8

There is a common shortcut of going to previously viewed browser tab (on Vimum, Termux etc). So for example on Chrome Vimium this is how it's defined:

^ visit the previously-visited tab

Is there such a shortcut on safari?

note: This shortcut doesn't exist on the Vimium version of Safari

Improve this question
2
  • How do you define „previous tab“? The one to the left, the one shown before, something else?
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 14:34
  • 3
    Literally the last tab viewed.. doesn't matter if it's immediately to the left or to the right. For example you can be on tab 1 then jump to tab 10, in this case last tab viewed ks tab 1
    – abbood
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 15:41

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
7

I also found out that there is no such a shortcut for going back to the previous tab in Safari, and wrote an extension for that. If you still need that functionality, you can check the extension out on the App Store.

Also, there is another extension, which has a different shortcut, from another author.

Improve this answer
10
  • wow this is great! I bought it and it works perfect. However I wish you would give the user the ability to customize their own keyboard shortcut. Currently you only offer Ctrl 1/2/3/A/Z, I would like to chose my own
    – abbood
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 7:01
  • Thanks! I would love to give the users that extra option, but it is just not possible in Safari, unlike in Chrome. I mean technically it can be done, but in that way, an extension will require permission to read webpage contents and browsing history. But if I ever write one with that option, I'll contact you here :)
    – Seungwoo Choe
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 11:35
  • 1
    There are a bunch of web browser APIs available, and I used them. If you'd like to build your own Safari extension, you can check out things like Building a Safari app extension and MDN docs. Hope this helps!
    – Seungwoo Choe
    Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 15:45
  • 1
    Hi yes I just got your update, it's amazing thanks so much!
    – abbood
    Commented Dec 29, 2022 at 11:53
  • 1
    ok cool I simply deleted the plugin and reinstalled and it was fine!
    – abbood
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 6:29
2

On Safari, you can shift between tabs on a widow using the following key commands:

  • ⌃⇥ (ctrl-tab) moves to the next tab
  • ⌃⇧⇥ (ctrl-shift-tab) moves to the previous tab

There is no specific key-command for moving to the last-viewed tab, but under the History menu you can access the last-viewed tab or reopen the last closed tab. There's a shortcut for the latter (⇧⌘T).

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks Ted. I'm aware of the shortcuts you mentioned. The idea of "a last visited tab" is to not have to worry about the placement of tabs. For example if you have 10 tabs (t1, t2, .. , t10), and you want to jump between t3 and t7, you don't have to cycle through several tabs, it would be a single keyboard shortcut
    – abbood
    Commented Dec 2, 2022 at 5:52
1

We made ReTab recently, as we found the other 2 extensions unusable - one doesn't work with the latest macOS, and the other causes several crashes every day on our Apple Silicon MacBooks - we think it's memory related & contacted the developer who couldn't figure out the cause, thus decided to make ReTab by ourselves, for ourselves. We love it and hope you do too!

ReTab is the only available extension for iOS & iPadOS as others don't use the latest technology, and it's bundled together with the macOS version :]

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .