2015252 - Add 'reverse tabs' menu option to the tab context menu for tabs in a Splitview

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser: Split View, enhancement, P2)

Description

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

It would be very useful to have a quick way to flip the two tabs displayed in Split view (A-B to B-A).

Comment 1

[Sarah Clements [:sclements]]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #0)

It would be very useful to have a quick way to flip the two tabs displayed in Split view (A-B to B-A).

Are you finding it not convenient to reverse the tabs via the footer in the inactive panel or urlbar indicator menu options?

Comment 2

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

They're perfectly usable, but I don't think they're discoverable.

I've been using this feature from the beginning, and yet I discovered the menu via Slack, and the address bar icon literally from your message.

Comment 3

[Ania]

Laura, can we please ask you to weigh in whether you think the string should be:
Reverse tabs
OR
Reverse Tabs in Split View (more verbose, but possibly more helpful?)

This option will only appear in context menu of a tab added to the split view. I also attached the screenshot to show how Reverse tabs string would look like.

Comment 4

[Ania]

Attachment: reverse tabs

Comment 5

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Attachment: Bug 2015252 - Add 'Reverse Tabs' option to the tab context menu for split view tabs

Comment 6

[Ania]

Laura, quick flag - we went for Reverse tabs (since it's past string freeze, and we already have that string in Fluent).
We can change it in release 150 if we feel strongly about the longer string being better.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/7c6c195b040f
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/36b6b9f83907
Add 'Reverse Tabs' option to the tab context menu for split view tabs r=tabbrowser-reviewers,fluent-reviewers,dwalker,sthompson,bolsson

Comment 8

[rperta]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/36b6b9f83907

Comment 9

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-beta Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Users will not have a way to reverse split view tabs in the tab context menu
• Code covered by automated testing: yes
• Fix verified in Nightly: no
• Needs manual QE test: yes
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing: Create a split view. Right click one of the split view tabs and confirm you see a new menu option for Reverse Tabs. Clicking the option should swap the order of the tabs in the split view. This new option should only show for split view tabs and will not show if tabs are multiselected.
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: Adding a new split view specific context menu option that is covered by automated tests.
• String changes made/needed: N/A
• Is Android affected?: no

Comment 10

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Attachment: Bug 2015252 - Add 'Reverse Tabs' option to the tab context menu for split view tabs

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D285527

Comment 11

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

(In reply to Phabricator Automation from comment #9)

• String changes made/needed: N/A

The patch is adding a string to browser/locales/en-US/browser/tabbrowser.ftl
I believe you need l10n-drivers approval, flod, is that OK to uplift?

Comment 12

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

I'm redirecting to Bryan, but also confused by this comment from Ania

Laura, quick flag - we went for Reverse tabs (since it's past string freeze, and we already have that string in Fluent).

I understood that 149 was going to use an existing string?
https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/source/browser/locales/en-US/browser/tabbrowser.ftl#460-461

Comment 13

[Bryan Olsson [:bolsson]]

The string tab-context-reverse-split-view just landed in tree at the end of the day yesterday which leaves 2 weeks for localizations. There's a greater risk that this string would appear in English for some locales. Instead of uplifting this string, could we temporarily reference the existing string split-view-menuitem-reverse-tabs for 149 instead?

Comment 14

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

The reason I didn't use the existing string was because there is no access key defined for it. I would add an access key to the existing string, but that would add an access key to that option in existing menus where it didn't exist previously. Ex: The split view popup menu from the Urlbar and split view footer.

I'm reaching out to :asafko on which route we should go here:
Sounds like we can do one of the following:

• Uplift with the existing string but it will have no access key in the tab context menu
• Uplift with the existing string and add an access key which will add an access key to other existing menus unexpectedly
• Not uplift this and let it ride the train for 150

Comment 15

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Update: Ania would like us to go with the existing string with no access key for the uplift. Working on a new patch for that now.

Comment 16

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Attachment: Bug 2015252 - Use existing 'Reverse Tabs' string for new tab context menu option

Comment 17

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Attachment: Bug 2015252 - Use existing 'Reverse Tabs' string for new tab context menu option

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D286073

Comment 18

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/230e8b941caf
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/ba88f2c34305
Use existing 'Reverse Tabs' string for new tab context menu option r=fluent-reviewers,bolsson

Comment 19

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

(In reply to Pulsebot from comment #18)

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/230e8b941caf
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/ba88f2c34305
Use existing 'Reverse Tabs' string for new tab context menu option
r=fluent-reviewers,bolsson

Why did we land this on main? Isn't this just a temporary fix for beta and 149?

