Select browser tab that was opened by current tab

Question

I have a web page with a link that opens another page in a new tab. In the newly opened page, I have a link that, when clicked, should bring focus to the original tab.

The new tab is opened via the target attribute:

<a href="/new-page/" target="_BLANK">new tab</a>

I thought this should work:

<a href="#" class="back-link">switch tabs</a>

$('.back-link').click(function() { 
    if(window.opener) {
      console.log('switching tabs');
      window.opener.focus();
    }
 });

The console.log fires, but focus stays on the current tab. What am I doing wrong?

@jasper - it did it with the `target` of the `` tag - see updated OP — Daveh0, Nov 19 '19 at 15:41

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 19 '19 at 15:58

Could you try adding the following event listener to your new tab button instead of target="_blank" :

$('.new-tab-button').click(function(e) { 
    e.preventDefault();
    window.open('/new-page/');
 });

This way you actually open a new window instead of new tab, according to the stackoverflow thread linked below, for security reasons, it seems to only be possible to focus to (and maybe from) windows/pop-ups. I'm not sure if what you're trying to do is possible but if so this could be it.

How to change browser focus from one tab to another

Select browser tab that was opened by current tab

1 Answers1