The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    is there any way to program a mouse button to open a link in a new tab

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by jedisurfer1, Jan 9, 2013.

  1. jedisurfer1

    jedisurfer1 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    39
    Messages:
    785
    Likes Received:
    50
    Trophy Points:
    41
    I'm one of those people that has 15 tabs opens. I end up having to right click and choose open in a new tab. I've got two extra button with my alps pointing stick. I'd like to program one button to open links in a new tab. Is this possible? Thanks
     
    jedisurfer1, Jan 9, 2013
    #1
  2. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

    Reputations:
    7,588
    Messages:
    10,023
    Likes Received:
    1,077
    Trophy Points:
    581
    I don't know whether it is programmable or not, but the mouse wheel click opens a new tab by default in Opera when you click a link with it. It may or may not be doable in every browser, but the middle mouse button on my Precision also works just like that in Opera. It also closes the tab if you click on the tab on top of the browser bar.

    If you mean using the buttons for the trackpoint (and not the middle button if you have three), that will likely not work.
     
    tijo, Jan 9, 2013
    #2
  3. Geekz

    Geekz Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    613
    Messages:
    974
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    ctrl + left click also opens a link to a new tab, depending on your mouse you could create a macro and bind this to a button or set the extra button as the ctrl key.

    a little off topic but you could also check out "All in one gestures" addon for firefox, this makes opening links a whole lot easier by just dragging a line over the link with your mouse
     
    Geekz, Jan 9, 2013
    #3
  4. Mitlov

    Mitlov Shiny

    Reputations:
    2,681
    Messages:
    5,689
    Likes Received:
    909
    Trophy Points:
    281
    This. I control-click to open documents in new tab. Way faster than right clicking and choosing open in new tab. Plus, occasionally IE doesn't provide an open-in-new-tab option (I notice this on The Verge sometimes), but control-clicking still works.
     
    Mitlov, Jan 9, 2013
    #4
  5. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    1,600
    Messages:
    1,771
    Likes Received:
    304
    Trophy Points:
    101
    Firefox also opens links in a new tab when you click the middle mouse button.
     
    Qing Dao, Jan 9, 2013
    #5
  6. Prostar Computer

    Prostar Computer Company Representative

    Reputations:
    1,257
    Messages:
    7,426
    Likes Received:
    1,016
    Trophy Points:
    331
    Make sure you check the "Open links in a new tab" box, and "When I open a new tab, switch to it immediately".

    And yes, the middle mouse click is set to open links in a new tab.
     
    Prostar Computer, Jan 9, 2013
    #6
  7. jedisurfer1

    jedisurfer1 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    39
    Messages:
    785
    Likes Received:
    50
    Trophy Points:
    41
    thanks, this is very useful for a tab junkie
     
    jedisurfer1, Jan 9, 2013
    #7
  8. Prostar Computer

    Prostar Computer Company Representative

    Reputations:
    1,257
    Messages:
    7,426
    Likes Received:
    1,016
    Trophy Points:
    331
    Prostar Computer, Jan 10, 2013
    #8
  9. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    468
    Messages:
    1,369
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Nice. Chrome too.
     
    olyteddy, Jan 12, 2013
    #9
  10. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    358
    Messages:
    1,710
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I use Quick Drag in Firefox, I can use it to highlight/drag words to open in a new tab with Google Search results, drag a link to open in a new tab, it's great.
     
    goofball, Jan 12, 2013
    #10