Comment 20

[Alexandru Trif, Desktop Test Engineering [:atrif]]

Hello! I have verified with Firefox 150.0a1 (2026-03-05) on Windows 11, macOS 26, and Ubuntu 24 that the Reverse tabs context menu option is displayed and works as expected for both views in horizontal and vertical tabs. The Revese tabs context menu option is not displayed when other tab and Split View are selected.
However, I have two questions:

1. I see that pressing the R keyboard key on Windows/ Linux when the context menu is open no longer reloads the tab as before. It cycles between the Reverse Tabs option and the Reload Tab.
2. The Reverse tabs context menu option is not displayed when both views are selected.

Are the above expected? Thank you!

Comment 21

[Silaghi Andreea]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/ba88f2c34305

Comment 22

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

A patch has been attached on this bug, which was already closed. Filing a separate bug will ensure better tracking. If this was not by mistake and further action is needed, please alert the appropriate party. (Or: if the patch doesn't change behavior -- e.g. landing a test case, or fixing a typo -- then feel free to disregard this message)

Comment 23

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #19)

(In reply to Pulsebot from comment #18)

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/230e8b941caf
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/ba88f2c34305
Use existing 'Reverse Tabs' string for new tab context menu option
r=fluent-reviewers,bolsson

Why did we land this on main? Isn't this just a temporary fix for beta and 149?

I was asked to write a follow-up bug to switch back to the other string: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2021063

If it's easier, we can backout the change to main and only uplift the change for beta, but I wasn't sure how to uplift something I hadn't also done for main.

Comment 24

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

(In reply to Alexandru Trif, Desktop Test Engineering [:atrif] from comment #20)

Hello! I have verified with Firefox 150.0a1 (2026-03-05) on Windows 11, macOS 26, and Ubuntu 24 that the Reverse tabs context menu option is displayed and works as expected for both views in horizontal and vertical tabs. The Revese tabs context menu option is not displayed when other tab and Split View are selected.
However, I have two questions:

1. I see that pressing the R keyboard key on Windows/ Linux when the context menu is open no longer reloads the tab as before. It cycles between the Reverse Tabs option and the Reload Tab.

We are now using the existing string for this that does not include an access key: https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/source/browser/locales/en-US/browser/tabbrowser.ftl#464
In bug 2021063, we will switch back to using the string with the access key: https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/source/browser/locales/en-US/browser/tabbrowser.ftl#453

2. The Reverse tabs context menu option is not displayed when both views are selected.

We decided that the 'Reverse Tabs' option will not show when multiselection is being used regardless of if both tabs are in a split view. We wanted to avoid a scenario where a user selects multiple tabs across multiple split views and tries to reverse all the tabs. It will only show when you right click one split view tab.

Comment 25

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Not sure what the question for the NI is? I don't have a problem with landing and then fixing, but I'd be surprised if you can't land a patch directly to beta via RelMan (it's definitely possible for ESR).

We are now using the existing string for this that does not include an access key: https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/source/browser/locales/en-US/browser/tabbrowser.ftl#464
In bug 2021063, we will switch back to using the string with the access key: https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/source/browser/locales/en-US/browser/tabbrowser.ftl#453

Pretty sure the issue is with the new string, not with the one in Beta (that doesn't have an accesskey). So, you might have to pick another accesskey in the followup.

Comment 26

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #25)

Not sure what the question for the NI is? I don't have a problem with landing and then fixing, but I'd be surprised if you can't land a patch directly to beta via RelMan (it's definitely possible for ESR).

Yes, no problem landing a patch directly to beta to address a release-specific issue.

Comment 27

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

Kelly, your patches do not apply cleanly to the beta branch, could you rebase them please? Thanks

Comment 28

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/1f917839dba5
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/46f87a558ca1
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/80ac2792aa0a
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/a8a0acf1e864

Comment 29

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Rebased

Comment 30

[Alexandru Trif, Desktop Test Engineering [:atrif]]

Confirming that the Reverse tabs context menu option is present in Firefox 149.0b5 (20260305221805) for a Split View when no multiselection is used. Also, the R key is not assigned for the Reverse Tabs. Unfortunately, I discovered bug 2021527 when testing this.

Comment 31

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Given the discovery of bug 2021527, we'd like to back out this stack of patches from 149 beta and just have it ride the trains to 150.

Comment 32

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/64aad8e56284
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/aca20b0dfc05
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/35178287721c
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/c3124e9df614

Comment 33

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

Reverted. Tracking for a potential uplift in our planned dot release.

Comment 34

[Dianna Smith [:diannaS]]

:kcochrane did you want to include this in the 150 release notes? Please nominate if so.

Comment 35

[Ania]

I added a note to release notes here.
It's a joint note with another bug, sharing the text here just in case:
_Split View just got better: right-click any link and choose Open Link in Split View to open it alongside your current tab. You can also quickly reverse tab positions using the new Reverse Tabs option in the tab context menu.
_