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

Search shortcut behaviour without search terms

  • 4 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

In older versions (say, Firefox 85 which I have been happily using until now) you could enter the search shortcut (say, "y" for youtube), then just press enter without entering any search terms, and be brought to the main page of that search engine. In fact, search engine definition file has a specific field for that feature.

Well, I'm on FF 119 now and I find that this behaviour is broken. You MUST enter search terms now.

Is there a way to fix this pointless change, or do I have to downgrade?

In older versions (say, Firefox 85 which I have been happily using until now) you could enter the search shortcut (say, "y" for youtube), then just press enter without entering any search terms, and be brought to the main page of that search engine. In fact, search engine definition file has a specific field for that feature. Well, I'm on FF 119 now and I find that this behaviour is broken. You MUST enter search terms now. Is there a way to fix this pointless change, or do I have to downgrade?

All Replies (4)

more options

You can double-click in the keyword column on the "Settings -> Search" page to edit the shortcut key and add one. Using the shortcut key should bring you to the search website. If you use another way like '@' to select a search engine then this only work when you enter a term.

more options

cor-el said

Using the shortcut key should bring you to the search website. If you use another way like '@' to select a search engine then this only work when you enter a term.

Hi, and thanks for replying. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for me that way. None of my search shortcuts start with @, but they all require me to enter search terms anyway. I observe this behaviour even when firefox is restarted in safe mode. I'm reading through the links you've posted, but so far I don't see what I could've done wrong.

more options

From Bug 1675996:

This use-case was considered but discarded, going to the search engine homepage often is not useful, and it's also confusing for some users. There are other ways to achieve the same scope through autofill or bookmarks.

You can get the same functionality with a bookmark keyword.

Empty search is still supported in the dedicated search bar.

more options

I have the 'g' keyword for a Google search and typing 'g' and pressing the Enter key brings me to the Google search website. If Firefox shows the name of the search engine in the location bar then this doesn't work.