Opera FAQs, Tips, Tricks & Tweaks

Tips for Opera browser since 2005

How to close current tab and go to previous/next tab in Opera?

Wednesday, November 2, 2005 7:33:19 AM

, , , , ,

Buttons

Drag & drop Close & Go to Previous & Close & Go to Next buttons to any toolbar.

Keyboard shortcuts

Change the action of following keyboard shortcuts in Application section.
w ctrl to Close page & Switch to next page
w ctrl shift to Close page & Switch to previous page

Mouse gestures

Create two mouse gestures with the following with actions. 

GestureDown, GestureRight, GestureDown = Close page & Switch to previous page
GestureDown, GestureRight, GestureUp = Close page & Switch to next page

Default gesture to close current tab in Opera
Default gesture to close current tab

Gesture to close current tab & switch to next tab in Opera
Gesture to close current tab & switch to next tab

Gesture to close current tab & switch to previous tab in Opera
Gesture to close current tab & switch to previous tab

How to add/edit mouse gestures in Opera?How to add/edit keyboard shortcuts in Opera?

Comments

Ulixes Friday, July 7, 2006 3:55:36 PM

Thank you very much, it's very useful!

Unregistered user Friday, July 21, 2006 11:55:43 AM

Ceebu writes: This worked !!!! (I just made changes to mouse gestures though...) Thanks a ton.. One of the IMPORTANT features that i have been wanting but have got only today, :-)

juapar2 Thursday, October 19, 2006 9:00:48 AM

First let me congrulate on really good help.

how can i see the gesture i have selected?

Tamil Thursday, October 19, 2006 9:10:09 AM

Originally posted by juapar2:

how can i see the gesture i have selected?

You can't see.

Gingerbread-Man Friday, October 20, 2006 11:48:27 PM

Thank you!

juapar2 Thursday, October 26, 2006 12:42:08 PM

Originally posted by Tamil:

"Originally posted by juapar2:

how can i see the gesture i have selected?

You can't see."

In Firefox, you can see the description of the gestures in the status bar. For eg up you clicked say down and right it will tell you in the status bar that you have pressed down and right and it means that close current tab.

If this is not there in opera. Then this is one of the items for good things wish list of opera.

Unregistered user Sunday, November 26, 2006 10:24:03 PM

Anonymous writes: How can I make Opera to do the same when I click on the X of a Tab?

Tamil Monday, November 27, 2006 12:59:52 AM

How can I make Opera to do the same when I click on the X of a Tab?

Use buttons at top of this page.

Unregistered user Monday, March 5, 2007 5:53:06 PM

crip writes: Tamil: "Use buttons at top of this page." I believe that was not what he was asking about. Is there any way to set action "Close & Switch to next" as default for the "x" button on every tab?

Tamil Monday, March 5, 2007 6:25:25 PM

Is there any way to set action "Close & Switch to next" as default for the "x" button on every tab?

no

kriko Friday, May 4, 2007 5:26:44 PM

Is it possible to bind "Close & Switch to next" to the middle mouse button?

Tamil Friday, May 4, 2007 5:49:48 PM

Is it possible to bind "Close & Switch to next" to the middle mouse button?

no

kriko Friday, May 4, 2007 7:19:59 PM

Will it be possible?

Tamil Friday, May 4, 2007 10:50:07 PM

Will it be possible?

May be in future.

LPS77 Tuesday, June 26, 2007 8:37:49 PM

Hopefully

Unregistered user Friday, July 6, 2007 7:53:25 PM

higgins writes: Is there such button which closes and switches to next, BUT closes and switches to _previous_ if you're on your _rightmost_ tab? I'd really love that.

Unregistered user Monday, September 10, 2007 6:02:17 PM

Anon writes: I could only get these modifications to work by typing in "Close &Switch to next"-- with no space between & and Switch. (Very nice if you set up a click-zone to ctrl W on your touchpad) Great site-- made my cyberlife easier.

Unregistered user Sunday, December 23, 2007 11:56:32 PM

Anonymous writes: I want to add my support for higgins' suggestion. The current tab close behavior in Opera drives me crazy.

