Firefox Community Forum

Suddenly I cannot search from the search bar. It defaults to the address bar. why "fix" something that was not broken. Being forced to use the address bar is frustrating. If you go directly to the address bar, it tells you it cannot find that site.

I had to actually sign up fort a Mozilla account,the multiple hoops I had to jump through were ridicules, in order to ask a question of Firefox. I do not want my address bar to be my search engine. How do I disable the search engine in my address bar? And now I have to wait for an answer!!!!!!!! I used to love and trust Firefox. Not anymore.

I'm on Linux.

I've been using this method to setup a custom new tab page for Firefox for almost 4 years, and it has worked great: https://jamesnorth.net/knowledge-base/article/firefox-new-tab-page

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Navigate to /usr/lib/firefox.

Create autoconfig.cfg:

// var {classes:Cc,interfaces:Ci,utils:Cu} = Components;

/* set new tab page */ try {

 Cu.import("resource:///modules/AboutNewTab.jsm");  
 var newTabURL = "file:///home/james/ff/index.html";  
 AboutNewTab.newTabURL = newTabURL;  

} catch(e){Cu.reportError(e);} // report errors in the Browser Console

Create defaults/pref/autoconfig.js:

// pref("general.config.filename", "autoconfig.cfg"); pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0); pref("general.config.sandbox_enabled", false);

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However, upon updating to Firefox 136, I only get a blank page. All of my autoconfig files still exist in /usr/lib/firefox.

When I create a new tab with Ctrl+T, it's a blank page. When I create a new window, it loads the local page I want it to load with the file path in the URL (which it never had before; the URL bar was blank in Firefox 135). So it seems to be partially working.

Any tips?

I opened Firefox this morning and all of my pinned shortcuts have disappeared. Shortcuts are enabled in the settings. I checked the browser.newtabpage.pinned pref on the about:config and all of my pinned shortcuts are still there, but they're not appearing on the actual page itself. Are there any other settings that I'm not aware of?

I am reopening the question from 2020 as the solution described no longer seems to apply. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1284577

I am running Windows 11. Firefox 144.0 (64-bit)

When entering search terms into the search bar in the centre of the page, the information typed appears in the address bar, even after following the fix described in 1284577.

Treating the address bar as the search bar appears to be the default. While the user can additionally deselect the search engine in the address bar, that is an unnecessary and undesired additional step for every search (the primary reason I am using Firefox)

Is there a way to permanently set the default for what I enter into the search bar to remain in the search bar and not to be managed by the address bar? Thanks, Rich

The AccuWeather part of the Firefox homepage says I'm in Portland, Oregon, USA, but I'm not even in the same country. I tried to change it according to the directions I found earlier, but the only drop-down for my city was another city in the US but none in any other countries. So now I can't change my location. How do I change my location? It wasn't like this yesterday and I have no memory as to how it became "Portland, Oregon" since last night. I don't even have a VPN so it isn't that. How do I change it back to my area without using my exact location?

I deleted all the shortcuts from Firefox desktop browser's homepage and now I cannot add them back.

There are no blank shortcut icons on the page anymore. No setting to enable them. Shortcuts are enabled. Page is mostly blank, only has Firefox icon.

I tried to close and open Firefox as well as disabling and enabling the shortcut setting. Adding more rows did not do anything.

Before this issue occurred, I had one shortcut on the page that was linking to localhost. I opened the edit window to the shortcut and pasted the same address and saved changes. After that I removed the shortcut. All of the blank tiles immediately got removed from page and I had no way of adding more shortcuts.

Hi everyone, I'm asking for help following the latest update (Firefox 143.0.1): the corners of the top site preview boxes have changed, as shown in the first screenshot. I was wondering if it's possible to permanently restore them to the same state as in the second screenshot, perhaps via userContent.css.

When I click on the search box in the middle of the New Tab page and start typing, the focus automatically jumps to the Address Bar (Awesomebar). I want the typing to stay within the central search field.

In about:config, I have set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar to false. However, this did not fix the problem — the input is still being redirected to the top address bar.

Previous solution: switch browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar to false does not work anymore.

Please help.

Regards, Victor

Since version 148.0b2 (64-bit), it's once again not possible to enter search terms in the search box of a new tab; instead, the browser searches in the address bar. I've had all the settings I found in the forums configured correctly for over five years, and they haven't changed. - browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar = False. Despite this, the search still occurs in the address bar. Now I'm back to the awful search in the address bar. How can I fix this? Please fix this bug as soon as possible.

Original: Set der Version 148.0b2 (64-Bit) ist es wieder nicht möglich die Suche im neuen Tap, im Suchfenster einzugeben, sonder es wird wieder im Adressfeld gesucht. Ich habe alle Einstellungen, die ich in den Foren gefunden habe schon über 5 Jahre so eingestelle, sie sind auch nicht geändert. - browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar = False. Trotzdem wird die Suche im Adressfeld geführt.

Jetzt geht es aber wieder mit der Schrecklichen suchen in der Adresszeile los. Wie kann ich dies ändern? Bitte diesen Fehler (Bug) schnellst möglich beheben.

Why isn't there a simple means to remove/prevent searches for the address bar, using config doesn't work.

I've used Firefox for over twenty years, this annoyance will end that and force a move to Brave.

bold text how to stop address bar search. its very wrong you have a fake search bar in the screen i want to search from a search bar not the address bar

I have left Shortcuts toggled on, since I want to see the 18 shortcuts that I have manually pinned. Fine so far.

I have unchecked Sponsored Shortcuts, but I still am seeing sponsored shortcuts added to my dashboard whenever I open a new article. What am I doing wrong?

I have change my home page to DuckDuckGo, but when I click on a new tab, "+" I get Firefox. I tried blank and it is indeed blank, so how do I set new tab so it opens DuckDuckGo? (Read all help articles.)

Good morning One and All Why is the 'customise' facility, bottom right of tab, not available if the tab is blank? I have downloaded a personal photograph as my background but it is ruined by the Google search bar and the Firefox logo above it. Why can't these 2 items be moved either to the side, below or above?