Change your default search settings in Firefox

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  • Revision id: 104320
  • Created:
  • Creator: Joni
  • Comment: separate article for SEO; added Win10 cortana note
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: heyjoni
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: heyjoni
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Unless you choose another search engine in the search bar, Firefox will use your default search engine to perform a search. Learn how to change the default to your preferred search engine.

Available search engines

Firefox comes with the following search engines by default:

  • Yahoo for searching the web via Yahoo
  • Google for searching the web via Google
  • Bing for searching the web via Microsoft Bing
  • Amazon.com for searching for products on the Amazon.com retail website
  • DuckDuckGo as a search engine for users who don't want to be tracked when they search
  • eBay for looking up items for sale or auction at eBay
  • Twitter for searching people on Twitter
  • Wikipedia (en) for searching the English Wikipedia free online encyclopedia
To add or remove search engines, see Add or remove a search engine in Firefox.

Set a default search engine

Follow these simple steps to set your favorite search engine as the default:

  1. Click the magnifying glass in the Search bar on your toolbar, then click Change Search Settings.
    search prefs 34search settings fx36
  2. In the search preferences window, select a default search engine in the drop-down menu.
    search default 34choose default search 38
  3. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
Windows 10 users: If you'd like to use the same search engine for Cortana searches, put a check mark next to Use this search engine for searches from Windows.

Turn search suggestions on or off

  1. Click the magnifying glass in the Search bar on your toolbar, then click Change Search Settings.
    search prefs 34search settings fx36
  2. In the search preferences window, add or remove the check mark next to Provide search suggestions to turn them on or off.
    turn on search suggestions fx34search suggestions 38
  3. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.