No worries at all! It drove me bananas that with every start of UE I had to drag tabs back to the main window. If you do it every day for months and months, that adds up! Thank you so much again! 
You absolute titan, thank you
In Unreal Engine 5.1.1, I can’t find the general category. Searching for settings that have to do with opening new tabs and windows are gone, apparently. I search for the word “tab” and “window” and even “new” but nothing relevant seems to come up.
Took me a bit to figure this out, but here’s how you update the Asset Editor Open Location for UE5.1.1 (and beyond?):
- Click on “Edit” in the title bar.
- Click on “EditorPreferences…” in the drop-down menu.
3/4. Go to “General → Appearance”. - Look for “Asset Editor Open Location” and change your preference.
I hope this helps!
Tried this in Unreal 5.1, and it worked perfectly! GENERAL - APPEARANCE - Search for: Asset Editor Open Location - Choose whichever fits your fancy (I did ‘Last Docked Window or Main Window’)
For some reason in Unreal Engine 5.2 when I opened a Material Instance I was finding that the Material Instance Editor was opening in a docked tab making it impossible to see the viewport as you adjust material settings.
I have spent hour trying to find the preference to change this behavior.
Finding this thread has solved my issue.
I’m Really grateful to those who have posted here.
Editor Preferences
Use the search phrase: open asset
Set the following preference
General Appearance > Asset Editor Open Location: New Window (Default: Default)
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