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Firefox’s tab controls are in Menu > Settings > General > Tabs. There you can choose whether Ctrl+Tab follows recently used tabs or tab-strip order, whether new tabs opened from links take focus, and—on Windows—whether each tab appears as a separate taskbar preview.
Open Firefox’s tab settings
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Open the Firefox menu by selecting the menu button.
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Select Settings.
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Open General, then scroll to Tabs. Depending on the Firefox version, Mozilla’s support article may refer to this area as Tabs and browsing.
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The options below are independent: changing how Ctrl+Tab cycles does not change new-tab focus or taskbar previews.
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Choose how Ctrl+Tab switches between tabs
In Tabs, select Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order to move among tabs according to when you viewed them. Clear the checkbox to make Ctrl+Tab follow the tabs’ left-to-right order in the tab strip. With tab-strip order selected, Ctrl+Shift+Tab moves to the previous tab. Mozilla Support’s tab preferences guide describes this setting.
Decide whether a newly opened tab takes focus
To keep a newly opened link, image, or media in the background, clear When you open a link, image or media in a new tab, switch to it immediately. Select it if you want Firefox to switch to the new tab as soon as it opens. This applies when opening a link in a new tab—for example, with a middle-click, Ctrl-click, or the context menu.
When this setting does not seem to control a link
Firefox has separate behavior for some other sources. If a particular type of link keeps taking focus, a 2019 Mozilla Support community answer discusses advanced preferences for regular links (browser.tabs.loadInBackground), links diverted from a request to open a window (browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground), and bookmarks (browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground). These are historical troubleshooting suggestions, not a universal current-version guide. Check the visible Settings option first; change advanced preferences only if you understand their effects. Read the community discussion.
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On Windows, clear Show tab previews in the Windows taskbar if you want the taskbar to show a Firefox window preview instead of a separate preview for every open tab. Select the checkbox to show individual tab previews when you hover over Firefox’s taskbar icon. This is a Windows-specific setting. A Mozilla Support discussion from 2015 captures the question as “One button for Firefox window on the Task Bar instead of many,” though the current control is documented in Mozilla’s tab preferences guide.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Open links in tabs instead of windows
The separate Open links in tabs instead of new windows setting affects links from other applications or pages that request a new window. A link requesting a specifically sized window may still open in a window because it may need those dimensions to display correctly. This setting is distinct from both Ctrl+Tab order and whether a regular new tab immediately takes focus.
Open links from apps next to your active tab controls where tabs opened from applications are placed. It changes placement, not whether Ctrl+Tab uses recent activity or strip order.
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