I-Firefox Community Forum

I have turned all search features off in settings and changed all relevant entries to False in About:config and it is still happening! Why did this change, I do not want this, I did not ask for this and I want it to be returned to how it worked before! NOW!

In Firefox 148.0, I am encountering an issue related to input‑focus behavior on the default New Tab Page. I would like to confirm whether this behavior is now hardcoded or whether any configuration options remain available to modify it.

Issue description

When opening a new tab, Firefox displays a search box in the center of the page. In previous versions, this search box could function as a true input field. However, in Firefox 148.0, any attempt to type into this field results in the input focus being immediately transferred to the address bar (Awesome Bar). As a result, the central search box no longer accepts direct input and appears to function only as a visual entry point.

Configuration options already tested

Based on documentation and community discussions for earlier Firefox versions, I attempted to locate and modify the following about:config preferences:

• browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar
• browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar2

Neither preference exists in Firefox 148.0. I also reviewed other Activity Stream and URL bar–related preferences but did not find any that influence this focus‑handoff behavior.

Current observations

Testing suggests that Firefox 148.0 may have removed the internal toggles that previously controlled this behavior. The focus handoff from the New Tab Page search box to the address bar appears to be enforced at the application level, with no remaining user‑configurable switches exposed through about:config.

Questions for clarification

1. 1 Has the focus‑handoff mechanism for the New Tab Page been fully hardcoded in Firefox 148.0, making it no longer configurable through about:config?

1. 2 Is there a new or undocumented preference that restores the ability for the New Tab Page search box to receive input directly?

1. 3 Are there design documents, Bugzilla tickets, or release notes that describe the removal of the previous handoff preferences?

1. 4 If this behavior is now intentional and no longer user‑configurable, is using an extension (e.g., New Tab Override) the only remaining method to prevent focus from being redirected to the address bar?

Any technical insight or references from developers or community members would be greatly appreciated.

Over the years I've added dozens of additional search engines; periodically I've "archived" lesser used search engines by toggling their visibility (to reduce clutter and speed up my search process), and when an "archived" engine becomes relevant to me again I've simply toggled the engine back to a visible state. However, as of version 152, this functionality appears to have been removed for user-added search engines. Is there a way to restore this functionality?

I've searched here and elsewhere on the web for a workaround, and perused the about:config variables, but have not been able to find anything. The show/hide functionality is still present for builtin search engines, so it seems like there must be some way to restore it for all search engines.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I have found Wikipedia to be biased and to contain much incorrect information. I would prefer to omit results from Wikipedia and to use data from Grokipedia instead. This presents two questions: 1. Will Mozilla add a general option to add or remove search sources? And 2. will Mozilla add Grokipedia to its list of sources?

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It's frustrating, no matter what you set, the search always jumps to the address field. I enter known addresses in the address field. I SEARCH in the SEARCH FIELD. And I want that in the future too. How do I make it possible, permanently, to be able to search in the search field??? The following doesn't work (anymore).

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

(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

каждый раз когда я закрываю все в кладки в firefox после того как я захожу в браузер снова у меня открываеться сайт яндекса и поиск ведеться только через яндекс пока я не выберу снова google, как решить эту проблему?

First, please explain the relationship among Firefox, Mozilla and DuckDuckGo. Second, how to make Firefox open when compuetr starts. Third, how to make DDGo the search engine. Finally, how to delete email contacts. I have been doing some, but others show a red triangle and say "cannot delete this". Thank you for helping me, someday,soon, I hope , to escape the greedy clutches of MS. Gail

2026-02-17

for about 8 years now, on and off, on hundreds of OS-es, clean installs of firefox etc. sometimes - not always - typing into the firefox search bar and pressing enter does nothing

i have bit-warden, u-block-origin and stylus installed (but they shouldn't be running on the 'new-tab-page' - is my firefox sync-profile containing some firefox-breaking-errors? (latest Win-11)

I need to stop google from automatically searching in the address bar so I can use about.config.

No help has worked from the web. Commands suggested by users don't exist or they use circular logic. In other words I can't go to about.config and make changes because I can't get to about.config because google searches it. I have turned off everything and nothing gets rid of the google search. I can go to other searches but that doesn't help.

I need to fix my issue with search, not sure if it is because of VPN or smth. I use Browsec as VPN, just recognized Firefox has its own VPN. Did anyone had same issue? I saw there was an update on July 1, 2026, Until yesterday everything worked fine.

I would like the web search feature back, what is the point of having it available to look at but it does not work? The box is there... why is there not an option for me to continue to use it? You have done this in the past but there was a work around. What work around I found through AI does not work:

"To restore the search box in Firefox 148.0, type "about:config" in the address bar, accept the risk, and search for "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar." Set this preference to false to enable the search box again."

This is disappointing, maddening too. I have used your product for many years.

I set my search engine as DuckDuckgo for privacy some time ago. I deleted Bing and others from the list of browsers as well. I made some effort to set up Firefox and my computer in general as privately oriented as possible without breaking things. I come on Firefox today and see Google has been set as me default search engine again, the other search engines are back in my list and Duckduckgo sitting on the back bench. I seem to be in the battle with Windows as well. I shut off unnecessary data transfer like customer satisfaction BS and they return like a bad rash. I am no tech whiz but I put a lot of work into my privacy only to have it reversed. What do I do?

It appears thousands of others have the same issue with NOTHING affecting the search bar handoff to the address bar (changing true/false in about:config does NOTHING, v148.xx). Why not just do away with any search bar and do everything from the address bar? That way enough will be annoyed they'll find an operational browser. Like too many "upgrades," this one went seriously backwards.

"You can turn it off by entering about:config in the URL bar and switching browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar to false."

That doesn't work anymore. Since the last update, the search went back to the adress bar, doesn't matter if that option is mark as true or false.

Please stop making that the searches go to the adress bar. Nobody likes it.