Adding A Custom Search Engine To Firefox [closed]

Question

I need to add a custom search engine to Firefox. I have a name and a search url.

1. What options should I change in %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\prefs.js file?

2. Do I need to create a distinct xml file for new search engine in one of these folders?

   • %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\searchplugins

   • %PROGRAM_FILES%\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

3. Should I modify %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\search.sqlite sqlite database file?

Answer 1

Here are the steps:

1. Need to create an xml file which will contain information about search engine like ShortName, Description, Url etc. (Example)

2. Give a name to that xml file and put it here

   "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\searchplugins" 

   or here

   "%PROGRAM_FILES%\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins" 

3. Modifying firefox preferences file "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\prefs.js"

   Simply add/modify this line:

   user_pref("browser.search.selectedEngine", "engine_name"); 

No need to modify sqlite database file manually. New search engine will be added automatically after restarting Firefox.

Answer 2

If you are just trying to search a certain site from the address bar, you do not have to create any OpenSearch XML.

You can add a bookmark with %s as a placeholder, and give it a keyword. The subsequent search terms will fill into the placeholder. For an example that searches Stack Overflow, put these fields into a "New Bookmark"

Name Search Stack Overflow
Location https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%s
Tags development (your relevant tags)
Keyword so
Description

To perform a search, type so How to exit Vim into the address bar and hit return.

_{If you have also added search engines in Chrome, you will recognize the same %s placeholder that is used in chrome://settings/searchEngines. I do not know, but it may be that Chrome also uses bookmarks like Firefox under the hood.}