If a website can be added as search engine in Firefox browser, Firefox 56 and earlier versions, used to show a magnifying glass icon in the search bar to tell the user that the site can be added as a search engine to the browser. Since Mozilla has removed search bar with Firefox Quantum 57 and merged it into the address bar, the ability to add search engine discovery to location bar or address bar is not available till now, the version Firefox 61 has got that.
READ: Firefox 57 : How to add Search bar to Toolbar
How to add search engine to address bar in Firefox 61 Quantum
1. Visit the website in Firefox browser which you want to use as search engine.
2. Click on three dots (…) icon in the address bar to open Page Action menu and select ‘Add Search Engine’ option.
3. Done. Visit menu > Options > Search options to see the search engine added under one-click Search engines list.
Tip: Right click on ‘Add Search Engine’ Page Action menu item and select ‘Add to address bar’, so next time when you visit a search engine site, Firefox shows an icon in location bar informing you that search engine is available. Doing this, avoids the need to open Page Actions menu again and again.
SEE: Delete Unneeded Search Engines from Firefox
Firefox 50: Remove Search Engines with ‘Delete’ key
Mozilla highlights this change in Firefox 61 release notes as:
‘OpenSearch plugins offered by web pages can now be added from the page action menu for easier installation’.
Its a pity that Firefox doesn’t informs user in the first place that the site you visited supports search function, and can be added as search engine to Firefox browser via option present in the Page Action Menu. What’s your take on this? Bad UX?
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