Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

How do I get the icon back in the left-hand corner of the search box?

  • 4 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by alan_r

more options

I do searches mostly by highlighting words on a page and doing a right-click . About a year ago, Firefox "streamlined" the search box so you couldn't see the icon of the search engine anymore. If you highlighted & right-clicked and found you had the wrong search engine, you'd have to go up to the box to change it... whereupon the search engine would do a search for whatever was in the box, not the highlighted words you actually want to search for. VERY FRUSTRATING.

There was a fix that worked for a year: you went into about:config and toggle browser.search.showOneOffButtons to "false", and the old search box returned. Last week the search box showed up with a tiny magnifying glass on it instead of the helpful search engine icon, and if you highlight some words to search and realize you have the wrong search engine, changing the search engine causes the new search engine to do a search for what's in the box and NOT what you highlighted. SO ANNOYING.

I tried the old fix and found that browser.search.showOneOffButtons was still set to "false", so what's the new fix to get the search box back to the way it used to be? I want my search box to show the icon of whatever search engine it's set for, and if I change it, I do not want it to do a search for whatever words are in the box -- I want it back the way it used to work.

I do searches mostly by highlighting words on a page and doing a right-click . About a year ago, Firefox "streamlined" the search box so you couldn't see the icon of the search engine anymore. If you highlighted & right-clicked and found you had the wrong search engine, you'd have to go up to the box to change it... whereupon the search engine would do a search for whatever was in the box, not the highlighted words you actually want to search for. VERY FRUSTRATING. There was a fix that worked for a year: you went into about:config and toggle browser.search.showOneOffButtons to "false", and the old search box returned. Last week the search box showed up with a tiny magnifying glass on it instead of the helpful search engine icon, and if you highlight some words to search and realize you have the wrong search engine, changing the search engine causes the new search engine to do a search for what's in the box and NOT what you highlighted. SO ANNOYING. I tried the old fix and found that browser.search.showOneOffButtons was still set to "false", so what's the new fix to get the search box back to the way it used to be? I want my search box to show the icon of whatever search engine it's set for, and if I change it, I do not want it to do a search for whatever words are in the box -- I want it back the way it used to work.

Chosen solution

All the way back in Firefox 34 the new Search Bar appeared, that OneOffButtons was a temporary pref that lasted longer than some of expected it would. Now it is gone, along with the old code that it supported that pref.

See if this User Style - https://userstyles.org/styles/122214/firefox-search-bar-show-engine-names-firefox-43 - would work for you.

This is the only replacement that I am aware of for the old Search Bar. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ has an option for Old search (experimental) in Classic Theme Restorer Options > General UI (1)

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (4)

more options

Chosen Solution

All the way back in Firefox 34 the new Search Bar appeared, that OneOffButtons was a temporary pref that lasted longer than some of expected it would. Now it is gone, along with the old code that it supported that pref.

See if this User Style - https://userstyles.org/styles/122214/firefox-search-bar-show-engine-names-firefox-43 - would work for you.

This is the only replacement that I am aware of for the old Search Bar. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ has an option for Old search (experimental) in Classic Theme Restorer Options > General UI (1)

more options

I take back my previous answer... IT WORKED. I just had to buckle down, stop being so pissed off, and figure out what you were talking about.  ;)

It actually worked and my OCD is all calmed down. All is right with my browser and it's working the way I want it to.

Modified by teenygozer

more options

You can right-click the search engine icon in the drop down to set this engine as the default search engine, so you do not need to go to "Options/Preferences > Search".

You can use the cursor Down key to open the drop-down list and select what search engine to use.

more options

There is another click in this but I use a wide variety of search engines and have found this extension very useful.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/context-search/?src=search