Switching to an essential Tab in another workspace makes it appear in current workspace instead

[niderhoff]

Captchas

• I have read the instructions.
• I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• I am not filing an enhancement request.

What happened?

When switching to an existing essential tab located in another workspace via the address bar, the tab is duplicated into the current workspace and incorrectly added to the essential tab list of the current workspace. After closing the newly duplicated tab, the incorrect entry in the essential tab list persists until the current workspace is switched away from and then returned to.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create 2 Workspaces in Zen Browser (let's call them A and B)
2. Pin two different web pages as Essential Tab to each of those
3. from Workspace A open address Bar, type in the title of the Essential Tab in Workspace B. Select the Existing tab from the results and execute "Switch to Tab" with Enter.
4. the essential Tab will now appear in workspace A.
5. Close the Tab.
6. The tab will remain in Workspace A.
7. Go to workspace B and back to A.
8. Tab is gone.

Expected Result:

Switching to an existing essential tab in another workspace via the address bar should not duplicate the tab into the current workspace, nor should it add the tab to the essential tab list of the current workspace. Instead, it should open the Tab in the other workspace.

Actual Result:

The tab is duplicated into the current workspace and incorrectly added to the essential tab list of the current workspace. Closing the duplicated tab does not remove it from the essential tab list until the workspace is switched away from and then returned to.

Screencast:

2025-02-07.10-05-22.mov

Reproducible?

• I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.

Version

1.7.4.b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

macOS - aarch64

Relevant log output if applicable

[YouCanTouCan]

I can also report having this issue on 1.7.5b, on the Linux portable version.

[soundstep]

OS: MacOS Sonoma 14.7.1
Version: 1.7.6b (Firefox 135.0) (aarch64)

I think I have the same bug even though mine seem to be related to containers. Here is how to reproduce it, please let me know if that feels different I'll open a new bug.

1. Create 2 workspaces
2. Select option "Enable container-specific essentials" (settings > tab management)
3. Set default container of workspace A to container A
4. Set default container of workspace B to container B
5. Create a tab in workspace B, set to container A, right click and select "Add to essential"
6. Switch workspace a few times, the essential tab has been moved to workspace A (essential should NOT move)

Expected:
Essential tab created in workspace B with container A should stay in workspace B

Result:
Switch tab a few times is moving the essential tab back to container A

Very frustrating , this is forcing me to use pinned tabs.

[dosubot]

Hi, @niderhoff. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary

• Bug in Zen Browser: Switching to an essential tab in another workspace via the address bar duplicates the tab in the current workspace.
• Duplication persists until the workspace is switched away from and then returned to.
• Confirmed by @YouCanTouCan on Linux (version 1.7.5b) and @soundstep on MacOS Sonoma 14.7.1 (version 1.7.6b).
• @soundstep provided steps to reproduce and noted issues with container-specific essentials.

Next Steps

• Please confirm if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If there is no further activity, this issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!