We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

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

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

Firefox drag and drop search feature

army.veteran20
army.veteran20
more options

Firefox has this feature where you can highlight text then drag and drop it from one firefox page to another. Doing this will open a new tab and perform a search of the dragged text by putting this text in the url field as a url. How can this feature be turned off?

Firefox has this feature where you can highlight text then drag and drop it from one firefox page to another. Doing this will open a new tab and perform a search of the dragged text by putting this text in the url field as a url. How can this feature be turned off?

All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

I don't think that it is possible to disable this feature.

What do you want to happen if you drop selected text in a new tab?

You would normally use this feature to drop selected text in text area in another tab. If you drop the text elsewhere (not in a text area) then the outcome might be doing a search. You can press the ESC key to abort the drag.

army.veteran20
army.veteran20 Vraag-eienaar
more options

I find it hard to believe that a feature available in a programmable piece of software would not have a way to turn it off.

The issue I am having, however, is that I do a lot of dragging and dropping of text into text fields (in an attempt to make my life easier). But, if I miss the text field on the other tab Firefox will open a NEW tab and perform a search as if the selected text was a URL.