Does toggling TOR on and then off also affect other TOR tabs/windows?

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Just want to check whether what appeared to happen with I toggled TOR on, then off, in a particular tab is expected behavior.

When I did the above in a regular Private window I was glad to find that when I toggled TOR on and then off in that tab, the tab was preserved in the normal Private window it had originally been in.

However, I then became aware that a separate ‘Private window with TOR’ had disappeared.

I wouldn’t have thought that should happen. Why would an action to turn TOR on or off in any particular tab affect the TOR status in any other TOR tab or window?

Replies appreciated.

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@mk7z,
If you toggle Tor windows off (Settings --> Privacy and Security --> Tor), any open Tor windows will be closed. This is expected behavior.

Tor windows are not individually contained and changing browser settings, including Tor settings, changes those settings for all open windows within that browser profile.

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@mattches Right, I know that stuff but I was referring to toggling the TOR button in the URL line – to “Go onion!” iow – not anything in Settings

This was in a Private window, not a Private TOR window. So does toggling an individual tab to make it ‘TOR’ and then toggling it again to exit TOR status for that tab have repercussions for other tabs or windows – in the particular case I wrote about, an entire TOR window that disappeared (not the window I was in at the time) when I did that?

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@mk7z,
Not sure I understand what you’re describing. If you’re referring to this here:

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Clicking this on a site will simply open a new Tor window and is not something that is toggled “on”.

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Thanks, it looks like I misunderstood what happened. I thought clicking on the TOR button converted the current tab to a TOR tab.

Is it just intended as another way to open a new TOR window – i.e., in addition to doing it by opening a New Private Window with TOR from the File dropdown or via the opt-cmd-n kb shortcut?

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Yes, it is another way to open it and also informs the user that the site that they’re on has an associated .onion address.

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@mattches Thanks, though what I find happens is that clicking on the TOR button opens the same webpage (with the added onion routing) while leaving the original tab open.

IOW, it doesn’t seem to be a general option to open a new TOR tab/window but to ‘convert’ the current tab to a ‘Private TOR’ tab without removing the original.

If one is opting to open a current tab as a TOR tab, wouldn’t it be expected that the current tab (the one without TOR) would close rather than remain open?

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No, it would not. Even the icon next to it is the same icon used to denote “launch this is in a new [tab,window,place]”:
image

You can find this icon on all sorts of pages on the internet and they all do the same thing. This is the intended and expected behavior.

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> the intended and expected behavior

@mattches I would have thought it would mean “relaunch this [the current] tab as a TOR tab”.

What purpose does it serve to have the same webpage open in a regular browser tab and in a TOR tab?

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You wouldn’t.
It’s literally just a reminder that the site you’re viewing has a usable .onion address associated with it. You click it to open it in Tor window and then move on with your browsing. From there you can close the site in the standard window or navigate away or close the window or do whatever you want.

It truly has no effect on anything.

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