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

Typing a word into the address bar will no longer take me to the closest result. Has this feature been removed?

  • 3 replies
  • 47 have this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

In every past version of firefox (that I recall) I have been able to type in any word into the address bar and it would take me to what generally was the first google result, now it just takes me to a google search. For example, I could type in 'Wikipedia' and it would take me to the wikipedia home directly, now it takes me to a google search of the word 'wikipedia'. I've tried this in a number of FF4 betas to no avail, it's still missing in the RC. I am disappoint.

Any help?

In every past version of firefox (that I recall) I have been able to type in any word into the address bar and it would take me to what generally was the first google result, now it just takes me to a google search. For example, I could type in 'Wikipedia' and it would take me to the wikipedia home directly, now it takes me to a google search of the word 'wikipedia'. I've tried this in a number of FF4 betas to no avail, it's still missing in the RC. I am disappoint. Any help?

Chosen solution

The change between Firefox 3.6.* and Firefox 4 is how location bar search works. In Firefox 3.6 it uses Google "Browse by name" search. With the browse by name search, it performs a Google search and if there is a clear match it will take you to the site, otherwise it shows the Google search result. With Firefox 4 it just performs a Google search if you type something which is not recognised as a URL.

To get the Firefox 3.6 behaviour on Firefox 4 you need to change a hidden preference.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference keyword.URL, double-click on it and change its value to the link shown below

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

Read this answer in context 👍 13

All Replies (3)

more options

Chosen Solution

The change between Firefox 3.6.* and Firefox 4 is how location bar search works. In Firefox 3.6 it uses Google "Browse by name" search. With the browse by name search, it performs a Google search and if there is a clear match it will take you to the site, otherwise it shows the Google search result. With Firefox 4 it just performs a Google search if you type something which is not recognised as a URL.

To get the Firefox 3.6 behaviour on Firefox 4 you need to change a hidden preference.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference keyword.URL, double-click on it and change its value to the link shown below

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

more options

OH! You sir, are a god.

Thank you muchly. It seemed like a silly feature to remove completely and I suspected that the answer may lie in about:config but I had no clue where to start.

more options