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Remove Search function in Address Bar

andrewpatricksmith
andrewpatricksmith
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Hello. After reading numerous posts addressing similar issues & having no success, I've decided to post a question of my own. I am running the current version of firefox, 94.0.2. I use the Search Bar religiously for searches to sites like google, wikipedia, youtube, amazon, and ebay. I NEVER use the address bar for searches. I have attempted to disable all functionality associated with searching via the address bar. When I go to the address bar, it is because I have a specifc url I know I want to type with a specific destination in mind. Occasionally, I have a need to just go to the home page of one of my search sites, most often it's amazon.com. Recently (not sure which version of firefox) I've found when I go to the Address Bar & type amazon.com, I cannot just go to amazon.com, instead the address bar turns into a search bar. How do I disable this? Its driving me mad! I swear I've disabled every option I can within about:config related to urlb. Please Help. I don't want to switch to Chrome, but I'm tired of my settings getting messed up every time mozilla pushes a new version.

Hello. After reading numerous posts addressing similar issues & having no success, I've decided to post a question of my own. I am running the current version of firefox, 94.0.2. I use the '''Search Bar''' religiously for searches to sites like google, wikipedia, youtube, amazon, and ebay. I NEVER use the address bar for searches. I have attempted to disable all functionality associated with searching via the address bar. When I go to the address bar, it is because I have a specifc url I know I want to type with a specific destination in mind. Occasionally, I have a need to just go to the home page of one of my search sites, most often it's amazon.com. Recently (not sure which version of firefox) I've found when I go to the '''Address Bar''' & type amazon.com, I cannot just go to amazon.com, instead the address bar turns into a search bar. How do I disable this? Its driving me mad! I swear I've disabled every option I can within about:config related to '''urlb'''. Please Help. I don't want to switch to Chrome, but I'm tired of my settings getting messed up every time mozilla pushes a new version.

Chosen solution

I think I figured it out. Within the Privacy & Security settings, there's a heading called Address Bar - Firefox Suggest. When I disable everything under that heading, my issue appears to go away. I never thought to look under Privacy & Security, thinking my solution should either be within the Search settings or somewhere in about:config. This question can be closed. Thanks.

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All Replies (4)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You need to set keyword.enabled = false on the about:config page to disable searching via the location bar.

andrewpatricksmith
andrewpatricksmith Question owner
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I did that. I set keyword.enabled to 'false' long ago and it didn't work. I've been all through about:config setting random things to 'false'. Some include the following: browser.search.suggest.enabled browser.urlbar.oneOffsearches browser.urlbar.searchSuggestionsChoice browser.urlbar.shortcuts.bookmarks, ...history, ...tabs, browser.urlbar.suggest.bookmarks, ...history, ...openpage, ...searches, ...topsites browser.urlbar.update1, ...interventions, ...searchtips services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.urlbar.suggest.searches

Terry
Terry
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I never go there but I tried amazon. com (without the space) in the address bar and it went there so I don't know why you have that issue. You could try troubleshoot mode or a new profile. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles

andrewpatricksmith
andrewpatricksmith Question owner
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Chosen Solution

I think I figured it out. Within the Privacy & Security settings, there's a heading called Address Bar - Firefox Suggest. When I disable everything under that heading, my issue appears to go away. I never thought to look under Privacy & Security, thinking my solution should either be within the Search settings or somewhere in about:config. This question can be closed. Thanks.