Search with the Firefox address bar

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 33060
  • Created:
  • Creator: ideato
  • Comment: Adding specific Search Engine Plugin from Mycroft Project
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: mluna
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: mluna
Revision Source
Revision Content

The Search Bar is the text bar found in the top right corner of the Firefox window. Using Firefox's Search bar, you can use the most popular search engines without having to visit their websites. When you enter a term in the Search bar, the indicated search engine is queried, and the search results are displayed in Firefox. In the Navigation toolbar, the Search bar is displayed in the far right corner.

Search Bar - Win1 Search Bar - Mac1 Search Bar - Lin1

  • To use the search engine indicated in the Search bar, enter a term in the space provided, and press EnterReturn. The search results are displayed.

Moving or removing the Search bar

The Search bar can be moved or removed by customizing the toolbar.

You can increase or decrease the size of the Search bar, by placing the pointer to the left of the Search bar, until the pointer turns into a two-ended arrow. Click and drag the two-ended arrow to the left or right to increase or decrease the size of the Search bar.

Search Bar - Win2Search Bar - Lin2

Included search engines

By default, Firefox includes the following search engines, each one suited to a specific type of search:

  • Google for searching the web via Google
  • Yahoo for searching the web via Yahoo
  • Bing for searching the web via Bing
  • Amazon.com for searching the Amazon.com retail website
  • eBay for looking up items for sale or auction at eBay
  • Wikipedia (en) for searching the English Wikipedia free online encyclopedia
  • Google for searching the web via Google
  • Yahoo for searching the web via Yahoo
  • Bing for searching the web via Bing
  • Amazon.com for searching the Amazon.com retail website
  • eBay for looking up items for sale or auction at eBay
  • Twitter for searching people on Twitter
  • Wikipedia (en) for searching the English Wikipedia free online encyclopedia
  • Google for searching the web via Google
    Note: The default Google search is encrypted to prevent eavesdropping.
  • Yahoo for searching the web via Yahoo
  • Bing for searching the web via Bing
  • Amazon.com for searching the Amazon.com retail website
  • eBay for looking up items for sale or auction at eBay
  • Twitter for searching people on Twitter
  • Wikipedia (en) for searching the English Wikipedia free online encyclopedia

Switching search engines

The name of the active search engine is listed in the Search bar and is identified by the small icon. In the following example, the active search engine is Google. To change the active search engine, click the down arrow next to the search engine's icon, and select a new search engine.

Search Bar - Win3 Fx8Search Bar - Lin3Search Bar - Win3

Managing search engines

Through the Search Engines Manager, you can download and install additional search engines for Firefox. You may find that you need additional search engines to look for specific types of content, such as encyclopedia articles, recipes, or song lyrics.

  • To open the Search Engines Manager, click the search engine icon and select Manage Search Engines....
Search Bar - Win4 Fx8Search Bar - Lin4Search Bar - Win4

Adding search engines

Through the Search Engines Manager

In the Search Engines Manager, you can add new search engines that have been released for use with Firefox.

  1. To open the Search Engines Manager, click the search engine icon and select Manage Search Engines....
  2. To add a search engine, click Get more search engines.... The Mozilla Add-ons Search Tools page is displayed.
  3. To add one of the displayed search engines, click the Add to Firefox button. The Add Search Engine dialog is displayed.
    Search Bar - Win5Search Bar - Lin5
  4. To begin using the search engine immediately after you add it, click Start using it right away.
  5. To add the selected search engine, click Add.
  6. The search engine is now available through the search engines list in the Search bar.

While visiting a website

Some websites offer search engines that you can add to Firefox. These search engines are specific to the website.

  1. For example, when you visit the YouTube website, the website offers a search engine that can be installed in Firefox.
  2. To add the site-specific engine, open the search engine list and select Add "YouTube Video Search".
    Search Bar - Win6 Fx8Search Bar - Lin6Search Bar - Win6
  3. The search engine appears in the search engines list.

Removing a search engine

  1. Click the search engine icon and select Manage Search Engines..., to open the Search Engines Manager.
  2. To remove a search engine, select it from the list, and click Remove.

If you accidentally delete a default search engine, click Restore Defaults to recover the default search engines.

  • If you accidentally delete a search engine that you installed, you must re-install it.

Re-ordering search engines

  1. Click the search engine icon and select Manage Search Engines..., to open the Search Engines Manager.
  2. In the Search Engines Manager, select the search engine you want to move. To move it up in the list, click Move Up. To move it down, click Move Down.

Adding specific Search Engine Plugin

  • Adding a specific search engine plugin for your country or for your language, for popular domain like Google or Yahoo! (searching only in google.ca or searching only in google.ch or google.fr or ca.yahoo.com etc)
  • Browse the categories for specific plugins like Arts & Media plugins, Business plugins, Computer, Dictionaries, Education, Libraries, Shopping and much much more.

For more information, see Mycroft Project

Keywords

Keywords are an easy way to search specific websites directly from the Firefox Location bar, instead of using the Search bar. For instance, you could assign a keyword such as ebay to the ebay search engine, then type ebay lamps, that will search ebay for lamps. For more information, see How to search IMDB, Wikipedia and more from the address bar.

In the Search Engines Manager, you can assign keywords to search engines in your search bar.

  1. Click the search engine icon and select Manage Search Engines..., to open the Search Engines Manager.
  2. In the Search Engines Manager, select the search engine you would like to assign a keyword to.
  3. Click Edit Keyword....
  4. In the Edit Keyword window, type the keyword you would like to use for that search engine, and click OK.

The Search Engines list has a "keyword" column, where you can see the keyword for each search engine in the list.

Search suggestions

If needed, you can allow Firefox to prompt you with search suggestions. When search suggestions are enabled, as you type in the Search bar, Firefox presents a list of suggested matches based on the letters that you have typed so far. Instead of typing the remainder of the search string, you can scroll the list to find the search suggestion for which you wish to search.