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

why does typing in the main search bar only populate letters in the top navigation bar?

more options

tried many variations, it does not go away. I want the letters to appear in the window I type them in!

tried many variations, it does not go away. I want the letters to appear in the window I type them in!

Chosen solution

Hi, if you mean the search bar below the Firefox logo in the built-in Firefox Home / new tab page, there is a preference to control whether Firefox moves your input to the address bar. To switch that off:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future. Since I use this one myself, I feel comfortable mentioning it.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste handoff and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar preference to switch the value from true to false

Success?

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (4)

more options

What do you have set here? see screenshot

Helpful?

more options

Chosen Solution

Hi, if you mean the search bar below the Firefox logo in the built-in Firefox Home / new tab page, there is a preference to control whether Firefox moves your input to the address bar. To switch that off:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future. Since I use this one myself, I feel comfortable mentioning it.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste handoff and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar preference to switch the value from true to false

Success?

Helpful?

more options

Resolved. thanks to your instructions. Have no clue what instruction "3) Double-click the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar preference to switch the value from true to false" does.

if you can explain I would appreciate. 

Victor

Helpful?

more options

Hi Victor, true/false preferences switch between two different behaviors. To select between true and false, you can either use the toggle button at the right end of the row, or just double-click.

The classic short search bar option is a different feature you can add to the main toolbar. It's convenient because your old query terms stay in there for easy editing. Or I guess that could be annoying if you always prefer to have a fresh start when entering your query.

Search suggestions are requested from your default search engine after you have a couple characters in the bar. This can be a convenient shortcut to avoid more typing, as well as providing insight into what other people are searching. On the other hand, some people find it annoying to have that visual feedback before they are ready to send their query.

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.