Search with the Firefox address bar

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  • Creator: AliceWyman
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  • Reviewed by: AliceWyman
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The address bar makes it easier for you to find what you’re looking for. Enter search terms, or a specific web address, to get search suggestions, your top sites, bookmarks, history and search engines — all within the same field.

Fx75AddressBar

You can also update Firefox or fix performance issues right from the search results. On occasion, you may see a tip from Firefox on how you can save time while searching.

Keep reading to learn more about the address bar’s powerful features.

Access top sites from the address bar

You can access your top sites when you click the address bar. “Top sites” are a combination of your most recently and frequently visited sites, as well as the sites you’ve pinned. If you’ve installed Firefox for the first time, it suggests top-ranked sites by default.

Fx75TopSitesDropdown

Top Sites appear in the same order as in your New Tab page. To change your Top Sites, customize them on your New Tab page. If you’ve turned off Top Sites in your settings, the address bar will show sites from your history as top sites.

Tip: Clicking on a search top site like Google or Amazon will autofill the address bar with a shortcut (example: @amazon) so you can perform your search without having to load the search page. Just continue entering your terms to perform your search (Example: @amazon “adventure books”). Fx75SearchTopSite

Search shortcuts

When you open the New Tab page, tiles with a magnifying glass icon in the Top Sites section are search engine shortcuts. Click on a search shortcut tile and start typing in your search. Firefox will automatically put your search shortcut into the address bar.

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To remove a search shortcut, simply position your mouse over the tile, click on its three-dots icon and select Unpin from the menu. To add a search engine shortcut, position your mouse over your Top Sites section, click on its three dots on the right side and select Add search engine. See this Mozilla Blog post to learn more about search shortcuts.

Note: You can also assign search shortcut keywords to other search engines. See Assign shortcuts to search engines.

Search suggestions

Firefox suggests relevant search terms and even solutions related to the answer or task you may be looking for. Here are some examples of search suggestions.

Keyword suggestions

When you start typing in the address bar, Firefox suggests relevant popular searches as provided by search engines like Google, Bing, etc. When search suggestions are enabled, the text you type is sent to the search engine, which analyzes the words and displays a list of related searches. FxKeywordSuggestions

To learn more about search suggestions or to change your settings, see Search suggestions in Firefox.

Firefox Solution buttons

Firefox lets you get solutions to popular tasks, like downloading, updating, or fixing Firefox. When you start typing a task, Firefox will suggest a solution so you can fix the problem and get back to the things that are important to you.

Example: Entering “Download Firefox” when you already have Firefox installed.

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This feature is currently only available in English.

Autocomplete

As you type a web address or search term, the address bar autocomplete feature automatically finishes what you’re typing based on matching websites in your bookmarks, history, or popular websites. This lets you visit websites in just a few keystrokes (no mouse needed). Just press EnterReturn when Firefox finds a match.

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For more on autocomplete, see Address bar autocomplete.