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On some websites Ctrl + clicking links opens them in the same tab... grrrr! Yet right-clicking > Open in new tab, does work.

It's frustrating - is there any way to make Ctrl + click work on all websites? Why doesn't this work on the occasional website? I.e. what's the technical reason?

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    In my Firefox 38.0.5 and Chromium 41.0 on KDE 4.10 the page loads in the same tab as well as in the new tab if done via CTRL+Click. Silly actually! But, a pure middle-click works exactly as right-click -> Open in new tab.
    – Firelord
    Commented Jun 14, 2015 at 0:11
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    Related: Similar question for Firefox: superuser.com/questions/854797/…
    – StackzOfZtuff
    Commented Aug 6, 2017 at 15:29
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    I wrote a Chrome add-on that fixes this. github.com/danielnixon/link-fixer#installation
    – danielnixon
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 1:24
  • Don't use Ctrl+Click. Just do a Middle click
    – phuclv
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 0:17
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    @phuclv You sound a bit like Steve Jobs when he said "You're holding it wrong"
    – Danny Beckett
    Commented Aug 10, 2022 at 16:22

2 Answers 2

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It is because of JavaScript that captures your clicks and, because of that, interferes with your keyboard shortcuts. If you disable JavaScript then shortcuts should start to work again. You can test it by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+I (Developer tools), then clicking Settings (gear icon) and enabling option Disable JavaScript.

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    If you disable javascript then you may lose the functionality of the site as well. The site OP mentioned doesn't show "Must read" in the right-pane if javascript is disabled. But yeah, the solution might help on other websites.
    – Firelord
    Commented Jun 14, 2015 at 0:14
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Middle-clicking seems to work like a ctrl-click (as mentioned by Firelord in the comments).

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    any alternative for middle-clicking on laptops?
    – Dhruvil21_04
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 18:25
  • Another alternative is right-clicking and then selecting Open Link in New Tab. But that's not as convenient as ctrl-click.
    – AndyB
    Commented Dec 7, 2020 at 23:08
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    @Dhruvil21_04 almost all touchpads can do that but the setting depends on the type of touchpad
    – phuclv
    Commented Aug 11, 2022 at 4:54
  • Three-finger tap on the touchpad of my Acer chromebook does middle-click, which works.
    – SpinUp __ A Davis
    Commented Jun 30 at 15:33

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