Clicking links can't raise the browser window in gnome 50, only shows ready prompt

Ask Fedora
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1

With focus-new-windows set to smart, launching the browser manually works fine and brings its window to front. However, clicking HTTPS links in other apps only triggers a browser ready notification, requiring an extra click to switch to the browser window.

Screenshot From 2026-05-15 20-05-25
Screenshot From 2026-05-15 20-05-25881Ă—233 33.8 KB

2

My understanding is that the focus-new-windows key in schema org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences only has effect on newly created windows. This means that if the default browser is not open, and you click on a link within an app, the browser will open and:
a) its window will get focus, if value is set to smart
or
b) its window will load behind the app requesting it (so it won’t get focus), if value is set to strict.

This setting doesn’t seem to have effect if the default browser is already open though. I’m on F44 Silverblue (so GNOME 50), and except for Ptyxis, accessing links in any of the other apps I’ve checked (GNOME Software, Geary, Newsflash etc) will result in the page being loaded in Firefox and gaining focus, no matter what value does the focus-new-windows key have.

4

It seems like a browser which is already open can’t get focus from your app that clicks the http/https link, and only when your top-layer app window is hovering on it, the “xxx is ready” prompt pops up.
openLinkFocus720

5

I have found two methods to resolve this issue:

    1. Configure the browser to open external links in a new window. Unfortunately, this option is locked to “last window” in Microsoft Edge:
      Screenshot From 2026-05-16 15-41-12
      Screenshot From 2026-05-16 15-41-121423Ă—223 12 KB

      another way is add --new-window to Exec in file /usr/share/applications/microsoft-edge.desktop[1]:Exec=/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-stable --new-window %U
      ---------------------------------------Below is the final experience---------------------------------------
      newWindowGif
    1. Allow the existing window to regain focus. This approach is rather difficult, as it involves Mutter’s focus stealing prevention mechanism, and there are no available configuration options to disable this restriction.

  1. There may be two identical “.desktop” configuration files differing only in that one carries the “com.” prefix to match the application ID used by XDG desktop portal. They will be recognized as two separate options in default MIME type associations, so it is recommended to modify both. ↩︎