Firefox Command+K no longer opens search

Question

In Firefox, pressing ⌘ cmd K used to open a search page. But as of recent updates, it only focuses the URL bar.

I have the search bar hidden... so this sort of makes sense. However when I want to search for something with periods in it, Firefox treats it as a URL. For example: document.getElementById().

Is there a way to restore the old ⌘ cmd K functionality of opening a true search field?

Answer 1

When searching from the URL bar, I prepend a space before search terms containing a .. This forces Firefox not to treat the first two words as a domain name. This has worked since even before Firefox 1.0.

In your case though, make sure you have the Search Bar in Firefox’s drawer/“hamburger” menu. Pressing ⌘ cmd K focuses that search bar for me, without needing to drag it onto the application’s main toolbar.

If the Search Bar is missing, open that same menu, and click Customize. Drag the Search Bar from the collection of Additional Tools and Features onto your “hamburger” menu.

If the Search Bar isn’t available from there, you may need to Restore Defaults.

Answer 2

This seems to work, in that it allows you to search in the URL bar for things that Firefox interprets as URLs.

1. Hit Command+K
2. Enter document.getElementById()
3. Hit the TAB key (or the down key) once to change selection from http://document.getElementById() - Visit to document.getElementById() - Search with Google
4. Hit ENTER

Answer 3

The reason you can't make the commandK keyboard shortcut take you to the dedicated search field is because it's not there. So, it now comes to a decision between learning how to use the URL field to conduct the search you want, or getting the dedicated search bar back?

Here are your two options:

1. Leave it as is and when you conduct a search for something that has periods in it, just use quotation marks. So, instead os searching for document.getElementById(), you search for "document.getElementById()" instead.
2. Restore the default toolbar by going to View > Toolbars > Customize... and in the window that appears, select the Restore Defaults option at bottom-right. This will make the dedicated search field present and allow the commandK keyboard shortcut to work as you want.