Zen doesn't open external links if no browser instances are running

[AdilDevStuff]

What happened?

I m having this issue that when all the instances of zen are closed and when I open any external link, it just opens the browser window with the last tab opened and no link. I have to open the link again to get the correct link working!

Im using flatpak version and this is a video of this bug/issue

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/caeedc2b-5a0f-4ed6-858b-52c869791ba8

Reproducible?

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

Version

1.0.0-a.30

Severity impact

Medium

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Linux

Relevant log output

No response

[mcmerdith]

This issue also occurs for me when opening an external link without the default profile open. As an example I use a different profile for school so when I only have my school profile open and launch an external link it opens my default profile without following the link. Experienced on Windows 11. Ideal experience would be the link opens in the most recently used profile

[diego-velez]

I'm also having this issue, but for me it doesn't open the link that I'm trying to open even if I already have a Zen instance open.

[EzeKoren]

I have the same issue as Diego, where clicking on a link doesn't open it in a running instance at all, and if there are no open Zen instances, the browser doesn't launch when clicking a link. I have a single profile (the default one), and I'm also using the Flatpak version 1.0.0-a.32 (64-bit) on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

[nettum]

Maybe this should be reported as an own issue, but I have a similar issue as @diego-velez and @EzeKoren. When I click an external URL on slack it opens a new instance (but does not load the URL, just opens a new empty tab) even though I already have a running instance open. Seems like both browser windows uses the same profile (default).

> lsb_release -a && /home/marius/Programs/zen/zen --version
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
Release:	22.04
Codename:	jammy
Mozilla Zen 1.0.0-a.39

I downloaded the optimized portable zip from https://zen-browser.app/download

[cl3nn]

+1 :point_up: same problem on Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS.(wayland & Xorg) Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS (Xorg) doesnt have this problem

[JSGRD22]

When I click an external URL on slack it opens a new instance (but does not load the URL, just opens a new empty tab) even though I already have a running instance open. Seems like both browser windows uses the same profile (default).

same problem on deepin 23 with any external link redirect

[nettum]

So, after looking at the latest comments in #1988 and the desktop file in the zen repo, I added %u to the desktop Exec entry: Exec=/home/marius/Programs/zen/zen %u

This solved it for me. For the record I created that desktop file manually as this is not created by zen (at least not when I used the portable zip option to download)

[dosubot[bot]]

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

Issue Summary:

• You reported an issue with the Zen application on Linux where external links do not open correctly if no browser instances are running.
• The issue affects the flatpak version but not Mozilla Firefox.
• Several users, including mcmerdith, diego-velez, EzeKoren, and nettum, reported similar issues on different operating systems.
• Nettum suggested modifying the desktop file's Exec entry to include %u, which resolved the issue for them.

Next Steps:

• Please let us know if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If no further updates are provided, this issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[galaxi-the-son]

@nettum thank you ♥️♥️

[GiovanePS]

@nettum It works!! Thank u 🎉

[razvanbackpack]

@nettum's solution fixed it.

Sorry for necro-ing this, but it still happens. Just ran into it on linux, the only fix was the %u parameter.