Firefox Community Forum

I set the about:config settings when I got the new computer early last year. It's been working fine. Suddenly, searches are popping up again to the urlbar.

browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar is still set to false. Keyword.enabled is still set to false.

I see a couple of site references to browser.fixup.alternate.enabled, but it doesn't exist.

How do I get FF back to proper search in the search bar?

Since update yesterday, new tab is empty. Whatever I do, open new tab, open new window, go to `about:newtab` manually, it does not load anything. The view is totally blank. I can navigate to other pages fine as it should though. Only New Tab view is broken. Diagnostic mode does not work. I don't have plugins that would affect New Tab anyways.

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

Since dawn of times I'm using Firefox with a search box in the center of my Home page for new tabs and windows. It is the most important tool in my life as a web content manager. A few years ago my searches suddenly started to jump to the URL bar as soon as I started typing. An URL bar is - as the says - for URL's and it sits way at the top of my 27" and 32" screens, where my focus is not.

Luckily, this forum saved me with the about:config setting browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar > false to save my life.

A few months ago this was broken by 148.something. After about a month in hell that was repaired with a dot release. And now (151.0.3, Windows 11) it's broken again:

In normal mode it still works as expected, but the search box is not in the center anymore, it has been moved up to about 300 px from the top. Fixed, independent from window size !?! If you make the window small it moves out sight eventually.

In Private Windows it is still in the center vertically, but browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar > false does not seem to work there. As soon as I start typing it jumps to the address bar.

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

Please help.

Regards, Victor

I love you Firefox but what gives you the right to change/mess with my settings on my home page and make it difficult for non technical user to change back to preferred look???????? Why do you do it?

After upgrading to 149.0.2 (64-bit), when starting FF or opening an new tab, the preferred URL is not loaded. It is configured in Settings/Home/New Windows and Tabs All previuos FF versions were OK with the same URl (https://search.yahoo.com/web/advanced)

All of a sudden (after a recent update I suppose) every time I start to type anything in the "search" in the middle of my "home" screen, the curser jumps to the address space in the toolbar. I hate that! I want to continue to use search in the middle of the screen as I have for years since I started using browsers. I've tried looking at the setting for "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar" and it is set to "false" as was recommended in another post some years ago. What do I have to do to revert back to the way it was before this change was forced on me?

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.

Hello. i noticed that my shortcuts are missing. i went to settings to check if it's enabled (check mark) and it is in fact enabled. tried to reset my computer and the shortcuts are still not there. on the main firefox page there is actually no shortcut icons on there...at all. all of the options in settings work with the exception (of course) the shortcuts. i would like to know why this is happening...thx

On the new tab page I have set for 4 rows of shortcuts. In the fourth row I have 3 open spaces for tiles/shortcuts. There is no way to add the tiles whereas there was previously a tile that would show that said "+add shortcut". Given I have room in the row to add 3 shortcuts, how do I add tiles to allow for added shortcuts?

Hello,

I have a situation - which I had previously researched and resolved - that has come back to haunt me.

I use an ultra-widescreen monitor and searching/browsing obviously necessitates a center-screen search box which, up until now, Firefox has provided cleanly and with simplicity. However, I see that (once again) despite cursor placement in the center-screen box the search text is being entered in the address bar which is wholly impractical for me since I have to look about 60 degrees left and upwards to see what I am typing.

I say "again" because when this happened previously I was able to make a config change and resolve it but despite that still being in effect - the ".handoffToAwesomebar" is still set to FALSE - search text now has moved back to the address bar.

A brief search of this community yielded no answers. Is there any other known fix or has this now be thrust upon us permanently and thou shalt adapt?

Thanks in advance....

Since new update the firefox logo is appearing on my home page and new tab pages, how do I remove it? I changed the setting to false and it still does not go away.

I have selected the 4 rows for shortcuts on my tab and have installed all but the last 3 spaces in the end of the 4th row. There's no option whatsoever to continue to add those remaining 3 spaces. Any suggestions?

Сегодня 23.04.2026, я открываю браузер и вижу, что моя строка и ярлыки находятся сверху, а не в центре(1 скриншот). Вчера 22.04.2026 все было хорошо, я покажу на 2 скрине как это должно выглядеть. Хочу заметить что у меня включена функция Handoff и она мне удобна, но мне неприятно видеть блок с ярлыками и строкой не по центру. Я использую тему ffultima, скажу еще раз, вчера все было нормально. Версия фаерфаокса у меня - firefox developer edition

When I logged in this morning my FireFox screen had changed. The window for searches had disappeared and the "pocket" selections were all about India and its events. None of the previous options were there. What happened and how do I get back to where things were?

Robert Blackstock

Today my goggle searches, are being sent to the address bar, and have the google tag in front of them, I cannot use any of the other search engines that drop down from the upper search bar, so just google, and that is really hijacking my search.

Hello,

On the Firefox home page, there are shortcuts. I have pinned some of these shortcuts. When I click on a shortcut, it opens in the current tab. I would like to have the shortcut I click, open in a new tab, without having to Ctrl+click Is this possible?

Below I have attached two images, what it currently looks like, and an approximation of what it used to look like. Since the last update, the logo has been far lower down, and the shortcuts spaced out more (I believe.) It feels rather uncomfortable and difficult for everything to be on the lower half of the screen, whilst the tabs and bookmarks are on the top half of the screen. Is there a way to revert this change?