Fix bulk imports adding entries to navigation history

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Note that this project **does not** adhere to [Semantic Versioning](https://semv
 - We fixed an error on startup when using portable preferences. [#14729](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/14729)
 - We fixed an issue when warning for duplicate entries in the "New Entry" dialog. [#14662](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/pull/14662)
 - We fixed the Quality > Automatically set file links button. Now if a file is moved, the button can relink the moved file to the broken linked file. [#9798](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/9798)
+- We fixed an issue where bulk import operations polluted the navigation history, making the Back/Forward buttons navigate through imported entries instead of only user-selected entries. [#13878](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/13878)
 - We fixed an issue where JabRef would not start on Linux ARM due to missing binaries for postgres-embedded [#14783](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/14783)
 - We fixed an issue where JaRef would not correctly remember the opened side panels in the preferences [#14818](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/14818)
 

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/LibraryTab.java

@@ -822,6 +822,25 @@ public void insertEntry(final BibEntry bibEntry) {
         insertEntries(List.of(bibEntry));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Inserts the given entries into the database and updates the UI accordingly.
+     * <p>
+     * For single-entry imports, the entry is selected and optionally opened in the editor
+     * (based on user preferences), which adds it to the navigation history.
+     * </p>
+     * <p>
+     * For bulk imports (multiple entries), all entries remain selected but individual
+     * entry focus is skipped. This prevents pollution of the navigation history with
+     * entries the user never explicitly clicked on.
+     * </p>
+     * <p>
+     * This behavior addresses issue #13878 where bulk imports were creating "ghost"
+     * navigation history entries.
+     * </p>
+     *
+     * @param entries the list of entries to insert; must not be empty
+     * @see <a href="https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/13878">Issue #13878</a>
+     */
     public void insertEntries(final List<BibEntry> entries) {
         if (entries.isEmpty()) {
             return;
@@ -831,10 +850,17 @@ public void insertEntries(final List<BibEntry> entries) {
         getUndoManager().addEdit(new UndoableInsertEntries(bibDatabaseContext.getDatabase(), entries));
         markBaseChanged();
         stateManager.setSelectedEntries(entries);
-        if (preferences.getEntryEditorPreferences().shouldOpenOnNewEntry()) {
-            showAndEdit(entries.getFirst());
-        } else {
-            clearAndSelect(entries.getFirst());
+
+        // Only show/select individual entry for single-entry imports.
+        // For bulk imports (size > 1), we skip the clearAndSelect call.
+        // This prevents navigation history pollution because the listener
+        // only adds to history when entries.size() == 1.
+        if (entries.size() == 1) {
+            if (preferences.getEntryEditorPreferences().shouldOpenOnNewEntry()) {
+                showAndEdit(entries.getFirst());
+            } else {
+                clearAndSelect(entries.getFirst());
+            }
         }
     }