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Missing search icons

  • 4 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by ronks

msugden1
msugden1
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After the last update, almost all of the icons for my search engines in the search bar are missing. I have to remember which blank box Amazon was in so I can click on that box to get to Amazon. The IMDb icon for some reason is still in its box. How do I get the icons back so I don't have to guess every time I need to find something? I've rebooted, removed and replaced the search box, but nothing works.

After the last update, almost all of the icons for my search engines in the search bar are missing. I have to remember which blank box Amazon was in so I can click on that box to get to Amazon. The IMDb icon for some reason is still in its box. How do I get the icons back so I don't have to guess every time I need to find something? I've rebooted, removed and replaced the search box, but nothing works.

All Replies (4)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Hi msugden1, do you mean the "one click" icons that should appear in a drop-down below Firefox's built-in search bars?

Some other users reported that half the buttons were gone and that restoring them through the Options page didn't work. It's possible that a search-related settings file has become corrupted. So for stubborn cases, you can remove the files (while Firefox is not running) and let Firefox regenerate it at the next startup. Here's how:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button to launch a new File Explorer window. (Mac: Click "Show in Finder". If Finder highlights an icon with a semi-random name like a1b2c3d4.default, double-click it to display the contents of that profile folder.)

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit/Quit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit/Quit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit, or Firefox > Quit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename search.json.mozlz4 to something like searchOLD.json.mozlz4.

If you have been running Firefox for a long time, you might also see these older files from a few years ago. You can remove them:

  • search.json
  • search-metadata.json

Start Firefox back up again. Are all of the built-in search engine buttons/icons back?

msugden1
msugden1 Question owner
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Yes, those are the ones I mean. I'll try your fix and let you know if it works. Thanks very much for the quick reply.

msugden1
msugden1 Question owner
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Well, I ended up not having to try fixing it myself. Firefox updated, and the icons came back. I guess if you wait long enough, things heal themselves. Thank you for the answer, jscher2000, and I'm going to file it away for future reference.

ronks
ronks
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That renaming solution did the job for me; thanks! It did delete Wiktionary from the list of search engines, and I had to reset my default to DuckDuckGo, but other than that it was seamless.