As you type into the search bar Firefox suggests relevant search terms and action buttons related to the answer or task you may be looking for. When search suggestions are enabled the text you type in the search bar is sent to the default search engine. This search engine analyzes the words and displays a list of popular results based on the search term.

How search suggestions work

If you see a search suggestion that matches what you are looking for, click on it to see results for that search term. This can save time and help you find what you’re looking for with less typing.

Enabling search suggestions will send the keywords you type in a search field to the default search engine - unless you appear to be typing a URL or hostname.

Searches can be entered into:

• the address bar
• the Search bar, if enabled in the toolbar
• the New Tab page

The default search engine may collect that information according to the terms of their privacy policy, and users concerned about this information being collected may not wish to enable search suggestions. Search suggestions are disabled by default in Private Browsing mode. You must explicitly turn them on in a Private Browsing window to enable them in that mode.

Action button suggestions

When you type certain tasks into the search bar, such as to download or update Firefox, suggestions may include an action button to complete that task directly from the search bar.

For example, if you type "update firefox" an action button will appear to update.

Enabling or disabling search suggestions

You can enable or disable Search suggestions at any time, by checking or un-checking the Provide search suggestions box in your Firefox search settings:

• To see search suggestions in the address bar, put a check mark next to Show search suggestions in address bar results.
• To show search suggestions before your browsing history, put a check mark next to Show search suggestions ahead of browsing history in address bar results.