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An add-on to force firefox switch back to default search engine in search bar

  • 2 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

Omen
Omen
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Hi,

I have a couple search engines installed in firefox's search bar. I find it extremely annoying that each time I change the search engine it remains like that even after restarting firefox. Is there any add-on that would switch back to the one that is on the top of the list (which happens to be my default search engine for navigation bar as well) every time I restart the browser?

Let me give you an example: I use duckduckgo as a default search engine for the nav bar and in the search bar. Let's say I need to find a definition for which I use wikipedia search engine. I switch to wikipedia one then. I turn off the browser and the next time I start firefox the search engine that appears in the search bar is wikipedia and I would prefer it to be duckduckgo.

I hope it isn't to vague.

cheers, Omen

Hi, I have a couple search engines installed in firefox's search bar. I find it extremely annoying that each time I change the search engine it remains like that even after restarting firefox. Is there any add-on that would switch back to the one that is on the top of the list (which happens to be my default search engine for navigation bar as well) every time I restart the browser? Let me give you an example: I use duckduckgo as a default search engine for the nav bar and in the search bar. Let's say I need to find a definition for which I use wikipedia search engine. I switch to wikipedia one then. I turn off the browser and the next time I start firefox the search engine that appears in the search bar is wikipedia and I would prefer it to be duckduckgo. I hope it isn't to vague. cheers, Omen

Chosen solution

Easiest is to set the preferred default engine to the preferred search engine via the user.js file in the Firefox profile folder by copying the related user_pref() line to this file.

The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.

You can search the about:config page for browser.search. to locate the pref(s) that you need.

  • user_pref("browser.search.defaultenginename", "Google");

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
  • Create the chrome folder (lowercase) in the <xxxxxxxx>.default profile folder if this folder doesn't exist
  • Use a plain text editor like Notepad to create a (new) user.js file in this folder (the names are case sensitive)
  • Make sure that you select "All files" and not "Text files" when you save the file via "Save file as" in the text editor as user.js
    Otherwise Windows may add a hidden .txt file extension and you end up with a not working user.js.txt file
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All Replies (2)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
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Sorry, I have never seen an add-on like that. Feel free to look yourself.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Easiest is to set the preferred default engine to the preferred search engine via the user.js file in the Firefox profile folder by copying the related user_pref() line to this file.

The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.

You can search the about:config page for browser.search. to locate the pref(s) that you need.

  • user_pref("browser.search.defaultenginename", "Google");

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
  • Create the chrome folder (lowercase) in the <xxxxxxxx>.default profile folder if this folder doesn't exist
  • Use a plain text editor like Notepad to create a (new) user.js file in this folder (the names are case sensitive)
  • Make sure that you select "All files" and not "Text files" when you save the file via "Save file as" in the text editor as user.js
    Otherwise Windows may add a hidden .txt file extension and you end up with a not working user.js.txt file