How to prevent tabs from opening in Safari on Sequoia 15.7.2?

Question

Chicago2016 Author

Level 1

14 points

How to prevent tabs from opening in Safari on Sequoia 15.7.2?

I'm running Sequoia 15.7.2 and all of a sudden every single website I visit is creating tabs in the top of my window. When I hit Command 3 to close all of them one-by-one, it even shows sites I visited a long time ago.

What is happening?

So far, I have the settings as such: Safari opens with new window, New windows open as Empty page, and New tabs open with Homepage. In my System settings, I have Close windows when quitting an application.

Is there a way to prevent tabs from opening altogether?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Tabs issue Safari 26.1

Posted on Dec 3, 2025 7:57 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

90,706 points

Dec 3, 2025 8:27 AM in response to Chicago2016

Try Safari > Settings > Tabs > set "Open pages in tabs instead of windows" to Never.

Then instead of opening a New homepage or empty page, open the desired link in a New window.

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Answer 2

Chicago2016 Author

Level 1

14 points

Dec 5, 2025 10:37 AM in response to den.thed

Well that was short-lived. I did find another solution; "Preload Top Hits in the Background" which I read could be causing this. I deselected it, and web pages are STILL loading in the background! I called Apple and they were useless saying to just update my Sequoia to Tahoe. I say useless since I'M the one who at least found out what could be causing this; they didn't have a clue. I don't know what to do now.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

90,706 points

Dec 3, 2025 1:10 PM in response to Chicago2016

You're welcome. Good work on your part.

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Answer 4

Chicago2016 Author

Level 1

14 points

Dec 3, 2025 10:41 AM in response to den.thed

Thanks, I have the first one set like that--but I think I fixed it! I saw your screenshot and deselected the When a new tab or window opens, make it active. That worked!

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