Forum der Gemeinschaft Firefox

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 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.

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?

This has been asked before here, but it seems currently there is no solution:

Firefox's default behavior when using the mouse middle-click on an empty area of the tab bar area will create a new tab; I don't want this behavior. How can I disable it?

On the posts I found here, they mention using UserChrome.css, I enabled it and tried, doesn't work. custom styles are enabled but not disabling this feature.

I use DisplayFusion on my multi-monitor setup since years, and middle-clicking a window title bar or Chrome tab bar or Firefox tab bar will move the current window to a second monitor.

Currently with Firefox, middle-clicking the tab bar will move the window to the second monitor AND open a new tab. I use it a lot with YouTube, so when I move a playing video to the second monitor, I get an empty tab with audio in the background.

I recently moved from Chrome to Firefox, but this is driving me crazy.

My browser has been hacked by searchingswift.com, I've read all the article's I can find on getting rid of it with no luck. I've completely uninstalled everything including the mistake that brought it in (Coverseen miss pick file), but no luck.

Here's what I get after a complete reinstall and deleting any Firefox stuff I can find.

"https://searchingswift.com/?path=firefox/newtab&u=ee6fb4108559ab17&subid=11119&channel=1"

I'm getting ready to do a backup from a month ago, but I'm not sure if this will come back in with my Firefox sign in.

Windows 11 and New Firefox

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

---

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);

---

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

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.

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?

hi

the element i really like / liked about Pocket were the curated stories that firefox publishes on its new tab page.

yes i used the "save to pocket" option but one can easily enough just visit the article and bookmark in the normal way.

NOTE: i think i wasn't appreciating the offline easy-to-read aspect to pocket (because i'd just read the article online and/or save to pocket) but it's too late now!

I've seen articles on multiple websites and reddit about pocket alternatives but people seem to only talk about pocket in terms of the capacity to save-to-read-later, tagging, book marking management, etc.

Btw, i've read the mozilla pocket FAQ support page (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pocket-recommendations-firefox-new-tab). It was updated mid march 2025 (when mozilla surely knew they were shutting down pocket) and ironically it recommends for more articles to visit pocket.

1) this FAQ really needs to be updated to reflect pocket ceasing

2) it could reflect what is happening with the "thought-provoking stories" feature within firefox browser

My questions:

1) will the "thought provoking stories" feature aka curated articles of interest continue in firefox in any capacity after pocket ceases?

i don't know given i believe they're sourced from pocket.

EDIT: i've just discovered about "pocket hits" (or "ten tabs" as reportedly it's being renamed to) email newsletter. I knew nothing about this. Might the content / curated articles replace those from pocket on the new tab page?

2) if not, can people suggest alternatives to pocket's curated articles (i'm less fussed about saving the articles because i've seen many recommendations on that)?

thanks,

Gary

Firefox has shortcuts at the top of any new tab opened. These are usually your most visited pages. For most shortcuts, if you click the three dots you get a menu of: Pin Edit Open in a New Window Open in a New Private Window Dismiss Delete From History

This is the menu you get for almost all shortcuts EXCEPT for Amazon. For the Amazon shortcut you get: Pin Dismiss

That's it. No opportunity to edit it. And if you click on the shortcut, it doesn't take you to Amazon.com, instead it opens "Amazon.com Search" in the address bar. I don't want Search, I want to go to the Amazon home page but the shortcut doesn't take me to the Amazon homepage like it used to. Why is this broken now?

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.)

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.

I noticed recently that my 'Add Shortcut' button has disappeared. I've been through other articles and they were of no help. I have 4 rows selected for shortcuts so theres no reason for it to be gone.

The weather widget is set the country I am from, however I would like to actually use a different location for the weather. Is it possible to do? I tried to type in the city I want it to be set to but it only shows cities from my country.

I have two Mac systems, a 2018 Intel Mac Mini, and an M1 2020 MacBook Pro, both running Sonoma 14.7.6. On the Mac Mini, Firefox opens to the familar "Recommended Stories". On the MacBook Pro Firefox opens to a long list of items I'm not the least bit interested in. How do I get the MacBook Pro back to nothing but the "Recommended Stories"? I don't want/need NHL, NFL, NBA,Television, MLB, Pro Soccer, Education, Food, Health, Parenting, etc., etc., etc.

The weather widget on my FireFox homepage, as well as the information when I type "weather" into the address bar shows me as in Montreal QC, Canada. But I am in New Hampshire, USA. When I try to type a different city name after clicking the 3 dots next to the widget and choosing change location the only cities that come up are Canadian cities.

I am not running any kind of VPN, and when I check my location with an IP lookup it shows me in the correct location, my locale settings in Windows are set the the US as well.

Thanks for any help!