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

is it possible for cmd+f ("Find" command) to use already selected text? (OSX)

more options

Subj. Essentially i want to find next occurrence of text on the page. Now i need to do cmd+c (copy), cmd+f (find), cmd+v (paste), cmd+g (find next), while it should be (at least some possibility) to do just cmd+f and cmd+g

Subj. Essentially i want to find next occurrence of text on the page. Now i need to do cmd+c (copy), cmd+f (find), cmd+v (paste), cmd+g (find next), while it should be (at least some possibility) to do just cmd+f and cmd+g

Modified by alexey.orlov

Chosen solution

Hmm, on Windows, it does work that way, so I would expect it to be the same on Mac. Mostly.

If Command+f doesn't do that, could you try Command+e instead? Does that behave as expected?

Read this answer in context 👍 13

All Replies (4)

more options

Chosen Solution

Hmm, on Windows, it does work that way, so I would expect it to be the same on Mac. Mostly.

If Command+f doesn't do that, could you try Command+e instead? Does that behave as expected?

more options

That is how it works on Linux as well. When text is selected and I press Ctrl+F then the selected text is copied to the find field of the Find bar. It doesn't matter whether to bar is already showing or hidden.

Doesn't Command+G bring you to the next occurrence of the text that shows in the Find bar?


Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
more options

>> on Windows, it does work that way, so I would expect it to be the same on Mac.

yeah, my bad for not specifying that it was osx upfront.

>>If Command+f doesn't do that, could you try Command+e instead? YES! though it doesnt show find bar, otherwise works as advertised. Thanks

more options

The inconsistency is strange, but I don't have a Mac to experiment with so someone else hopefully will look into it.