https://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:54:32 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/When I open a link from workspace 1 (terminal, email, etc), it gets opened in the Firefox instance running on workspace 2. I would like to automatically switch to / focus the Firefox window.Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:05:51 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?answer=3435#post-id-3435Try create a script (e.g. `~/bin/mybrowser`) which changes the workspaces too. And set browser of your programs to `~/bin/mybrowser`: #!/usr/bin/env bash firefox $* i3-msg workspace "web" # blueyed's comment: # i3-msg [class="Firefox"] focus Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:13:27 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?answer=3435#post-id-3435https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3440#comment-3440That's part of the problem.. :) Apart from that it affects other applications as well. When it is on the same workspace, the focus changes. It would be nice, if this would get done across workspaces, too - preferably with a setting ("focus stealing prevention").Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:59:14 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3440#comment-3440https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3437#comment-3437This assumes that the browser is running in a particular workspace always. But I might have multiple instances across different workspaces.Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:27:52 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3437#comment-3437https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3443#comment-3443wmctrl does not appear to work with i3 - I have used it in scripts before (e.g. `wmctrl -a foo` to select a window). For the problem at hand, I could also use `i3-msg '[class=Firefox] focus'` in the custom script, but I would rather have this fixed globally.Wed, 26 Feb 2014 21:10:14 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3443#comment-3443https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3438#comment-3438And how do you control which instance will open your URL? I think it's impossible: https://support.mozilla.org/hu/questions/975778Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:54:02 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3438#comment-3438https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3444#comment-3444But which Firefox instance will focus? :)Wed, 26 Feb 2014 21:33:14 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3444#comment-3444https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3441#comment-3441Oh, understand. Do you know about wmctrl? Maybe you can use it. http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/wmctrl/Wed, 26 Feb 2014 21:03:13 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?comment=3441#comment-3441https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?answer=3578#post-id-3578This is not possible with i3 in the current version, but in the next version we can listen to title change events with the new [i3ipc](https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-glib) library to determine when the tab is opened and then focus the window. This script uses the [JavaScript](https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-gjs) version of the library. You can find the latest version of this script [here](https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-gjs/blob/master/examples/browser-tab-open-focus.js). #!/usr/bin/env gjs /* This example shows how to make i3wm automatically switch to a browser that has opened a new tab by using the new ipc "title change" event. This event will be available in the next released version (after 4.7.2). If you have a webpage open that changes the title without any user interaction (rare, but possible), you may need to do some additional filtering so it does not switch focus unexpectedly. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/ */ const i3ipc = imports.gi.i3ipc; let conn = new i3ipc.Connection; let browser_re = /- Vimperator$|- Firefox$|- Chromium$/ conn.on('window::title', function(conn, e) { if (browser_re.test(e.container.name)) { e.container.command('focus'); } }); conn.main(); Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:54:32 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3434/switch-to-workspace-where-a-link-was-opened-in-firefox/?answer=3578#post-id-3578