How to Add and Remove Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites on Firefox New Tab page


Starting with Firefox 63.0, search shortcuts for Top Sites were added. Amazon and Google appear as Top Sites tiles on the Firefox Home (New Tab) page. When selected these tiles will change focus to the address bar to initiate a search.

Firefox lets you pin search for Google, Bing, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Twitter and Wikipedia in your top sites.

Currently in US only.

See also: Save a step when you're searching with Firefox | The Firefox Frontier

This tutorial will show you how to add and remove search engine shortcut icons in Top Sites on the New Tab page in Firefox for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.


 CONTENTS:

  • Option One: Unpin Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites
  • Option Two: Add and Remove Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites
  • Option Three: Enable or Disable Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites


EXAMPLE: Search engine icons in Top Sites on New Tab page in Firefox
Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-search_icons_on_top_sites_in_firefox.jpg






OPTION ONE

Unpin Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites


1. Open Firefox, and open a new tab (Ctrl+T).

2. Hover the pointer over the search icon (ex: Amazon) you want to remove until you see the dots icon. (see screenshot below)

3. Click/tap on the dots icon, and click/tap on Unpin.

Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-unpin_search_icon_on_top_sites_in_firefox.jpg






OPTION TWO

Add and Remove Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites


1. Open Firefox, and open a new tab (Ctrl+T).

2. Click/tap on the three dots icon on the top right side of Top Sites, and click/tap on Add Search Engine. (see screenshot below)

Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-add_and_remove_search_icons_on_top_sites_in_firefox-1.jpg

3. Check (add) and uncheck (remove) the search engines you want for your Top Sites, and click/tap on Save when finished. (see screenshot below)

Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-add_and_remove_search_icons_on_top_sites_in_firefox-2.jpg






OPTION THREE

Enable or Disable Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites


1. Open Firefox.

2. Type about:config into the address bar, press Enter, and click/tap on the I accept the risk button. (see screenshot below)

Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-enable_or_disable_search_icons_on_top_sites_in_firefox-1.jpg

3. Copy and paste browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts into the search box, and press Enter. (see screenshots below step 4)

4. Double click/tap on the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts setting to change its value to true (enable - default) or false (disable) for what you want. (see screenshots below)

Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-enable_or_disable_search_icons_on_top_sites_in_firefox-2.jpg Add and Remove Search Engine Icons on New Tab Top Sites in Firefox-enable_or_disable_search_icons_on_top_sites_in_firefox-3.jpg

5. You can now close this about:config tab if you like.


That's it,
Shawn