Disable Mouse Middle-Click on New Tab Button URL Open Feature in Firefox on Linux

If you are using Mozilla Firefox 115.0 or later version in a Linux machine and you want to disable the new middle-click URL open functionality on New Tab button, this article will help you.

In Firefox 115 and later versions, Linux users can middle-click on the “New Tab (+)” button present on the tab bar to automatically paste the URL or text present in their xclipboard. If the pasted string is a URL, Firefox will open the URL in a new tab. If the pasted string is plain text, Firefox will search for the pasted text using the default search provider.

This new behavior will save user’s time. In previous versions of Firefox, middle-clicking (pressing the scroll wheel on your mouse) on the New Tab button used to open a new tab only which was the same behavior as left-clicking on the New Tab button.

Now if a Linux user middle-clicks on the New Tab button, Firefox will take the latest URL or text string present in the machine’s clipboard which the user copied recently from a website or somewhere else and will open the URL or search text page in a new tab.

If you don’t like the new functionality or it’s causing issues with some other mouse related software programs, you can easily turn off the new functionality.

Mozilla team has provided a hidden secret preference/flag to disable or remove the new middle-click functionality on New Tab button in Firefox on Linux which is mentioned in following steps:

1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “Accept the Risk and Continue” button. It’ll open Firefox’s hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

2. Now type searchclipboardfor in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

By default, the preference value is set to true, which means the new functionality of New Tab button is activated and enabled in your Firefox version.

3. To deactivate and disable the new feature, double-click on browser.tabs.searchclipboardfor.middleclick preference and set it to false. Alternatively, you can click on the Toggle icon given next to the preference name.

That’s it. Now when you’ll middle-click on New Tab button in Firefox, it’ll not access your clipboard data and will open a blank new tab page only.

PS: To restore the new functionality again in Firefox, set the above mentioned preference to true.

Also Check:

[Fix] Some Extensions are not Allowed in Firefox 115 and Later

[Tip] Enable or Disable Search Terms Display in Firefox Address bar