Firefox 4. How to disable 'Switch to tab'?

[lithopsian]

There is a second "workaround" (other than selecting the entry and then manually removing the switch to tab box at the start) to actually get the URL you enter to open instead of just shuffling you off to an existing tab. This is to press alt-enter. Not much of a workaround since it opens a new tab, but at least it will contain a second copy of the page. There is a bug to try and improve on this since there is no visual indication that this will do anything other than switch to tab, but it is going nowhere fast. Partly because it is tagged as an enhancement instead of a "royal pain in the neck", and partly because nobody can think of a really good way to do it. Here are some raised bugs for those interested in tracking this:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=596485
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=558626

[schwinn8]

Don't forget that it renders AutoFill useless... I'm using AutoFill since Firefox 0.8 or something... I always liked it very much, I got used to it over the years. And now it's not working anymore most of the time - because of the "Switch to tab" mayhem.

You know how frustrating it can be when something you got used to very much suddenly isn't there anymore. Just to make room for something new you don't need at all.

ps. I'm talking about "browser.urlbar.autofill", a built-in Firefox feature, not a third-party add-on or something!

I registered just to voice my dislike of this feature as well, for the very reason mentioned above. I use Autofill as well, and it becomes useless with this feature.

For example, if I am searching something on Google, and I have a results page. I may create a new tab for a new search because I am reminded of something... but when I press Control T, then type "www.goo" I don't get autofill since there is already a google tab open. I want a new tab! It gets even worse if I have iGoogle open on a tab, and want to open a plain google search page... because autofill fails. I end up going to "www.goo" and have to deal with that nonsense and clear out the bad entry from my history, etc. It's annoying as hell.

As a compromise, I suggest the following - keep your "switch to tab" if you want to, but don't cripple autofill. Personally, I find switch to tab pointless (I already know what tabs I have open - I don't need help switching to them). But if you can restore normal autofill behavior, then I think everyone would be happy?

[KiRK_]

That would be OK with me...

However, the best solution would be an option to disable this "Switch to tab" crap totally and forever. But if they'd manage to restore the old AutoFill functionality I'd also be very happy with this!

I do not want to get off-topic here, but I don't like the way Firefox is going to. If this weird behaviour continues I guess I'll have to switch to another browser in the future. For example, they've removed the StatusBar in the actual version. One of the main components of the browser! How can someone remove the StatusBar?? Whos idea was this? I can't believe it. I'm always watching the StatusBar while the page loads. I can only get a very slow internet connection in my country and watching the things being done on the StatusBar is a good way to outlast the waiting time. And I can see at once when my internet connection is broken again. So I always keep watching the StatusBar... For many years now... And they remove it, final, without an option to switch it on again! I simply can't understand what's on the mind of the developers. Good to have Status-4-Evar nowadays...

The developers keep adding more and more stuff most people don't need (and don't want). And they kill useful things at the same time. I fear Firefox will become bloatware soon, like Nero Suite, Adobe Reader or Forté Agent became...

[Mark342]

That would be OK with me...
I guess I'll have to switch to another browser in the future.

You are going to love the interface of every other major browser then.
None of them have a status bar in their latest versions.

[patrickjdempsey]

That would be OK with me...
I guess I'll have to switch to another browser in the future.

You are going to love the interface of every other major browser then.
None of them have a status bar in their latest versions.

Or he could continue using Firefox 3.6 until it's support runs out, which at this point will be at the end of 2011. Hopefully by then there will be so many complaints about Firefox 4.0, that Mozilla will fix all of the things they have been warned about by testers and 4.1 will be better.

[KiRK_]

Yes, hopefully 4.1 will be better. Until then I use Status-4-Evar. This way I still have my usual Status-Bar and a couple of other things I can configure. But AutoFill is not working so far, and then we have this evil "Switch to tab" which drives you nuts...

[kgb_lemon]

So it wasn't only me who hates this 'switch to tabs' feature after all!

I am also using browser.urlbar.autofil and in many occasions this 'switch to tabs' feature drives me nuts. Besides cases you guys already posted, if you type 'm' in the address bar it suddenly turns into 'switch to tabs'. It makes me impossible to type address or search keyword which starts with 'm'.

It seems there are some ways to disable this feature, but I think it would be the best for developers give us simple way to disable it in about:config panel.

[KWierso]

I guess I don't get it.

Typing in the first letter of a frequently opened page that's currently open in a tab, the "Switch to Tab" option isn't even above the fold for dropdown suggestions. I have to scroll through the suggestions before I see any of the switch to tab options.

This is with autofill set to both true or false.

[KiRK_]

Strange! I always have the "Switch to tab" suggestions on top of the list. Everything else starts below. If you have many tabs open, the first "real" suggestion can even be on position 20 or lower!

If there would be a way to push the "Switch to tab" lines down the list, it would solve my problems! I wouldn't care if they'd appear at the end of the list... Then AutoFill would work again, too!

[MatKus]

To be honest, I have no idea what's the point of this feature at all? Why would i like to type again address or title of already opened tab to switch to it, if i can simply click on that tab. It's much faster and easier. The only reason i can think now is if someone have 100 or so tabs opened and can't find the one he's looking for, but In that case just few flash banners in plugin container will use 100% of any number of processor cores you got, so still no point in that for me.

There are more functions in Firefox 4 i don't need, for example like panorama, but i can simply remove it's button and it's gone for me, if someone wants to use it, sure, why not, if not, he can hide it. But i can't hide or disable "switch to tab"

[Erunno]

Yeah, switch to tab is mainly for us heavy tab users. At worst of times I leave dozens of pages of documentation open for quick referencing and it's easy to get lost in this tab jungle so I sometimes end up with several copies of the same site, especially when I'm too inpatient to actually look for the tab even if I I know that the page is open. So at least for my work flow switch to tab is a boon. Would be cool though when people could at least turn it off via a preference.

[schwinn8]

I guess I don't get it.

Typing in the first letter of a frequently opened page that's currently open in a tab, the "Switch to Tab" option isn't even above the fold for dropdown suggestions. I have to scroll through the suggestions before I see any of the switch to tab options.

This is with autofill set to both true or false.

Interesting. I thought I saw the same behavior on one of my 4 machines that I don't use as often... I need to check it again.

On the other 3 more frequently used machines, Switch to Tab is always the first item. This also breaks auto-fill, as shown here:

(Notice how the autofill is not working, and that Switch to Tab is the first item? This is even worse when the recommended switch is to an unrelated tab, which happens more often if I have many tabs open.)

Look at it this way - Autofill is an existing feature that is used by many. Switch to Tab seems to break it in most machines. This means it should be fixed. My suggestion preserves Switch to Tab while preserving Autofill. Who wouldn't want that?

If we can move the StoT feature to the end of the list, this would also fix Autofill, while preserving StoT. I don't think StoT is as useful that way, but as long as Autofill works, I really don't care. The smarter solution would be as I suggested - let autofill work even if StoT is the first (or first few) items.

[a;skdjfajf;ak]

You folks having trouble with Switch-to-Tab and autofill should quit using www.blahblahblah You have the search algorithm filled with www , of course its always going to float to the top.

[KiRK_]

Heh? If I type just a word, like "Google", I also have the Switch to tab suggestions first. And then AutoFill won't work! Of course it only works when starting with "www". I just tried it out. It won't fill anything when not starting with a "www".

And besides that, I have to use "www" with most of the hostnames. They don't set wildcards in DNS.

[Rodze]

Regarding having to type www for auto-fill to work, try out this addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/242706/