The Search bar is found to the right of the address bar. It lets you use the most popular search engines without having to visit their websites.

• To search, just type a term in the Search bar, press EnterReturn and Firefox will take you to the search results page.

Switching search engines

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

Included search engines

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

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 down arrow next to the search engine icon and select Manage Search Engines....

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.

   

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".

   

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.

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

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.

• For more information, see Use popular search suggestions in the Firefox Search bar.

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.