I was once a dedicated Firefox user, but for some time now, I have moved on to Brave as my default browser. However, I wrote an article recently about Perplexity search in Firefox, and while revisiting Firefox, I discovered that the search bar was not working.
When I tried to type a search term into the search bar, what I was typing automatically and constantly popped into the address bar instead. So frustrating.
Initially, I looked through Firefox’s settings to see if there was a way to alter that behavior. After finding nothing of the sort and in the belief that this could not be right, I searched online for a possible solution, only to discover dozens, if not hundreds of users posting the exact same complaint.
I, as is apparently the case with many others, prefer to use a search bar rather than the address bar for searching, and after much searching online, I finally came across a solution that worked for me:
Fix Firefox Search Bar Not Working
- Open Firefox, type about:config into the address bar, and hit Enter
- In the warning, click the Accept the Risk and Continue button
- Copy and paste the following into the Taskbar and toggle it to false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar
NOTE: You can toggle between True and False either by double-clicking the item or via the toggle switch:
(click image to enlarge)
BOTTOM LINE:
As I mentioned earlier, there are heaps of complaints across forums about this same issue, and this was in the latest Firefox version (149). Honestly, in today’s ultra-competitive browser market, Mozilla isn’t doing its reputation any favours by requiring this type of workaround for something that should just work out of the box; it is simply unacceptable.
- For all Firefox-related articles, please visit: Firefox On DCT
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I started with Navigator and ended up with Firefox for many years until it no longer served me well. I run Chrome and Edge now. A happy camper, indeed.
Inside of about:config, the “browser.newtabpage…” item you mentioned is set to true on my Firefox (149). But the search bar works normally (I always prefer the search bar). Possibly Firefox has fixed this? Not sure, but mine is not misbehaving. FWIW.
Hey Joe,
Yes, it’s a strange one. Lots of reports across forums of the search bar not working and lots of different solutions put forward. This was the one that worked for me, but I’ve read of others who’ve tried the same fix and it hasn’t worked for them. Go figure.
I’m running the latest Firefox version (149). Firefox is reporting it’s up to date.
My guess why it doesn’t work for some and does for others could be due to an add-on. Disabling all add-ons and try searching to verify. If the search box now works, re-enable one at a time until you hit the one causing the problem. I’ve also ran into a situation where two add-ons created a conflict but none when excluding one.
It’s a good thought Bob but… been there, done that.
Disabling all (3) extensions was the first thing I tried, it made no difference.