

            // Don't emphasize keyword searches in the title or url
            this.setAttribute("text", "");
          } else {
            // Hide the title's extra box if we don't need extra stuff
            this._extraBox.hidden = true;
            this._titleBox.flex = 1;
          }

          // Give the image the icon style and a special one for the type
          this._typeImage.className = "ac-type-icon" +
            (type ? " ac-result-type-" + type : "");

          // Show the url as the title if we don't have a title
          if (title == "")
            title = url;

          // Emphasize the matching search terms for the description
          this._setUpDescription(this._title, title);
          if (setupUrl)
            this._setUpDescription(this._url, url);

          // Set up overflow on a timeout because the contents of the box
          // might not have a width yet even though we just changed them
          setTimeout(this._setUpOverflow, 0, this._titleBox, this._titleOverflowEllipsis);
          setTimeout(this._setUpOverflow, 0, this._urlBox, this._urlOverflowEllipsis);
          ]]>
        </body>
      </method>
    </implementation>
  </binding>
</bindings>
3
  • 1
    Wow, that's kind of scary. I hope somebody makes that into an extension someday.
    – Ken
    Dec 19, 2010 at 17:33
  • @Ken: Someone made this into an extension, but it doesn't seem to work since Beta 12, and the author hasn't updated it. Mar 13, 2011 at 20:46
  • Downvoted because this solution is out of date. Our_Benefactors' solution works for modern versions of firefox. Jan 14, 2020 at 20:54

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