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

Can't search single words with address bar

  • 2 iimpendulo
  • 27 inale ngxaki
  • 14 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu cor-el

more options

When I try to search 2 or more words directly from the address bar, it will show Google Search results, wich is what I want. But when I try to search a single-word query directly from the address bar, Firefox thinks it's a URL and doesn't search it on Google.

Example: when I press enter after typing 1 2 3 it will search on Google, but when typing 1 it will try to connect to a website wich address is "1"

With numbers it will show a Firefox "Unable to Connect" error and when trying to search a single word with letters it will go to OpenDNS Guide (I'm using OpenDNS).

I have already tried to change keyword.URL, to disable browser.fixup.alternate.enabled, to reset search engines, but it hasn't worked. It only happens in Firefox. When doing the same in Chrome, Safari and Opera it will search on Google.

When I try to search 2 or more words directly from the address bar, it will show Google Search results, wich is what I want. But when I try to search a single-word query directly from the address bar, Firefox thinks it's a URL and doesn't search it on Google. Example: when I press enter after typing 1 2 3 it will search on Google, but when typing 1 it will try to connect to a website wich address is "1" With numbers it will show a Firefox "Unable to Connect" error and when trying to search a single word with letters it will go to OpenDNS Guide (I'm using OpenDNS). I have already tried to change keyword.URL, to disable browser.fixup.alternate.enabled, to reset search engines, but it hasn't worked. It only happens in Firefox. When doing the same in Chrome, Safari and Opera it will search on Google.

All Replies (2)

more options

You can use a (one letter) keyword search to ensure that Firefox does a search and doesn't threat the word as an URL.

You can either do that for existing search engines via the Manage Search Engines window or create a keyword bookmark.