1330816 - Support closing synced tabs that are open on other devices

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Sync, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Dan Jacobson]

Users look for delete button within synced tab list.
Users cannot find it and there is no link to get them to the preferences item where they can complete the operation.

They should be able to complete the operation right there.

Comment 1

[Lina Butler [:lina]]

Unfortunately, I suspect this will be a WONTFIX, but I've CCed Ryan for comment.

Enabling tab sync will sync all open tabs; Sync doesn't offer per-tab or per-window controls. Think of synced tabs as a read-only list of all your tabs on all your devices. The way to "delete" a synced tab is to close that tab on the device that currently has it open, or use a private window. This matches how iCloud and Chrome Sync work.

A delete button for synced tabs would be quite tricky to get right. For example, what happens if the first device syncs again, and still has the tab open? What if that tab is closed and reopened; should we still not sync it? Would deleting a synced tab close that tab on the original device? Other devices?

Comment 2

[Dan Jacobson]

OK fair enough but don't just leave the user hunting all over the place
trying to find the delete button. At least have some question mark he
can click on that leads him somewhere...

Comment 3

[Ryan Feeley [:rfeeley]]

Attachment: delete.gif

Believe it or not, iCloud does support this in the customizable toolbar item you can drog into the toolbar. I've asked about it, but apparently it's not feasible given the current Sync infrastructure.

Comment 4

[Ryan Feeley [:rfeeley]]

(drog => drag)

Comment 5

[Stefan Fleiter (:sfleiter)]

This is of course (technically) possible and would be a big advantage

Usecase for me is:
- On the move I read Google+, open some links in Firefox Android / Fennec
- At home I realize many tabs (> 30) are open and I prefer to read on a big screen
- I open "Synced Tabs" and start reading
- Since I do not read Tabs in order I have to use my Smartphone additionally to close the Tabs I read one by one

Comment 7

[Lina Butler [:lina]]

(In reply to Kit Cambridge (he/him) [:kitcambridge] (UTC-7) from comment #1)
> Would deleting a synced tab close that tab on the original device?

Bug 1029308 suggests yes.

Comment 8

[arthaey]

Is it any easier to implement synced tabs as a per-tab editable list now than 3 years ago when this feature request was first opened?

I have the same usecase as @sfleiter — I open links on my phone, then later want to read some on my laptop. To delete them off my phone once they're read, I have to search through the tabs on my phone for each one as I read them. I wish I could just delete them from my phone via my laptop.

Comment 9

[Ryan Kelly [:rfkelly]]

Is it any easier to implement synced tabs as a per-tab editable list now than 3 years ago when this feature request was first opened?

Sadly, no, it is not. (It's not impossible, clearly, but it's not trivial work and would be competing against a lot of other priorities).

I'm adding Ana, who is the new Product Manager for sync-related things, for context on user feedback.

Comment 11

[Lina Butler [:lina]]

Updating the title so that it's a bit easier to find. Sadly, this is still challenging for Complicated Historical Reasons™, but our shared Rust component ought to make it easier to tackle. Bumping for our next triage.