When I click on a link in my search results I want the link to automatically open in a new tab.
I have settings>tabs>open-pages-in-tabs-instead-of-windows set to automatically, but links do not open in a new tab.
What else should I adjust to make this work?
I can have a link open in a new tab using the keyboard but I find it much more convenient to have the tab open automatically. It appears that this should be possible but I can’t make it work.
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Bee
"Open pages in tabs instead of windows" does what it says. The important word is "instead." It makes is so that when a link is set by the web developer to open in another window, it instead opens it in another tab.
It does NOT change how links work if they are just normal links, ones that would just go to a new web page, replacing the current one.
To indicate that you want to do that, you need to look further down in those same settings. Look for ⌘-click opens a link in a new tab. Select that. Now you can Command+click a link and it will open that link in a new tab. Clicking without the Command key held down means the link acts normally, as the web developer intended. Clicking with the Command key down makes the link open in a new tab even if the link is set to just replace the current page.
You can't do it without the Command key, as that would mean just clicking on a simple set of links to get from one page to another would open a whole series of tabs. You'd soon have lots and lots of tabs open.
Your "why" when asking this question is that "I find it much more convenient." But you never mention why you would find this more convenient. Is it because you want to return to the search results sometimes? Because it certainly isn't convenient to leave behind a tab of search results that you later have to take several steps to close.
If it is because you want to return to the search results sometimes, then there is a better way. You can use Safari's "Snapback" feature. It is History, Return To Search Results with a handy keyboard shortcut too. See https://macmost.com/better-web-searching-with-snapback-and-tabs.html
Thanks.
I mistakenly thought that 'open pages in tabs...' would force all pages to open in tabs, just as Firefox does.
I like to be able to move between my search results tab and tabs showing pages of interest. These tabs are dynamic and I never have more than a handful open.
Also, I prefer a cursor and click way of working with everything visible, rather than a keyboard shortcut way of working. But I will try 'snapback' just to see how I get on.
DuckDuckGo's Settings includes "open all links in a new tab"
Well, a few days after asking my question Safari started opening links in google results in new tabs! This was without any further action on my part.