Switching back to last tab on Firefox

Question

Is it possible to switch back to the last tab used (tab toggling)? I often like this behaviour on the Mac OSX when switching between apps with the CMD + Tab shortcut key.

score 171 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 08 '21 at 16:36

171

Switching back to last tab on Firefox:

browse about:config
find browser.ctrlTab.sortByRecentlyUsed
set true

Done! :)

You can switch back to the last tab via Ctrl + Tab.

edited Nov 08 '21 at 16:36

Ariel

137

answered Feb 21 '12 at 15:06

kb44

1,726

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered May 30 '11 at 21:17

I am not fully sure whether I've got the question right. Also on Windows you can use CTRL+Tab to cycle through tabs or CTRL+Shift+Tab to cycle reverse.

If you're looking for an option to select what happens when you close a tab I recommend to have a look at the Tab Mix Plus extension. In Events -> Tab closing you will find an option to define what happens when you close a tab. There you can select options like selecting the tab right or left to the closed one as well as going back to the previously active tab.

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 20 '17 at 16:21

7

In addition to @kb44's answer: you can do it via the Options panel too. Open Options panel, go to General tab the tick the "Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order".

answered Dec 20 '17 at 16:21

Emmanuel

171

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 14 '19 at 19:28

6

This is default behavior in Firefox 64.0, but the toggle for this control is now stored under the browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder in about:config (enter about:config in your address bar to access this control and set it to "true").

answered Jan 14 '19 at 19:28

Will C

161

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 19 '25 at 07:59

As verified on Firefox 135, there is now a GUI option in about:preferences "Ctrl-Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order". Check that box will get "Ctrl-tab" to switch to the last used tab.

Reference: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/tab-preferences-and-settings

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 19 '13 at 06:07

There's also another add-on that does this very well (and also for all newer Firefox Versions >20): It's called simly "FLST" for Firefox 4+. (Focus last selected Tab).

https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/fww-flst

I found out that you can use your mouse by clicking on the current tab or also use a Shortcut which is Ctrl + . (Ctrl and Dot)

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 07 '20 at 20:56

1

A recent WebExtension plugin "Active Tab History" that works for the newest Firefox has been really helpful for me: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/active-tab-history

answered Mar 07 '20 at 20:56

xji

808

JRobert · Answer 8 · 2011-05-31T10:34:38.177

1

Do I understand your question correctly, that you want to be able to toggle between two tabs (both of which remain open)?

Firefox's Ctrl+Tab already has this behavior (at least on a Mac): Hold Ctrl, click Tab, and release both. The previous tab you were viewing gets the focus. Repeating it toggles between the two tabs. The trick is to let go of both keys immediately.

edited May 31 '11 at 10:34

answered May 30 '11 at 22:47

JRobert

7,134

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Jan 12 '16 at 16:00

THIS will toggle between Tabs in Firefox versions 34 and later. Use 'Tab Mix Plus' extension (by 'onemen' Gary Reyes) https://addons.mozilla.org/hu/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus/ Go to its Options. Here select: - Mouse - Mouse Gestures - Now enable 'Switch to last selected tab when clicking current one'. - Click Apply. Done.

NOTES:

The placement in Tab Mix Plus has changed compared to older TMP versions.
'Cycling through Tabs' in other answers, was probably not asked by the OP.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 24 '19 at 19:49

0

Starting from Firefox version 70.0 the key (at about:config) has changed from 'browser.ctrlTab.previews' to 'browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder'.

answered Oct 24 '19 at 19:49

altgov3en

101

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 08 '25 at 16:27

I'm using the "Switch to Last Active Tab" add-on, which I've mapped to Alt-0. This way I can keep the regular behaviour of Ctrl-Tab, but still switch between two far away tabs quickly.

Add-On source: https://github.com/jscher2000/switch-to-previous-active-tab

It puts a little icon in your top bar that you can click:

And you can set up a hotkey for it in the Add-ons manager in the cog icon:

like this:

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 30 '11 at 21:11

You're looking for CTRL + SHIFT + T - it opens the last tab closed in Firefox.

You can also view 'Recently Closed Tabs' and 'Recently Closed Windows' in the History menu on the menu bar.

To switch between open tabs in Firefox with the keyboard, just press CTRL + 1 or 2 or whatever the tab "number" is, from the left (e.g. if your "Twitter" tab is the 5th tab open, from the left, just press CTRL + 5).

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 11 '13 at 20:55

Before Firefox 20 http://timothyhumphrey.name/lasttab/ could do just that, ( without the option to disable the preview - which just seems slow to me.) I hope that timothy has time to update or someone else will, because the nearest that I can find will only toggle between two tabs, which is even less use than the default behaviour.

martian · Answer 14 · 2013-04-15T04:18:55.067

-1

I've been using the Ctrl-Tab add-on, but it is limited to 5 most recent tabs. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/ctrl-tab/?src=search I could use accessing like 10 of the most recent tabs!

LastTab doesn't seem to work for me on Firefox 20 on Ubuntu 12.04. It just does the default Firefox thing (switching linearly through the stack of tabs).

edited Apr 15 '13 at 04:18

answered Apr 15 '13 at 04:13

martian

21

score -1 · Answer 15 · answered Aug 27 '15 at 01:02

-1

If you want to switch to literally the last tab in your browser (the right most tab) then use CTRL + 9.

answered Aug 27 '15 at 01:02

Matthew Lock

4,757

Switching back to last tab on Firefox

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