The old search feature is now gone from Firefox completely. That browser.search.showOneOffButtons preference was only a temporary "fix" or reversion. Overall, we're lucky it lasted as long as it did.

To my knowledge - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ - is the only extension currently available which restores it. CTR Options > General UI (1) -> Old search (experimental)

I am hoping other extensions becomes available soon that has only that feature.

edit - added info about the CTR option for that feature

Oh, I expect that the entire Search Bar will disappear next year - for searches from the URL Bar / Location Bar.

the-edmeister said

Oh, I expect that the entire Search Bar will disappear next year - for searches from the URL Bar / Location Bar.

Thank you for the suggestions. Sadly the theme did not work. I guess with URL Bar search, I'd might as well use another browser ...

You can change the default from the search bar using the keyboard. While the cursor is in the search bar, use Ctrl+Down Arrow to cycle forward through the plugins, and Ctrl+Up Arrow to cycle backwards through them. You'll see the change just below the box.

Weirdly the ones you excluded from the one-click section are also included, so dragging the least useful to the bottom of the list will maximize your efficiency in making changes.

Hmm, sorry, Ctrl is for Windows. On Mac, try Command with the arrows.

You can bypass the search bar using this;

Context Search {web link} Expands the context menu's 'Search for' item into a list of installed search engines, allowing you to choose the engine you want to use for each search.

Thanks for all suggestions - I failed to use the Classic Theme editor correctly, which helped restore the old search bar. I hope Firefox developers will restore it. It may be old, but that does not make it ineffective.

(Please see my other answer to this question. I can't work out how to delete the post. OK for a moderator to delete this post.)

I agree that the new search bar has a counter-intuitive workflow.

I have just opened [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../1109629|a discussion thread on this issue]] a discussion thread on this issue, and I welcome other users' comments and opinions.

In this thread I complain that Firefox spent a decade habituating me into a certain workflow of searching the web, and now it is forcing me to break this naturalised workflow.

Here is a recently released extension that recreates the old search bar. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/old-search1/ Very good rendition of the Search Bar scheme [IMO] that was in Firefox for many years. It uses the "new" Manage Search Engines ... tab rather than a free-standing small window as before, and the only thing that isn't apparent is how to move a search engine up or down to move it out of 'alpha-sort' order; "click'n'drag" the search engine to where you want it. The old small window had Move Up and Move Down buttons. The Edit Keyword button is gone; but you can double-click under the Keyword field to open a hidden "edit" field to add / edit Search Keywords