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

Lolu chungechunge lwabekwa kunqolobane. Uyacelwa ubuze umbuzo omusha uma udinga usizo.

Location Bar not automatically going to pages

  • 1 baphendule
  • 47 zinale nkinga
  • 1 view
  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu TonyE

more options

I like Firefox 4, but a very important feature that I loved that was only even in Firefox was not to be found in 4.0 but it was in 3.

Firefox would automatically redirect me to pages that would often appear first in Google when I typed them in the location bar. For example, if I typed ps blog it would b=me to the PlayStation blog, if I typed gmail, it'd bring right to Gmail, ect. But not it's just searching for what I type. When I type gmail it will just bring up a google search of gmail.

I tried to see if changing some options in about:config but nothing worked so I reset what I changed.

Please help! I'm debating whether to go back to v. 3.6.16!

I like Firefox 4, but a very important feature that I loved that was only even in Firefox was not to be found in 4.0 but it was in 3. Firefox would automatically redirect me to pages that would often appear first in Google when I typed them in the location bar. For example, if I typed ps blog it would b=me to the PlayStation blog, if I typed gmail, it'd bring right to Gmail, ect. But not it's just searching for what I type. When I type gmail it will just bring up a google search of gmail. I tried to see if changing some options in about:config but nothing worked so I reset what I changed. Please help! I'm debating whether to go back to v. 3.6.16!

Isisombululo esikhethiwe

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=

If you prefer, you can also do this by installing the Browse by Name extension - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browse-by-name

Funda le mpendulo ngokuhambisana nalesi sihloko 👍 18

All Replies (1)

more options

Isisombululo Esikhethiwe

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=

If you prefer, you can also do this by installing the Browse by Name extension - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browse-by-name