Tab Return Notifier

Description

Tab Return Notifier is a lightweight plugin that helps bring users back to your site when they switch to another browser tab. When a visitor navigates away, the plugin dynamically updates the tab title with attention-grabbing messages and animations.

Key Features:

  • Global notification messages that appear when users switch to another tab
  • Per-post type and taxonomy override options
  • Built-in emoji picker for engaging notifications 🚀
  • Multiple animation styles (rotating and scrolling messages)
  • Customizable animation speed
  • Variable system for dynamic content (site name, current page title, etc.)
  • User-friendly admin interface with live preview

Perfect for e-commerce sites, blogs, and any website that wants to reduce bounce rates and bring users back to their content. Tab Return Notifier is a smart tab title changer that helps turn passive browsing into active engagement. This browser tab notifier uses subtle page title animations to recapture attention when customers switch tabs. Ideal for highlighting limited-time offers, new content, or abandoned carts, it serves as an effective attention grabber across all modern browsers. Suitable for publishers, e-commerce sites, and marketers looking to reduce tab abandonment and increase time-on-site.

For more information about this plugin, please visit the plugin page.

Dynamic variables

The plugin supports dynamic variables that automatically insert relevant content into your messages. These can be used in both the main message and the specific content types message fields.

  • {{document_title}} – Original document title (browser tab title).
  • {{post_title}} – Title of the current post/page.
  • {{site_name}} – Name of your WordPress site.
  • {{cart_items_count}} – Number of items in WooCommerce cart. Requires WooCommerce.
  • {{recently_viewed}} – Title of the recently viewed product. Requires WooCommerce’s “Recently Viewed Products” widget to be active for this functionality. See this page.

Configuration

Configure these plugin-specific settings:

  • Go to: Settings > Tab Return Notifier
  • Set your preferred animation settings
  • Set your preferred messages
  • Optional: set overrides for specific content types

WPML

To translate the messages via WPML:

  1. Save your options first in: Settings > Tab Return Notifier
  2. Then translate the texts in: WPML -> String Translations and search for your messages in the domain ‘tab-return-notifier’

Additional Information

This plugin is fully open source. You can find the source code on GitHub

For more information and other WordPress plugins, visit Wijnberg Developments.

Screenshots

  • This GIF demonstrates the main functionality of the plugin.

Installation

  1. Install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly or Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/tab-return-notifier directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress.
  3. Configure your settings and messages as described in the ‘Configuration’ section.

Reviews

جويي 28, 2025 1 reply
This is a great plugin. It allows you to create multiple massages specific to the page types and taxonomies when the browser tab is inactive. If you are looking for a great tool for creating dynamic content in your inactive tab, this one just works. It is the the cleanest full-featured single-purpose plugin for inactive browser tabs I have found. The developer is very responsive and resolved and issue found within minutes.
Read all 1 review

Contributors & Developers

“Tab Return Notifier” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “Tab Return Notifier” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

1.2.3

  • Improved emoji selection

1.2.2

  • Fixed a bug where the {{post_title}} variable was not correctly handled on taxonomy and archive page

1.2.1

  • Improved check if WooCommerce is active

1.2.0

  • Added documentation link

1.1.0

  • Added settings link
  • Improved favicon preview

1.0.0

  • Initial release