How to Disable the Browser Back Button

Its quite simple to disable the back button functionality of a browser (this was tested on IE and Firefox).

if (window.history) {
window.history.forward(1);
}

This causes every back to return with a forward. Works a treat ;o)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 at 2:55 pmand is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

48 Responses to “How to Disable the Browser Back Button”

  • Mike Knizeski Says:
    July 11th, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    That worked very well. I always thought the back button was a web application’s worst nightmare.

    Thanks!

  • Elison Nayak Says:
    September 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am

    This is still not working with Firefox.

  • savita Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    it is not working in firefox .
    plx if u have any other solution .
    then mail me i will be very thankfull

  • kchocm Says:
    May 15th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    As of 2008/05/15, it still doesn’t work in firefox.

  • Martin Says:
    June 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am

    This works in IE and FireFox :

    function noBack(){ window.history.forward(); }

  • Alex Says:
    July 1st, 2008 at 11:50 am

    Martin,

    I don’t get it. What calls the function noBack ?

  • Martin Says:
    July 18th, 2008 at 11:21 am

    Just insert this in the head section :

    function noBack(){window.history.forward()}
    noBack();
    window.onload=noBack;
    window.onpageshow=function(evt){if(evt.persisted)noBack()}
    window.onunload=function(){void(0)}

    MSIE, Firefox, Safari, Opera

  • Martin Says:
    July 20th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    By the way, it should be reminded that history.forward() method never gets any parameter. It is equivalent to history.go(1).

  • Ra88 Says:
    August 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    An elegant yet simple solution, works in FireFox too. Thank you so much for this.

  • Alex Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 6:57 am

    function noBack(){window.history.forward()}
    noBack();
    window.onload=noBack;
    window.onpageshow=function(evt){if(evt.persisted)noBack()}
    window.onunload=function(){void(0)}

    This code doesn’t work correctly in Safari.

  • Alex Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 7:18 am

    I found here a solution to the “Safari’s Bug”. Just change the code to:

    function noBack(){window.history.forward();setTimeout(“noBack()”, 500);}
    noBack();
    window.onload=noBack;
    window.onpageshow=function(evt){if(evt.persisted)noBack()}
    window.onunload=function(){void(0)}

    The “setTimeout” function fixed my problem.

  • naren Says:
    March 2nd, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    It works fine for me in FireFox but does not work on IE 6.0.2. Can anybody please help

  • Brian Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 4:36 am

    Yes, this works well in IE, Firefox and Opera (not tried Safari)
    Thanks!

  • Ibrahim Says:
    April 10th, 2009 at 9:36 am

    Simple Solution ….. Keep it Up…

  • Deana Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    You are my friggin hero! I’ve been searching for 3 days for a solution in firefox and NOTHING ONLINE WORKED….until I found this post of course. Thanks a million!

  • harel Says:
    June 8th, 2009 at 10:22 am

    :o )
    I also do Weddings and Bar Mitzvas!
    Glad it worked out.

  • ABCD Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 8:08 am

    Joined: Jun 18, 2009
    Messages: 1

    [Post New]posted Today 12:50:23 PM
    Quote Edit [Up]
    Hi,

    I’m using the cache-control method to use page expiration utility in my JSP.
    Its working fine with IE. But, I’m not able to achieve this with Mozilla Firefox.
    I’m setting all the cache-control related attributes to achieve this in my JSP -
    Also,

    I’ve used following piece of code as well:
    function noBack(){window.history.forward()}
    noBack();
    window.onload=noBack;
    window.onpageshow=function(evt){if(evt.persisted)noBack()}
    window.onunload=function(){void(0)}

    But, still, page is not getting expired in Mozilla.
    Can any one of you suggest me any other work around?

  • ajay Says:
    June 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 am

    it is not working in mozilla firefox 3.0.11

  • Martin Says:
    June 24th, 2009 at 11:06 am

    It does work.
    Don’t forget to insert this script in the header of every page :
    function noBack(){window.history.forward()}
    noBack();
    window.onload=noBack;
    window.onpageshow=function(evt){if(evt.persisted)noBack()}
    window.onunload=function(){void(0)}

  • carlos_ulrich Says:
    July 30th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    I try in firefox 3.0.11 and works fine.
    Thanks

  • prihanto Says:
    October 7th, 2009 at 3:54 am

    it is not working in safari 4 and opera 10

  • Rajasekar Says:
    April 14th, 2010 at 6:03 pm

    Included this in a jsp and it works! Thanks !

    function noBack(){
    window.history.forward();
    }
    noBack();
    window.onload=noBack;
    window.onpageshow=function(evt){if(evt.persisted)noBack()}
    window.onunload=function(){void(0)}

  • Shariff Says:
    July 23rd, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    Thanks Martin I was searching for this solution from the last two days thank you so much!!

