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FF stopped autofilling URLs

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by stinkykong

stinkykong
stinkykong
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Suddenly, Firefox stopped autofilling urls in my url bar and only offers search terms. Occasionally a url will show up there on autofill but only is triggered from beginning characters of the url rather than something in the middle.

Previously, when searching for something like https://mywebsite/particular-page/ , I could type "particular" in the url window and FF would offer the full url. Now, there is no such behavior and I have to think of the opening url and complete many more characters to get the result that previously was very simple and quick.

I have tried separating the search from the url window but that has no affect on this behavior.

Suddenly, Firefox stopped autofilling urls in my url bar and only offers search terms. Occasionally a url will show up there on autofill but only is triggered from beginning characters of the url rather than something in the middle. Previously, when searching for something like https://mywebsite/particular-page/ , I could type "particular" in the url window and FF would offer the full url. Now, there is no such behavior and I have to think of the opening url and complete many more characters to get the result that previously was very simple and quick. I have tried separating the search from the url window but that has no affect on this behavior.

All Replies (3)

RageE1der
RageE1der
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Hi Stinkykong

check the following to see why the websites are not auto filling.

1. In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

2. In the search box above the list, type or paste URLB and pause while the list is filtered

3. If the browser.urlbar.autoFill preference is bolded and "modified" or "user set" to false, double-click it to restore the default value of true

Modified by RageE1der

stinkykong
stinkykong Question owner
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Thanks for your reply. I checked but it is set to true. It does autofill but only search terms and no urls unless I start from the beginning of the url. Repeating my earlier statement, if I want to re-visit https://mysite.com/myspecificpage.html, I used to be able to (and still can on another computer) type "myspecific" and the url would come up. However now I see 9 search suggestions and no urls.

When I need to return to some very long domain name site, being able to search for and be directed to the page itself is a hugely useful shortcut. I can't figure out what caused this to stop.

I attached a screenshot demonstrating how it once worked on my computer and still does on another computer. So my hope is to find a way to restore that behavior where search term is found within URLs aand other history data as well as Google search suggestions.

Modified by stinkykong

stinkykong
stinkykong Question owner
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This is a really important feature. I don't know how it got lost. I was able to migrate part of my settings from the computer that behaved as needed via the Profile folder I accessed via about:support and clicking "View in Finder". This caused a loss of some stored data that I believe I can restore from memory but at least I have the ability to find keywords within URLS when I type in what I am able to remember and avoid typing out the full URL from the beginning, which these days can be very, very long.

It would be nice to know where the actual setting is in order to enable the feature.