Mozilla added a live search suggestions feature to Firefox 41 in June. The cutting edge Nightly version of Firefox was the first to receive live search suggestions which displayed suggestions based on the query if no or too few bookmarks, history and open tabs entries were available to fill the list of suggestions.

Firefox used to display only those by default previously and while that worked well usually, it sometimes resulted in a lack of items when users started to type in the browser's address bar.

Search suggestions were taken from the default search engine and displayed immediately as suggestions.

Firefox Nightly users who have updated their version of the browser to the very latest may have noticed that the procedure has changed quite a bit.

A new prompt is the main indicator that something changed. A prompt is displayed underneath the address bar whenever it is selected.

Users are asked whether they want to use live search suggestions. The answer is either yes or no, and there is a learn more button which leads to a blank page currently.

A selection of yes enables live search suggestions, a selection of no keeps the status quo so that only bookmarks, history entries and open tabs are returned.

You may use the following preferences to modify the setting at a later point in time:

Type about:config in Firefox's address bar and hit enter. Confirm you will be careful if the prompt appears. Search for browser.urlbar.userMadeSearchSuggestionsChoice to toggle the availability of the prompt. If you set it to false, it will show up again while a value of true hides it. Search for browser.urlbar.suggest.searches to toggle the live search suggestions feature. If set to true, search suggestions are displayed while a setting of false will disable them.

Firefox users may modify the setting in the preferences as well.

Load about:preferences#privacy in the browser's address bar. The Location Bar section defines which items the browser suggests when you start to type. You may enable or disable the history, bookmarks, open tabs, and related searches individually on the page.

Closing Words

Mozilla was criticized for the opt-out nature of live search suggestions in Firefox. The organization addresses this by making live search suggestions an opt-in feature instead.

Additional information about the status of the implementation are available on Bugzilla@Mozilla.

Summary Article Name Mozilla changes Firefox Live Search Suggestions to Opt-In Description Mozilla changed Firefox's upcoming Live Search Suggestions feature from opt-out to opt-in. Author Martin Brinkmann

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