Drag link to open new tab

[jeremymbwilson]

jeremymbwilson last edited by

I'm just coming back to Opera from Vivaldi and the one thing that I am missing is the ability to drag a link a short distance in any direction and have it open in a new tab. I know that if I turn on Mouse Gestures, I can do this with the right mouse button, but after years of being able to do this with the left mouse button, changing to the right button is proving a bit of a struggle.

I have tried a number of Opera and Chrome extensions (V7, Dragit, CRX Mouse Gestures and many more), but none of the seem to work. All it seems to do when I left click on the link and drag it to the right it just highlights the text. If I click on the link and drag it up or down it gives me that "invalid" symbol.

Has anyone actually been able to get this to work in Opera without having to use the right mouse button ?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions !

[LindenColl]

LindenColl @jeremymbwilson last edited by LindenColl

@jeremymbwilson
I searched for ages for a solution - chrome drag addons don't work.
Best I came up with was to find a script to remap the Caps Lock key (which I find a nuisance and don't use) to Right Click with Autohotkey - after all the key is on the left and is easier to use than right click (on a touchpad notebook at least)
Then hold the remapped Caps key and drag the link quickly down and up as usual

Here's the script - paste it into a text editor, save and name it as you like with .ahk as the extension:

SetCapsLockState ,AlwaysOff ;so you arn't stuck SHOUTING

*CapsLock:: ;*so it works with modifiers

Send {Blind}{RButton Down} ;blind so the Modifiers affect the sent keys

KeyWait Capslock ;wait for the release of capslock

Send {Blind}{RButton Up}

Return

Ahk is simple to install and uses neglible resources - create shortcut to the file you created in startup

Caveat - see my previous post on random windows opening when typing in form fields - it is possible that some ahk scripts can interfere with Opera (unconfirmed as yet) if so just remove from startup - but I don't think this particular script will

[jeremymbwilson]

jeremymbwilson @LindenColl last edited by

@lindencoll Thanks so much ! I use AHK quite a lot and hadn't thought about this type of solution.

I will get on to this right away !

Many thanks.

[alobpreis]

alobpreis @jeremymbwilson last edited by

@jeremymbwilson said in Drag link to open new tab:

the ability to drag a link a short distance in any direction and have it open in a new tab

Why not just middle click (typically mouse wheel), or Ctrl-left click?

[LindenColl]

LindenColl @alobpreis last edited by

@alobpreis
There's something much more satistying about dragging.

First thing I do when trying out any browser is install an addon for it - also so many drag options.

Opera is really missing out here.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by

I can drag links to create a new tab here.

[alobpreis]

alobpreis @leocg last edited by alobpreis

@leocg How? If I try to, it just selects the text, like @jeremymbwilson explained.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer @alobpreis last edited by

@alobpreis You have to drag vertically instead of horizontally. Horizontal dragging is for selecting text of the link.

[alobpreis]

alobpreis @burnout426 last edited by alobpreis

@burnout426 Oh, I see. Although you need to drag it to the end of your tabs, or carefully in the middle of two. If you drop it over an existing tab, it will load there. I think I still prefer middle click or Ctrl+click.

[orzen]

orzen @alobpreis last edited by

@alobpreis is there a way to not have to drag it to the middle of each tab or at the end? like to just put it in the middle? cuz on chrome i can do it that way but not on opera, and a few days ago i could do it on opera aswell but then i updated it and now i cant

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer @orzen last edited by

@orzen regular Opera or Opera GX? What version do you have at the URL opera://about.

What version did it work as you expected? Try test standalone installations of older versions to see.