Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

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

Turn off initial suggestions when clicking in address bar

  • 4 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 41 views
  • Last reply by Shane

more options

Is there a way to turn off the initial suggestions when just clicking into address bar? I can turn off all history when using address bar which removes the initial popdown, but that also turns off using history once I start typing into the address bar. I want suggestions based on my history once I actually start typing something. What I don't want is to get a bunch of previous sites pop down by simply clicking into the address bar. I have tried several things with no luck so far. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Is there a way to turn off the initial suggestions when just clicking into address bar? I can turn off all history when using address bar which removes the initial popdown, but that also turns off using history once I start typing into the address bar. I want suggestions based on my history once I actually start typing something. What I don't want is to get a bunch of previous sites pop down by simply clicking into the address bar. I have tried several things with no luck so far. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Chosen solution

Hi Shane, to get a little more specific than the above suggestions:

The Firefox 75 address bar automatically drops down showing the top row of Top Sites on the Firefox Home / new tab page when you click in the bar. The goal is to make those sites readily available everywhere, but for a lot of people who have ignored what is accumulating on that page, it isn't initially helpful.

You can "clean up" your Top Sites on the new tab page to make the list more useful. See: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

Or you can (at least temporarily) switch off the connection to Top Sites as follows:

(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 on that page, type or paste URLB and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus preference to switch the value from true to false

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (4)

more options

Try searching urlbar in about:config and adjusting a few different things.

more options

You can possibly use F6 to set focus to the location/address bar instead of clicking with the mouse.

more options

Seçilmiş Həll

Hi Shane, to get a little more specific than the above suggestions:

The Firefox 75 address bar automatically drops down showing the top row of Top Sites on the Firefox Home / new tab page when you click in the bar. The goal is to make those sites readily available everywhere, but for a lot of people who have ignored what is accumulating on that page, it isn't initially helpful.

You can "clean up" your Top Sites on the new tab page to make the list more useful. See: Customize your Firefox New Tab page.

Or you can (at least temporarily) switch off the connection to Top Sites as follows:

(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 on that page, type or paste URLB and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus preference to switch the value from true to false

more options

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. jscher2000 - your suggestion of changing openViewOnFocus to false is exactly what I was looking for! Issue resolved :)