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The location bar is often called the Awesome Bar because it’s great at remembering websites you’ve been to and guessing where you are trying to go. Just type a few letters of a website’s name or address into the location bar and it will find it for you. And the more you use it, the better it gets. This article covers the details of how the location bar works and will you using it like a pro in no time.

'''The location bar is often called the Awesome Bar because it’s great at remembering websites you’ve been to and guessing where you are trying to go.''' Just type a few letters of a website’s name or address into the location bar and it will find it for you. And the more you use it, the better it gets. This article covers the details of how the location bar works and will you using it like a pro in no time. The location bar can also be used for other types of searches. See [[Location bar search]] and [[Smart keywords]] for more information. __TOC__ {for not fx35}[[Video:Awesome Bar]]{/for} = How do I use the autocomplete list? = Just start typing in the location bar, and the autocomplete drop-down will show matching sites from your browsing history, as well as sites you have bookmarked and tagged. Matched terms are highlighted, making the list of results easy to scan. When you see the site you want, just click on it or use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to highlight it and then press {for win,linux}{key Enter}{/for}{for mac}{key Return}{/for}. {for fx35}[[Image:c089345e1089b5be0054f98b8b44cf6f-1259207500-288-2.png]]{/for}{for not fx35}{for win}[[Image:Awesome Bar dropdown2 win]]{/for}{for mac}[[Image:Awesome Bar dropdown2 mac]]{/for}{for linux}[[Image:Awesome Bar dropdown2 lin]]{/for}{/for} The part of the entry that matches what you've typed will show in '''bold'''. The location bar will display results for: * Web addresses from pages in history that match what you have typed * Page titles from history that match what you have typed * Bookmark titles that match what you have typed * Bookmarks with tag names that match what you've typed The location bar also learns from your browsing behavior. It adjusts results based on how frequently you visit each site, how recently you were there and what result you clicked on for the letters or words typed. This way, sites you visit all the time will show up at the top of the list, often after typing only one letter. ==What if I don't get any results or I don't get the right results?== If the location bar doesn't come up with the result you want (or any results) it just means it isn't in your history, bookmarks or tags. The good news is that you're not out of luck because you can also search the web right from the location bar. Just press {for win,linux}{key Enter}{/for}{for mac}{key Return}{/for} and the term you've entered in the location bar will become a Google search. For more, see [[Location bar search]]. {for not fx35} ==What is Switch to tab?== The location bar also searches though your open tabs, displaying results with a tab icon and the text "Switch to tab". Selecting these results will switch you to the already open tab instead of creating a duplicate. {for win}[[Image:Switch to tab win]]{/for}{for mac}[[Image:Switch to tab mac]]{/for} {/for} == What can I do to get the best results? == * When you are looking to go to a website you have previously visited, type a few letters from its web address or page title. Scroll through the autocomplete entries and find the page in the list (type another letter if it is not shown in the list). Press {for win,linux}{key Enter}{/for}{for mac}{key Return}{/for} to go to the selected web address. Firefox will give this entry/result combination higher weight in the future. * Do not clear the Browsing History - usually the richest source of autocomplete entries is from the title/web address combination. [[Clear Recent History|Clearing Browsing History]] will remove these entries from the results. * Bookmark and tag frequently - used pages. The location bar will match on the name you give the bookmark and also tags associated with the bookmark. See the [[How do I use bookmarks?]] article for more information on how to use bookmarks in Firefox. You can improve your autocomplete results by tagging pages with easily-typed tag names. = How can I control what results the location bar shows me? = == Changing your location bar settings == You can turn off the Smart Location feature, or restrict the autocomplete results to exclude your bookmarks or history: # [[T:optionspreferences]] # Select the {menu Privacy} panel. # Beside '''When using the location bar, suggest:''' select any of the following: {for win,fx35}<br/><br/> [[Image:c089345e1089b5be0054f98b8b44cf6f-1259207500-288-3.png]] <br/>{/for}{for not fx35}{for win}[[Image:Awesome Privacy Win]]{/for}{for mac}[[Image:Awesome Privacy Mac]]{/for}{/for} #* '''History and Bookmarks''': Use both browsing history and bookmarks in the autocomplete list. #* '''History''': Use browsing history in the autocomplete list, but don't use bookmarks. #*'''Bookmarks''': Use bookmarks in the autocomplete list, but don't use browsing history. #*'''Nothing''': Turn off the autocomplete list. # [[T:closeOptionsPreferences]] == Removing autocomplete results == If you want to remove an entry from the autocomplete list: # Select the entry in the location bar with the arrow keys or the mouse pointer # Press {for win,linux}{key Delete}{/for}{for mac}{key Shift}+{key Delete}{/for} to remove the item from the list. If you want to remove all the history results from the autocomplete list, clear Firefox's Browsing History. See the [[Clear Recent History]] article for instructions. {note}'''Note''': Autocomplete items from bookmarks will not be removed from the results if you attempt to delete them or clear the browsing history. These items have a star. To remove these items, [[Deleting Bookmarks|delete the associated bookmark]], or [[#w_changing-your-location-bar-settings|exclude bookmarks in the location bar settings]].{/note} ==Changing results on the fly == If you are looking for a specific type of result, like a bookmark or tag, you can speed up the process of finding it by typing in special characters: * Add '''<nowiki>^</nowiki>''' to search for matches in your browsing history * Add '''*''' to search for matches your bookmarks * Add '''+''' to search for matches in pages you've tagged * Add '''@''' to search for pages that have web addresses (URLs) that match what you've typed * Add '''#''' to search for pages that have titles or tag names that match what you've typed For example, if you're looking for a page you bookmarked called ''Mozilla Firefox Support'', you might type ''mozilla''. The autocomplete results appear, but might not show the page you want. You can narrow your results bookmarks only by making your search string ''mozilla  *''. If you still have too many results, you can further restrict the search by making your search string ''mozilla  *  support  #''. Now the autocomplete list will only show bookmarked pages with ''mozilla'' and ''support'' in the page title.