Add or remove a search engine in Firefox

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Firefox comes with a set of default search engines, and you can add more from websites, add-ons, or partner pages. Some users want to add fully custom search engines, but Firefox only supports this in limited cases without an add-on.

This article explains what you can and can’t do, and shows the easiest ways to manage your search engines.

Note: Some search engines may only be available in certain regions.

What Firefox supports (and what it doesn’t)

  • Built-in default search engines (like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo).
  • Adding search engines from websites that support it.
  • Adding search engine add-ons from addons.mozilla.org.
  • Limited support for custom engines: Starting in Firefox version 140, you are able to add custom unsupported search engines in Firefox Settings. In earlier versions, Firefox does not allow you to create custom engines from scratch in Settings. You would need an extension such as Add custom search engine.

Add search engines

Firefox offers an optional Search bar. If you’ve added it to your toolbar, you can also add search engines. If you haven’t yet, see Add the Search bar to your Firefox toolbar to add it to Firefox.

  1. Visit a website that offers an OpenSearch search engine (we'll use YouTube as an example).
  2. Click the magnifying glass addsearch 40 icon in the Search bar.
  3. Click the YouTube AddYouTubeSearchBarIcon icon in the Search bar drop-down.
    Add engine from search bar

The search engine will appear in your available search options.

Firefox offers an optional Search bar. If you’ve added it to your toolbar, you can also add search engines. If you haven’t yet, see Add the Search bar to your Firefox toolbar to add it to Firefox.

  1. Visit a website that offers an OpenSearch search engine (we'll use YouTube as an example).
  2. Click the search engine icon in your Search bar.
  3. Select AddYouTubeSearchBarIcon Add “YouTube” from the Search bar drop-down menu.
    Fx152SearchBar-AddYouTube

The search engine will appear in your available search options.

From the address bar

Visit a website that has a built-in search field (for example, YouTube).

  1. Right-clickRight-click (or hold down the Control key while you click) inside the address bar.
  2. Select AddYouTubeSearchBarIcon Add “YouTube” from the context menu.
    Add engine from address baraddenginefromaddressbarfx152

From the search field of a supported website

Right-clickRight-click (or hold down the Control key while you click) the search field of a supported website and select Add Search Engine from the context menu.

Fx140WebsiteSearchContextMenu-AddSearchEngineFx152SiteSearch-AddEngine

To learn more, see the Add custom search engines in Firefox article.

Mycroft Project search engine plugins

The Mycroft Project website offers search engine plugins. When you click an available search plugin, you can add it to Firefox from the Search bar or from the address bar context menu, on the Install plugin page.

Fx115Mycroft-InstallPlugin

Search engine add-ons

Many providers offer search engine add-ons. To find these search engines and add them to Firefox:

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (or Preferences, in some cases).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select Search on the left.
  3. At the bottom, click the Find more search engines link. The Firefox Add-ons website will open.
  4. Select the search engine add-on you want to install and click Add to Firefox.
Tip: If you added the optional Search bar, another way to open the Search page is to click the magnifying glass MagnifyingGlass on the Search bar and then click the Fx89Personalize-GearIcon Change search settings icon.
  1. Click the menu button, click Extensions and themes. The Add-ons Manager tab will open.
  2. Search for an add-on you wish to install, and then click Add to Firefox.

Add a custom search engine in Settings

You can add custom search engines from websites in Firefox, even if they’re not supported.

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (or Preferences, in some cases).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select Search on the left.
    searchshortcut
  3. Scroll down to the Search Shortcuts section.
  4. Click Add at the bottom.
  5. Fill in the Search engine name with a name for your custom search engine.
    searchenginemenu
  6. In the URL box, copy & paste the URL of a search performed with the custom search engine.
    • For example: https://example.com/search?q=ZZZZZ
  7. Replace the URL’s search tag with %s.
    • For example: https://example.com/search?q=%s
  8. Add a keyword (this is optional).
  9. Click Add Engine to save.
Note: You can find the URL’s search tag by performing a unique search with an easy-to-spot word, such as “ZZZZZZ”. The “ZZZZZZ” in the URL is that URL’s search tag.

Add a custom search engine in Settings

You can add custom search engines from websites in Firefox, even if they’re not supported.

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (or Preferences, in some cases).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select Search on the left.
  3. Go to the Additional search engines section.
    Fx152settings-Search
  4. Click on Add search engine.
  5. Fill in the Search engine name with a name for your custom search engine.
    searchenginemenu
  6. In the URL box, copy & paste the URL of a search performed with the custom search engine.
    • For example: https://example.com/search?q=ZZZZZ
  7. Replace the URL’s search tag with %s.
    • For example: https://example.com/search?q=%s
  8. Add a keyword (this is optional).
  9. Click Add Engine to save.
Note: You can find the URL’s search tag by performing a unique search with an easy-to-spot word, such as “ZZZZZZ”. The “ZZZZZZ” in the URL is that URL’s search tag.

Hide search engines

Follow these steps to remove alternative search engines you don't want to use.

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (or Preferences, in some cases).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select Search on the left.
  3. Under Search ShortcutsAdditional search engines, remove the check markturn off the toggle Fx115 blue toggle switch next to each search engine you don't want to use (this option is not currently available for user-added search engines).
    Search shortcuts - Hide engine

Remove search engines

Note: You cannot remove built-in search engines but you can hide them (see above).

To remove a search engine you added to Firefox, follow these steps:

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (or Preferences, in some cases).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select Search on the left.
  3. Under Search Shortcuts, click the search engine you want to remove.
  4. Click the Remove button to take it off your list.
    Search shortcuts - Remove engine
Note: If a search engine is added back after you restart Firefox, it may be a Firefox extension. Those can be removed using the Add-ons manager (see Disable or remove Add-ons for details).

To remove a search engine, follow these steps:

  1. Open Firefox Settings: Click the menu button and select Settings.
  2. Go to Search.
  3. Under Additional search engines, you can either:
    • Click the toggle to disable search engines that Firefox provides, or
    • Click the trash can icon to delete search engines that you have added.
    fx152additionalsearchengines2
Note: Search engines added by Firefox extensions may only be removed by disabling or removing the associated add-on (see Disable or remove Add-ons for details).

Restore default search engines

If you removed one of Firefox’s built-in search engines (like Google or Bing):

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Settings (or Preferences, in some cases).Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Go to Search in the left panel.
  3. In the Search shortcuts section, click Restore Default Search Engines.

Restore search engines provided by Firefox

If you have disabled one of Firefox’s built-in search engines (such as Google or Bing):

  1. Open Firefox Settings: Click the menu button and select Settings.
  2. Go to Search.
  3. In the Additional search engines section, click the toggle button to enable the built-in search engine.

Related articles

These fine people helped write this article:

AliceWyman, Chris Ilias, Underpass, Michele Rodaro, Mozinet, Lan, pollti, Joni, YD, Mark Heijl, Angela Lazar, Lucas Siebert, Flavius Floare
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