Hello

You can test, browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar.

1 - Go to Configuration Editor for Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox 2 - Enter a search term browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar You can double-click on the preference to set the value to false

(For the record) The browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar preference has been removed in Firefox version 148 to be released Feb 24, 2026 so the above solution will no longer work.

Shooting yourself in the foot.

This doesn't work. None of the instructions I've put forth work. Is there actually a method to STOP using the address bar to search? I stopped using Chrome because you can't disable split view. Now there's no way to disable this annoying issue in Firefox? Why do choices like this have to be so difficult or impossible? Is there a browser that lets you set it up the way you want it?

(For the record) The browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar preference has been removed in Firefox version 148 to be released Feb 24, 2026 so the above solution will no longer work.

Was this information helpful? Yes, I was driving myself nuts looking for a setting that has apparently been removed.

Was the decision to completely remove a feature helpful? Absolutely not. The URLbar is for URLs. SEARCHbars are for search queries. The EverythingIsAwesomebar is a silly innovation that I would comfortably prefer to do without.

It looks like this preference will be restored in a future version of Firefox (150 Nightly, and possibly version 149, currently in Beta). See the related bug report: Bug 2017049 - Newtab search handoff can't be disabled anymore

The 'solution' given by Agent virtuel does not work for me, using FF 148.0 & Linux Mint 22.3. And to make matters worse when I am forced to use the address bar (stupid idea to use an ADDRESS BAR for a search input) FF comes back and says it cannot find that ADDRESS! Well no schite folks, it's an ADDRESS BAR! So a new tab is of zero use to me for searches until someone gets logical and fixes this. For now I use the new tab with a shortcut for my preferred search engine.

I've been using Brave more and more lately. At some point FF will go away on my desktop and laptop if this keeps up. Non-logical ideas tend to be abandoned.

Hello

Firefox 148.0, browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar has been removed

Take a look at https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-148-0-is-not-allowing-me-to-use-the-search-bar-it/td-p/118756

Firefox 148.0, browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar has been removed Take a look at https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-148-0-is-not-allowing-me-to-use-the-search-bar-it/td-p/118756

According to a Mozilla employee who posted in the above Mozilla Connect thread, (quote)This config setting is back and available to use in Firefox Nightly now, and if everything goes to plan it should be in the 148.0.1 release of the main browser on March 10.

You can follow the progress here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2017049