Is there a way to save/backup the search engines?
Is there a way to save/backup the search engines I collect (used in the far-left search bar) like I do bookmarks so I can restore them when I reset or reinstall the browser?
Chosen solution
It's not as convenient as bookmarks... If you have a backup program/service backing up your Firefox profile folder, your search engine plugins are in there. More specifically you can find them as follows:
Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.
Find the folder searchplugins and copy its contents to a safe place every so often.
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Chosen Solution
It's not as convenient as bookmarks... If you have a backup program/service backing up your Firefox profile folder, your search engine plugins are in there. More specifically you can find them as follows:
Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.
Find the folder searchplugins and copy its contents to a safe place every so often.
These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox
FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backup of files that you choose.
OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences
Separate Issue; Your System Details shows;
Installed Plug-ins
Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape 10.1.16
Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape 15.9.20069
Having more than one version of a program may cause issues.
You must remove the older programs. Then get the current full installer.
Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape: Adobe Reader Version 2015.009.20069 Note: McAfee Security is offered in the download.
All great suggestions, thank you. The second half of jscher2000's response worked best for me. I found the folder and saved it to my Documents. I had considered an Add-on as FredMcD suggested, but am trying to keep my Add-ons to a minimum. Nevertheless, they're both great suggestions and I think a lot of people would find this information useful.
Thank you.
Note that you may have to delete the search.json file and possible search-metadata.json and search.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder to reset the database file that stores search engines.
Firefox will rebuild the search.json file from the default built-in search engines that come with Firefox and the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder.
Feature request:
It would be nice if the search engine settings would propagate between browser installations on different computers as transparently as the add-ons do through account sync.
Hi lflier, you can submit feature requests on the following page (click the sad face):
Awesome! Thank you.
Bug 444284 - Sync search plugins
Wow! Just checked this out. I wish I were a coder.
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=444284
Thanks for pointing this out.