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 there any way to disable the Quick Find hotkey in Firefox? Or, is there a way to change the hotkey?

more options

In Firefox, when I tap "/" it starts a quick search. I love the feature...but I don't love the hotkey (I use that key far too often in regular typing/programming).

I saw this question: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1052131

But the solution doesn't work for me. Is there a current way to disable or change the hotkey?

I am running Firefox 41.0.2 on Ubuntu 14.04

In Firefox, when I tap "/" it starts a quick search. I love the feature...but I don't love the hotkey (I use that key far too often in regular typing/programming). I saw this question: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1052131 But the solution doesn't work for me. Is there a current way to disable or change the hotkey? I am running Firefox 41.0.2 on Ubuntu 14.04

All Replies (12)

more options

Are you working in a text box when this happens?


Customizable Shortcuts {web link} Allows to customize Firefox shortcuts.

more options

No, I'm not in a text box when this happens. I already have the add-on that you suggested, and it doesn't have the Quick Find shortcut listed.

more options

See:

Did you check the prefs mentioned in this article?

cor-el moo ko soppali ci

more options

The other link that I referenced in my question talked about using the SEARCHHOTKEYS add-on and it's accompanying settings under about:config. As I first mentioned: that add-on and those settings have no effect. Even after a restart of Firefox (or two).

more options

Did you try to disable all other extensions, especially modifications that Ubuntu usually adds to Firefox and only leave searchhotkeys enabled?

more options

When I disable all add-ons, and leave SearchHotKeys enabled, / still enables Quick Find and ' still enables Quick Find in links. Thus, SearchHotKeys isn't working at all for me (the defaults for the add-on are ^ and | ).

more options

Those are shifted keys. I don't know if that works properly or can even work at all as this requires to monitor modifier keys.

Does it work if you specify an unshifted key?

more options

Still no go. I tried assigning \ twice. The first time, it didn't do anything. The second time, not even the default / and ' were working. I'll try disabling everything again and try assigning unshifted keys for both (later this evening), then I'll report back.

more options

You could try a Greasemonkey user script to "kill" the / key before it is processed by the UI:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/13484-prevent-slash-opening-quickfind

more options

I see this error in the Browser Console:

  • TypeError: this._shouldFastFind is not a function searchkeys.js:23:8

The extension got broken by this commit that changed the onBrowserKeypress method (Fx40+):

more options

Well, you've gone above and beyond. Thanks for diving into that.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime to disable the Quick Find so I can practice my coding on the CodeAcademy website (among other things)?

more options

If you want to try the user script I posted, you'll need the Greasemonkey extension first, then you can install the script: