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Is there any way to disable the Quick Find hotkey in Firefox? Or, is there a way to change the hotkey?

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In Firefox, when I tap "/" it starts a quick search. I love the feature...but I don't love the hotkey (I use that key far too often in regular typing/programming).

I saw this question: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1052131

But the solution doesn't work for me. Is there a current way to disable or change the hotkey?

I am running Firefox 41.0.2 on Ubuntu 14.04

In Firefox, when I tap "/" it starts a quick search. I love the feature...but I don't love the hotkey (I use that key far too often in regular typing/programming). I saw this question: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1052131 But the solution doesn't work for me. Is there a current way to disable or change the hotkey? I am running Firefox 41.0.2 on Ubuntu 14.04

All Replies (12)

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Are you working in a text box when this happens?


Customizable Shortcuts {web link} Allows to customize Firefox shortcuts.

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No, I'm not in a text box when this happens. I already have the add-on that you suggested, and it doesn't have the Quick Find shortcut listed.

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See:

Did you check the prefs mentioned in this article?

Modified by cor-el

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The other link that I referenced in my question talked about using the SEARCHHOTKEYS add-on and it's accompanying settings under about:config. As I first mentioned: that add-on and those settings have no effect. Even after a restart of Firefox (or two).

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Did you try to disable all other extensions, especially modifications that Ubuntu usually adds to Firefox and only leave searchhotkeys enabled?

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When I disable all add-ons, and leave SearchHotKeys enabled, / still enables Quick Find and ' still enables Quick Find in links. Thus, SearchHotKeys isn't working at all for me (the defaults for the add-on are ^ and | ).

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Those are shifted keys. I don't know if that works properly or can even work at all as this requires to monitor modifier keys.

Does it work if you specify an unshifted key?

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Still no go. I tried assigning \ twice. The first time, it didn't do anything. The second time, not even the default / and ' were working. I'll try disabling everything again and try assigning unshifted keys for both (later this evening), then I'll report back.

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You could try a Greasemonkey user script to "kill" the / key before it is processed by the UI:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/13484-prevent-slash-opening-quickfind

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I see this error in the Browser Console:

  • TypeError: this._shouldFastFind is not a function searchkeys.js:23:8

The extension got broken by this commit that changed the onBrowserKeypress method (Fx40+):

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Well, you've gone above and beyond. Thanks for diving into that.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime to disable the Quick Find so I can practice my coding on the CodeAcademy website (among other things)?

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If you want to try the user script I posted, you'll need the Greasemonkey extension first, then you can install the script: