Search Bar: Difference between revisions

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("Starting in Firefox 2.0" -> "Firefox 2 and above"; removed obsolete information for versions prior to Firefox 1.5, added "See also" link to "Search bar" article at SUMO KB)
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==Installing search plugins==
==Installing search plugins==
To add new search engines to the Search Bar:
To add new search engines to the Search Bar:
*'''Firefox 1.5:''' Click the search icon and then click "Add Engines..."  
*'''Firefox 1.5:''' Click the search icon and then click "Add Engines..."  
*'''Firefox 2 and above:'''  Click the search icon, click "Manage Search Engines -> Get more search engines...").
*'''Firefox 2 and above:'''  Click the search icon, click "Manage Search Engines -> Get more search engines..."  
You will be taken to the [https://addons.mozilla.org/search-engines.php  Search Engines page at Mozilla Add-ons] where some of the more popular search plugins can be installed. (A more comprehensive collection of search plugins is available at [http://mycroft.mozdev.org/ mycroft.mozdev.org].)   
You will be taken to the [https://addons.mozilla.org/search-engines.php  Search Engines page at Mozilla Add-ons] where some of the more popular search plugins can be installed. (A more comprehensive collection of search plugins is available at [http://mycroft.mozdev.org/ mycroft.mozdev.org].)  Click one of the search engine links to install the new search plugin.  If you don't see an "Add Search Engine" dialog box, make sure that [[JavaScript]] is enabled.   
Click one of the search engine links to install the new search plugin.  If you don't see an "Add Search Engine" dialog box, make sure that [[JavaScript]] is enabled.   


You can always [[uninstall search plugins]] you don't want in Firefox 2 or above,  via the "Manage Search Engines" search engine manager.  In Firefox 1.5 you must manually remove the associated files from the "searchplugins" folder.
You can always [[uninstall search plugins]] you don't want in Firefox 2 or above,  via the "Manage Search Engines" search engine manager.  In Firefox 1.5 you must manually remove the associated files from the "searchplugins" folder.
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Firefox comes with a set of pre-installed search engines that are present in the [[installation directory]], in the subdirectory "searchplugins", which are available to all user profiles.  In Firefox 1.5 and above,  newly-installed search engines are stored in the "searchplugins" folder located in the [[Profile folder - Firefox|Firefox profile folder]] so you may have search plugin files in both locations.
Firefox comes with a set of pre-installed search engines that are present in the [[installation directory]], in the subdirectory "searchplugins", which are available to all user profiles.  In Firefox 1.5 and above,  newly-installed search engines are stored in the "searchplugins" folder located in the [[Profile folder - Firefox|Firefox profile folder]] so you may have search plugin files in both locations.


'''Note''':  Search engines are stored  in the "seachplugins" subfolder(s)  as single "*.xml" files (e.g., "google.xml") in Firefox 2 and above or as  ''*.src''  and ''*.gif" or "*.png'' pairs of files (e.g., "google.src" and "google.gif") in Firefox 1.5 .  
'''Note''':  Search engines are stored  in the "seachplugins" subfolder(s)  as single "*.xml" files (e.g., "google.xml") in Firefox 2 and above or as  ''*.src''  and ''*.gif" or "*.png'' pairs of files (e.g., "google.src" and "google.gif") in Firefox 1.5 .


==Clearing search history==
==Clearing search history==

Revision as of 01:42, 20 February 2008

This article applies to Firefox.

Firefox's Search Bar is a convenient way to search using your favorite search engines. The default is Google.

Using the Search Bar

To search, click in the Search Bar (or press "Ctrl+K") and start typing. Press the "Enter" key or, in Firefox 2 and above, use the "search" button and your search will be run. You can use "Alt+Enter" to open search results in a new tab.

The Search Bar supports more than one search engine. To see the list of available engines click the icon at the left of the bar, and a list showing the available search engines will appear. You can also use "Ctrl+Up"/"Ctrl+Down" to cycle between the available choices. In Firefox 2 and above you can reorder or remove entries from the search engine list by selecting "Manage Search Engines...".

Installing search plugins

To add new search engines to the Search Bar:

  • Firefox 1.5: Click the search icon and then click "Add Engines..."
  • Firefox 2 and above: Click the search icon, click "Manage Search Engines -> Get more search engines..."

You will be taken to the Search Engines page at Mozilla Add-ons where some of the more popular search plugins can be installed. (A more comprehensive collection of search plugins is available at mycroft.mozdev.org.) Click one of the search engine links to install the new search plugin. If you don't see an "Add Search Engine" dialog box, make sure that JavaScript is enabled.

You can always uninstall search plugins you don't want in Firefox 2 or above, via the "Manage Search Engines" search engine manager. In Firefox 1.5 you must manually remove the associated files from the "searchplugins" folder.

Firefox comes with a set of pre-installed search engines that are present in the installation directory, in the subdirectory "searchplugins", which are available to all user profiles. In Firefox 1.5 and above, newly-installed search engines are stored in the "searchplugins" folder located in the Firefox profile folder so you may have search plugin files in both locations.

Note: Search engines are stored in the "seachplugins" subfolder(s) as single "*.xml" files (e.g., "google.xml") in Firefox 2 and above or as *.src and *.gif" or "*.png pairs of files (e.g., "google.src" and "google.gif") in Firefox 1.5 .

Clearing search history

You can clear the previous searches from the Search Bar. Just right-click the text area of the Search Bar to open the context menu and select "Clear Search History". If "Clear Search History" is grayed out then the search history is already empty.

You can delete individual elements by selecting them and pressing the "Delete" key (or "Shift+Delete" in Firefox 1.5). See article, Deleting autocomplete entries for more information.

Note that search "Suggestions" are not your search history but are loaded in real-time by querying the Google search engine site based on what you've typed so far in the Search Bar. If you don't want to see these suggested search terms, the last item in the Search Bar context menu is "Show Suggestions" and has a checkmark if that option is enabled. Select it to toggle that option. You can also click the Google icon in the Search Bar to open "Manage Search Engines". You will see a "Show search suggestions" checkbox at the bottom of that window.

Viewing filtered results from search engines

Google

There is a way to turn Safesearch off in the Google search plugin without setting preference cookies. Simply go to the Firefox installation directory, open up the "searchplugins" folder, open the "google.src" file in a text editor like Notepad and add <input name="safe" value="off"> between <input name="oe" value="utf-8"> and <interpret browserResultType="result">. Then save the file and restart Firefox.

Yahoo

To turn off filtering for Yahoo, go to the Firefox installation directory and open the "searchplugins" folder. Then open up the "yahoo.src" file in Notepad or a similar text editor. Add <input name="vm" value="i"> after <input name="ei" value="UTF-8">. Save and restart Firefox.

See also

External links