Cannot Turn Off Search Suggestions in Firefox

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  1. Posts : 13,847
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #11

    jrolson said:
    Is there no longer a way to revert to the old urlbar in 77.0?
    Doesn't appear mine changed from 76.x.x.
    Cannot Turn Off Search Suggestions in Firefox-image.png
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 548
    Windows 10 Build 1809
    Thread Starter
       #12

    supermammalego said:
    It's not a bug.
    All that being said. How to disable?
    It's pretty simple. Firefox is a really easy method of configuring the browser built right into it. By typing in about:config into the address bar you can change endless amount of settings regarding Firefox from the seemingly trivial to critical settings that which affect how it works. You might get a warning when you visit about:config if it's the first time. You can tick the box and you'll be provided with a text bar to type into.

    Type this in:
    browser.search.suggest enabled - false

    Now you'll have to type in a boolean. A boolean is a value that can either be true or false. By default the value is 'true' but you want des on your drive. It resides at %APPDATA%/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles followed by the one which ends in 'default-release'. This is by default the profile given to everyone when they install Firefox before a user creates his/her own.

    You also don't need to change anything to disable search suggestions. You're also looking in the wrong area. The menu you want in 'Options' is 'Search' followed by Search Suggestions. Search history and Search suggestions are two different things. There you will find several tickboxes. It is easier though to navigate to about:config like mentioned in my post and disable it there.
    Thank you.
    I appreciate all the work you put into that.

    OK, here is the result of making the change in about:config you suggested. FF 77 still produces those suggestions.
    Go figure!

    Thanks again.

    Cannot Turn Off Search Suggestions in Firefox-image.png
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 6,741
    22H2 64 Bit Pro
       #13

    supermammalego said:
    77 is a BETA release. Was released back at the start of May for BETA channel users. There's 78 as well but that's nightly. There is no sign of 77 being a stable official release yet as per the official website. BETA releases for a production environment are not recommended and nightly definetly not.

    I'm also curious as to why your update software recognises 77 as a stable release? I'm certain it's still in BETA and judging by all the release notes I'm right. It's a bit risky to offer BETA software to people when they might not be aware of the implications using it. Seems like a fairly sketchy practice to employ into software that has a lot of trust. Did you choose to allow the software to install versions of other than official stable releases?
    It's up now:
    Mozilla Firefox Release Notes

    Before they updated that page it was available here:

    Directory Listing: /pub/firefox/releases/

    EDIT: As far as I know that software only installs the latest stable builds.




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  4. Posts : 548
    Windows 10 Build 1809
    Thread Starter
       #14

    Callender said:
    It's up now:
    Mozilla Firefox Release Notes

    Before they updated that page it was available here:

    Directory Listing: /pub/firefox/releases/

    EDIT: As far as I know that software only installs the latest stable builds.

    It was up on Mozilla.Org this morning according to Brink's post first thing.. That's where I got my copy.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 6,741
    22H2 64 Bit Pro
       #15

    Another thing:

    I removed the default release profile (I don't remember how) and just use my own profile:

    Cannot Turn Off Search Suggestions in Firefox-about-profiles.jpg
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6,741
    22H2 64 Bit Pro
       #16

    JJG10

    You could try creating another profile then importing it:

    Create profile here:

    Firefox Profilemaker

    Profile Manager - Create, remove, or switch Firefox profiles | Firefox Help
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 161
    Windows 10
       #17

    I would suggest either going to about:support or going to your %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>.default-release
    The <profile> portion will probably be a bunch of letters and/or numbers and so find this. Make sure it ends with "default-release".
    Then using Notepad open a file named "prefs.js" and then when it opens press CTRL+F to find text in the file. You want to search for the preference you've modified, this one;
    Code:
    browser.search.suggest.enabled
    and make sure the value is set to "false". If it isn't you can manually edit the value yourself putting in "false". CTRL+S to save and then load Firefox and see if that did anything.

    It's likely a conflict in your profile. Usually preferences that are modified through about:config are not as final as the ones you make editing the actual files that make up Firefox ie the preferences file that contains everything Firefox calls upon to reference how to run. If you modify preferences this way you usually override everything else. Although, using about:config should simply work without any problems. Otherwise, kinda makes the whole idea of having about:config obsolete.

    If that doesn't work navigate to about:support in Firefox. This is the main page for pretty much everything you would need to know about how Firefox is running. It's the troubleshooting page and so it's purpose is for doing what you are doing now and seeing what is working and what isn't and what Firefox can tell you about these things. So, again like in Notepad press CTRL+F to open the find bar and type in the preference again. It should find a match, you can use the down and up arrows next to the search box to navigate through the matches although there should only be one match if you typed the preference in correctly. If it's still "true" you know there is a conflict. Likewise with "false" seeing as it's really still "true" considering search suggestions are still enabled.

    On this page you can refresh Firefox. right at the top far right. To make sure you don't lose everything completely you can make a backup copy of your profile by going back to the "default-release" profile directory and copying it. With this process your extensions (if you have any) will be removed but you can install them manually with the backup copies of them you have. To do this you can go to the main Firefox menu and then Add-ons and then press the little gear button at the top of the page towards the right hand side followed by 'Install addon from file..' and then select the extensions as per the folder you've made the backup of them in. They will reside in 'extensions' folder in your main profile folder.

    The reset should work as it will completely wipe all configurations and start from scratch. It can happen that wires get crossed in Firefox from time to time due to conflicts in settings applied etc. I've had it happen to me a few times and unless you are prepared to go into the bowels of Firefox and fix the conflicts a reset is the best option.

    See if it works and reply back with the results.

    Try this as well, I'm not sure if you mean the search suggestions preference or the search preference itself. The search preference gives you the option to search with your default search provider but it doesn't work like search suggestions. If you mean this, and I think I mentioned it before, you can disable it with this;
    Code:
    keyword.enabled = false
    You'll get no option to search with a search engine when this is disabled.
      My Computer


 

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