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Change your default search settings in Firefox
Firefox
Firefox
3/10/26
36%
of users voted this helpful
The
panel in Firefox Settings
lets you customize your search options. You can add or remove search engines, change your default search engine, change address bar settings, assign or change keyword shortcuts and choose whether to display search suggestions first or not at all.
Table of Contents
Open the Search panel
1.1
Default search engine
1.2
Search suggestions
Address bar
2.1
Search alternatives
Remove or add search engines
3.1
Remove a search engine
3.2
Restore default search engines
3.3
Add a new search engine
Search engine keywords
Related articles
Note:
Some of the search engines introduced here are regionally bound and may not be accessible from every location. To ensure a smooth experience, make sure the search engine you are interested in adding or using is compatible with your region.
Open the Search panel
In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click
Firefox
and select
Settings
(or
Preferences
, in some cases).
Click the menu button
and select
Settings
Select
in the left pane.
Default search engine
Firefox lets you choose the search engine you wish to use in the address bar and search bar.
Show search terms
in the address bar on results pages
instead of URL on default search engine results page
Select this setting to show the search term you entered, in the address bar on the results page for your default search engine. Deselect this setting to show the URL instead. This setting is hidden if you have
added a separate Search bar
to your toolbar.
Use the drop-down menu under
Default search engine
Default Search Engine
to choose the search engine you wish to use by default.
Note:
Some
extensions
that are added to Firefox can set a new default search engine.
You can
disable or remove the extension
that made the change, or you can choose another search engine from the drop-down menu, if you prefer a different default.
Search suggestions
As you type into the search bar or the address bar, your default search engine shows you suggestions based on popular searches or on your previous searches. See
Search suggestions in Firefox
for more information.
Show search suggestions:
Select this setting to turn search suggestions on or off.
Show search suggestions
before
ahead of
browsing history in address bar results:
Select this setting to show search suggestions before your browsing history.
Show search
suggestions in
private windows
Private Windows
Select this setting to show search suggestions in
Private Browsing
windows.
Trending
Show trending
search suggestions:
Select this setting to
show trending searches
in address bar results. This feature can also be used on Bing.
Note:
The regions featured on trending searches are determined by Google and Microsoft, not by Mozilla, and are subject to change.
Address bar
As you type into the address bar, Firefox may offer suggestions such as websites from your browsing history, bookmarks and open tabs. To learn more about this feature, see
Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox
. You can choose the types of suggestions that are displayed in your Address bar settings:
Browsing history
: suggests pages that you've previously visited.
Bookmarks
: suggests pages that you've bookmarked.
Open tabs
: suggests pages that you have open in another tab.
Shortcuts
: suggests your most visited sites (if Shortcuts are enabled in your
New Tab page settings
) when you click in the address bar.
Search engines
: suggests results that include search engines.
Note:
Users in the United States, France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom will see
Firefox Suggest
an
Address Bar — Firefox Suggest
section instead, with additional settings. To learn more, see
Customize Firefox Suggest settings
Search alternatives
When you start typing in the address bar or search bar, you'll see icons below the search suggestions, to search instead with other search engines, Bookmarks, Tabs or History.
When you start typing in the address bar, you'll see a Unified Search button with the icon for your default search engine.
When you click on it, a drop-down menu will open, to search instead with: other search engines, Bookmarks, Tabs or History.
You can choose an alternative search type and use it for your search, if you don't want to use the current default.
To remove alternative search engines you don't want to be displayed in the search bar or address bar, remove the check mark next to the search engine listed in the Search panel under
Search Shortcuts
. This will not remove the search engines themselves.
Remove or add search engines
To remove a search engine from Firefox, restore the default search engines that come with Firefox or add a new search engine, go to the
Search Shortcuts
section of the Search panel.
Remove a search engine
Click the search engine you want to remove, to highlight it.
Click the
Remove
button at the bottom, to take it off your list.
Note:
You must use the Add-ons manager to remove any search engines installed as Firefox
extensions
(see
Disable or remove Add-ons
for details).
Restore default search engines
If you remove any of the search engines that come with Firefox by default, click
Restore Default Search Engines
at the bottom of the Search panel to bring them back.
Add a new search engine
Click the
Find more search engines
link at the bottom of the Search panel.
Firefox Add-ons
page will open, listing available search tools.
Click the search engine you want to add and click
Add to Firefox
For more information about adding or removing search engines, see
Add or remove a search engine in Firefox
Search engine keywords
You can assign or change keyword shortcuts for your favorite search engines to make it easier to perform a search. For more information, see
Assign shortcuts to search engines
Related articles
Search with the Firefox address bar
Search suggestions in Firefox
Add the Search bar to your Firefox toolbar
Add custom search engines in Firefox
My default search engine changed after updating Firefox
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