Google-chrome – Middle mouse click doesn’t always open links in a new tab in Chrome

google-chromemouse click

I use the middle mouse button to open links in new tabs and to close tabs.

But sometimes, clicking the middle mouse button opens links in the current tab instead of in a new tab. It's not random – I noticed it usually happens when I click on popup links – such as thumbnails or links that open an image in a popup window (just like here).

I checked and this problem doesn't exist in Firefox (14.0.1).
My Google Chrome version is 22.0.1229.94.

Why does that happen?
Can I force the middle mouse button click to always open links/images in a new tab?

Best Answer

This happens because a so called lightbox script is attached to the links. So if you've activated javascript execution (which is the default on popular browsers), the lightbox script attaches to the images and opens them in a neat in-page viewer. This script seems to be programmed to react to the left and middle mouse buttons (which definitely is not good style).

There are several things you could try:

Disable javascript completely or for single pages (doesn't sound like a good solution nowadays).
Use the right mouse button and choose Open Link in New Tab.
Install a browser extension like Link Fixer or Fix Chrome middle click behavior (which I haven't tested though).

Related Solutions

Windows – When middle-clicking links, why does the browser sometimes open two tabs

Have you tried using a different mouse? If there is another mouse readily available, connect it and see if the issue persists.

When I've experienced this issue it has tended to be the mouse. Either a faulty sensor or click mechanism that sends two reports in quick succession. Thankfully mice are cheap and easy to test and replace.

Macos – How to force Chrome to open all links in the current tab

There is an extension called OpenHere that will do this. It will add the option in the right click context menu Open in This Window. Just right clcik on the link you want to open in the same tab.

Edit in response to comment:

You can do it with AutoHotkey. You have need to download it and install it on your PC. After that just copy the code below and save it with a .ahk extension.

SetTitleMatchMode, RegEx
#IfWinActive, - Google Chrome$
!RButton::  
    !LButton::  
        KeyWait, Alt  
        Click, Right  
        SendInput, e  
        ControlFocus, Chrome_OmniboxView1  
        SendInput, ^a{Backspace}  
        SendInput, ^v{Enter}   
        return
#IfWinActive

Now when you press Alt + LClick, it will copy the link to the clipboard and past it in the address bar of Chrome. Just press the button and click and release with the click and the link will open in the same tab.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – When middle-clicking links, why does the browser sometimes open two tabs

Macos – How to force Chrome to open all links in the current tab

Related Question