HunkyDork Saturday, January 19, 2008 8:07:04 PM

Very good
Now, when I have two windows opened,
is there a keyboard shortcut
to close the window I'm on
without closing Opera alltogether?
Been looking for that one for a long time.
HunkyDork

Tamil Saturday, January 19, 2008 11:12:26 PM

Originally posted by HunkyDork:

is there a keyboard shortcut
to close the window I'm on
without closing Opera alltogether?

yes ALT+F4

Unregistered user Tuesday, January 29, 2008 9:56:28 PM

Anonymous writes: I'd like to echo #6 Higgins' request. I want Opera tabs to close as they do in Firefox. Unfortunately, "Close & Switch to next" is not sufficient; If you close the rightmost tab, you will circle around to the first tab. I have no idea why Opera has not added such an option to do this. It should be an extremely easy thing to code up. Just introduce an additional option, like "Switch to next unless on rightmost" or "Switch to next & Do not cycle around" etc.

Unregistered user Wednesday, February 20, 2008 4:37:13 AM

Anonymous writes: thank you for the tip to Close & Switch to next page! i was almost going back to the Fox because of this but oh, how i LOVE Opera!

Unregistered user Thursday, March 27, 2008 6:07:14 PM

Anonymous writes: how come the buttons don't work for me at all! Every time I click those buttons, a new tab opens and says invalid address. It's not understadable that why opera doesn't implement those easy functions.

Tamil Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:02:04 PM

It's not understadable that why opera doesn't implement those easy functions.

See New snapshot: Introducing advanced tab activation

Unregistered user Friday, April 4, 2008 10:42:39 AM

Anonymous writes: What's the shortkey combo for opening tabs in the background in Opera 9.27? Thanks.

Unregistered user Friday, April 4, 2008 10:44:07 AM

Anonymous writes: I mean from the address bar... Sorry. OK, I know that in the beta version the combo is Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

Unregistered user Friday, April 4, 2008 10:53:46 AM

Anonymous writes: Please, let me complement by saying that I've just found out that, OK, Ctrl+Shift+Enter in Opera 9.27 does open links from the address bar in the background, but this does not happen when the "address" is a nickname from the Hotlist... So please, help. Is there a way for doing this in the final version, just as it is possible in the latest betas? Again, thanks.

Unregistered user Wednesday, October 8, 2008 7:17:19 PM

Anonymous writes: I don't think this works in v9.6

Unregistered user Thursday, February 11, 2010 8:47:58 PM

Stormfrog writes: Maybe we can argue this to the end of days. But I honestly cannot see the usability in the manner Operas traverse tabs. Example 1. I open Google and make a search, on the search results page I see many links I want to browse- I open ten new tabs with these links. Now, which to me seems completely naturally, I want to traverse these links chronologically. When I close one tab, I want to see the next of the links I opened. Instead I get sent back to the last page I was browsing: google search resluts page. Extremely frstrating, why would I ever want to go back there??! Example 2. This is more or less the same example. I am a frequent visitor of deviantart.com and each week I get 500-something new "deviations" to browse from my friends there. In this scenario I have a Opera Windows opened with maybe 50 tabs in it. I need to quickly browse through all tabs by tapping ctrl-w. WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO GO BACK TO A PREVIOUS TAB???!!! In my opinion this is not just a nuisance but a serious design flaw in Opera. I would be very happy to be rid of it. I know it is possible to bind CTRL-W to a function that closes current page, switches to next UNLESS it is the last page, then it goes backwards. Because sometimes you might want to traverse the tabs in a chronological order backwards. I have made Opera behave like that before with the help of a friend, but I cannot remember how he pulled it off. He is something of a hacker, so it is possible he binded CTRL-W to a script or similar. But I know it is possible... somehow. :)

Tamil Thursday, February 11, 2010 10:58:14 PM

When I close one tab, I want to see the next of the links I opened.

CTRL+F12 > Advanced > Tabs > When closing a tab > Activate the next tab

Unregistered user Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:17:01 AM

Anonymous writes: when I click on a link to open in new tab why doesn't opera go to it(the new tab)directly? meaning how do I switch focus to the new tab? Is there a way. In Firefox when I click on a link to open in a new tab, the browser switches focus to the new opened tab.

Tamil Thursday, March 18, 2010 2:41:01 AM

when I click on a link to open in new tab why doesn't opera go to it(the new tab)directly?