  • Antony Says:
    December 10th, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    Works fine in mozilla.. Thanks a lot for sharing.

  • vijay Says:
    April 7th, 2011 at 5:17 am

    i try.but it is not working in firefox and IE

  • Amin Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    This is not working, i try to find this thinks to all the website but nobody give me the best or provable replay.
    This is fake in short…

  • harel Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    I dont think I understand what you’re trying to ask here… In what browser is this not working? Who did you ask? What reply you were hoping to get?

  • user Says:
    June 8th, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    don’t you know it is creepy to interfere with a person’s ability to get out of a website, and the result is a loss of business for the website owner. any programmer that would suggest this, or has done it, would be fired from my company at once. you people disgust me. and you don’t get my name or email because you cannot be trusted to act ethically.

  • harel Says:
    June 8th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    :) I’ll assume for argument’s sake that you are not a troll and actually meant that seriously. This is not intended for ‘websites’. Its for internal applications where the back button counters the flow of the application logic. This was a solid requirement in case management systems for social services, for example.
    You did made me chuckle. Thanks :)
    (And assuming you are serious: I’m very happy I don’t have to work for you and wish to send my condolences for those who do).

  • aneeshkumar Says:
    June 11th, 2011 at 4:23 am

    Nice post works great….!!!

  • amit Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 12:11 am

    code run properly but one time page return the privious page

  • Dipul Patel Says:
    August 24th, 2011 at 9:17 am

    It works fine but it requires reference on the page any how.

  • RAJ SINHA Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Thanks for the code…..its working fine with safari 5.1….

  • kirubakaran Says:
    October 20th, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    The above code is very much useful for me before going throw this site i had never used this method it fine and working too

  • Suri Says:
    October 25th, 2011 at 9:15 am

    Thanks it’s working.

  • sandipan Says:
    November 18th, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    Thanx to Martin.Your suggestion works for me effectively.

  • Hana Says:
    November 26th, 2011 at 7:45 am

    It’s working fine in IE8.0, FireFox 8.0, Safari 5.1.1, Google Chrome 15.0.874!
    But is not working Opera 11.50!

  • David Cherry Says:
    December 6th, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    Thanks! I’ll try these suggestions. But many comments on the Internet express such hostility to disabling the back button that I fear for my life. Maybe this can hinder (if not prevent) students from blindly guessing at online homework questions again and again until they get all the right answers. No IT support, no server, and I’m just an amateur.

  • harel Says:
    December 6th, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    If you need to disable the back button and have a good enough reason for it, by all means don’t listen to anyone on the ‘internet’. Its only a problem if its done for the wrong reason or solves a problem that either didn’t exist or can be solved in other ways.

  • prakash Says:
    April 18th, 2012 at 10:53 am

    Hi All,

    I have posted the anser in my blog check it :
    http://moretoc.blogspot.in/2012/04/disabling-back-button-on-browser-using.html

  • subhajit lahiri Says:
    May 23rd, 2012 at 11:45 am

    Thanks for this code.

  • Free Says:
    June 10th, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    thanks. it works.

  • ElDie Says:
    June 26th, 2012 at 12:11 am

    Dude, thank you, you saved my life.

  • ramon Says:
    August 29th, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Hey, could anybody explain me what the ethical problem is? If you don’t like the back button keeping you in the same page, then close your tab or reopen your browser. What is wrong with that?

  • John Says:
    September 22nd, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    It does not work for me since it is trying to obtain a non-cached POST request from the browser history. It trys to go to page and can’t find it before it does the forward. Any suggestions? Thanks

  • jegadeesh Says:
    January 22nd, 2013 at 8:30 am

    This works for me, Thank you Alex

  • Sid Says:
    February 5th, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    Code not working for me in any browser…. Wat could be the problem? someone plz help…. i am using IE 9 browser.

  • Hussain Says:
    March 19th, 2013 at 10:22 am

    hi… it does not work in Opera 12.10!

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