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

cannot prevent search bar from going to url bar / address bar in private browsing mode

  • 1 resposta
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by TyDraniu

more options

I have an issue with the address bar in private windows. Normally when you click on the search bar in the new tab page, it will redirect the cursor to the address bar instead of letting you use the search bar.

I found the following solution on the forum here that works for normal windows: go to the about:config page and set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar to false.

For private windows, this fix does not work. It will still go to the address bar instead of letting you use the search bar. Is there another way for me to fix this so that it will also work in private windows?

I have an issue with the address bar in private windows. Normally when you click on the search bar in the new tab page, it will redirect the cursor to the address bar instead of letting you use the search bar. I found the following solution on the forum here that works for normal windows: go to the about:config page and set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar to false. For private windows, this fix does not work. It will still go to the address bar instead of letting you use the search bar. Is there another way for me to fix this so that it will also work in private windows?

All Replies (1)

more options

Yes, it doesn't work in private windows and we can't do anything about it.