It should go unless you click mouse middle button.

Unregistered user Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:22:41 PM

Anonymous writes: "It should go unless you click mouse middle button" I do click the middle button to open a link in a new tab because if I use the left button the link will not open in a new tab. Is there a way to switch focus to the new tab when clicking middle button or can I open links in new tabs using the left mouse button? Thank you for your response

Tamil Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:28:07 PM

Shift + Mouse middle click > Open in new tab

Unregistered user Friday, March 19, 2010 4:30:48 AM

Anonymous writes: "Shift + Mouse middle click > Open in new tab" It worked. Thank you for your help. why is this option not available in the preferences menu?

Tamil Friday, March 19, 2010 8:39:39 AM

CTRL+F12 > Advanced > Shortcuts > Middle-Click Options...

Unregistered user Saturday, March 20, 2010 3:29:28 AM

Anonymous writes: Great. Thanks again

Unregistered user Friday, June 4, 2010 6:20:44 PM

Anonymous writes: Thanks for your incredible bolg!!! I need a button for do "submit a form in this page" & Switch to Next Page "&" and "Switch to Next Page" are ok. But, how to instruct the submit part? More difficult: the button submit of form is not a button. Is a image: I can let selected the button like I do for press "Enter" key... Thanks in advance !

Tamil Saturday, June 5, 2010 12:36:11 AM

AFAIK, not possible.

Unregistered user Tuesday, June 8, 2010 12:00:04 PM

Anonymous writes: Thanks. (I'm the "submit & switch" person...) I can make a bookmarklet thats submit the form: javascript:{document.forms[0].submit();} Now i want combine this bookmarklet with the command "Switch to Next Page" It's a javascript equivalent to "Switch to Next Page" ?? Or I can combine in a button or in a bookmarklet a javascript + a opera: command?

Tamil Tuesday, June 8, 2010 2:02:48 PM

Try the following code. 
Go to page, "javascript:{document.forms[0].submit();}" & Switch to Next Page

Unregistered user Tuesday, June 8, 2010 5:14:33 PM

Anonymous writes: Thanks !!!!!!!!! uaauuuuuuuu....... Perfectly, ha ha ha

Unregistered user Monday, September 6, 2010 7:44:08 AM

Marcel writes: Hi Tamil, Since I update to Opera 10.61 I can't close tabs by clicking the tab's (X). Only way is to right click the tab and chose "Close" or hit Ctrl + W. Any idea on how to re-anable the tab's (X)? Thanks in advance

Tamil Monday, September 6, 2010 7:49:31 AM

What happens when you click close button?

Unregistered user Monday, September 6, 2010 3:43:37 PM

Anonymous writes: when I click the X button , nothing happens.

Tamil Monday, September 6, 2010 4:18:00 PM

I have no idea. sad

Unregistered user Wednesday, September 8, 2010 5:30:06 AM

Marcel writes: Not much related to this issue comes up when I search the Opera Forum: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/search.dml?term=closing+tabs&id= This was the closest I found: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=708502 has to be a bug. Same version acts fine on my laptop. Anyway thanks for answering so promptly Tamil. It was appreciated.

Unregistered user Sunday, October 3, 2010 7:39:13 PM

Anonymous writes: Tamil wrote: Try the following code. Go to page, "javascript:{document.forms[0].submit();}" & Switch to Next Page

Unregistered user Sunday, October 3, 2010 7:42:21 PM

Anonymous writes: Wow, it messed up my last comment. Anyway: I adjusted this, telling it to fill in a form using javascript, then to submit the form using Opera's built-in 'click button' command. Used separately, the javascript filling in the form works. Used separately, the 'click button' command also works. When used together with a single command button, a problem arises: Unfortunately, although the script is inserting the values into the form correctly, the form is not registering the fact that the values were filled in before it gets submitted, resulting in a blank form being submitted. I cannot use javascript to click submit, the only way is to use Opera's built in 'click button' command, as the button command order is different, and I have to fiddle with several 'focus next widget' commands before I can use the 'click button' command. I don't know if using some kind of wait function would be a good thing in this case. I tried a javascript wait (unsuccessfully) - so kinda stuck now.

Tamil Tuesday, October 5, 2010 9:19:27 AM

Use Delay, X (X in milliseconds) between two actions.

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