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In macOS how to make the Find bar both copy and search the selection

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  • Last reply by ADTC

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I'm using macOS (Apple MacBook) where I'm running the latest stable version of Firefox: 112.0.

Based on https://support.mozilla.org/bm/questions/1344663 I have already enabled the preference accessibility.typeaheadfind.prefillwithselection = true

But this only copies the selected text to the Find bar when I press Cmd-F. It doesn't automatically search the text. I then have to press the Return key or press Cmd-G to make it search and find the nearest match (and also update the number of matches, and update the highlighted results if Highlight All is enabled).

How can I skip the extra step and make it also search the selected text which it has copied and pre-filled in the Find bar? Is there another preference to control that? Or should I open a bug report in Bugzilla?

Here are my current settings with the keyword 'find':

   accessibility.typeaheadfind	false	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.autostart	true	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.casesensitive	0	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.enablesound	true	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar	0	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly	false	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.manual	true	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.matchesCountLimit	1000	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.prefillwithselection	true	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.soundURL	beep	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.startlinksonly	false	
   accessibility.typeaheadfind.timeout	5000
   browser.find.ignore_ruby_annotations	true	
   findbar.entireword	false	
   findbar.highlightAll	true	
   findbar.iteratorTimeout	100	
   findbar.matchdiacritics	0	
   findbar.modalHighlight	false	
   services.sync.prefs.sync.accessibility.typeaheadfind	true	
   services.sync.prefs.sync.accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly	true
I'm using macOS (Apple MacBook) where I'm running the latest stable version of Firefox: 112.0. Based on https://support.mozilla.org/bm/questions/1344663 I have already enabled the preference accessibility.typeaheadfind.prefillwithselection = true But this only copies the selected text to the Find bar when I press Cmd-F. It doesn't automatically search the text. I then have to press the Return key or press Cmd-G to make it search and find the nearest match (and also update the number of matches, and update the highlighted results if Highlight All is enabled). How can I skip the extra step and make it also search the selected text which it has copied and pre-filled in the Find bar? Is there another preference to control that? Or should I open a bug report in Bugzilla? Here are my current settings with the keyword 'find': accessibility.typeaheadfind false accessibility.typeaheadfind.autostart true accessibility.typeaheadfind.casesensitive 0 accessibility.typeaheadfind.enablesound true accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar 0 accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly false accessibility.typeaheadfind.manual true accessibility.typeaheadfind.matchesCountLimit 1000 accessibility.typeaheadfind.prefillwithselection true accessibility.typeaheadfind.soundURL beep accessibility.typeaheadfind.startlinksonly false accessibility.typeaheadfind.timeout 5000 browser.find.ignore_ruby_annotations true findbar.entireword false findbar.highlightAll true findbar.iteratorTimeout 100 findbar.matchdiacritics 0 findbar.modalHighlight false services.sync.prefs.sync.accessibility.typeaheadfind true services.sync.prefs.sync.accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly true

Chosen solution

cor-el said

That is not possible. When this feature was added initially years ago, they decided that some action was required to prevent jumping to another position on the page (i.e. losing the current context) when you opened the find bar. Clicking on one of the option buttons should also update the number of hits. Comment 8:
  • 250910#c8 - Find toolbar: initialize with the current selection

OK, I've noted it. Though I wish there was a preference to control this as per my desire (even if it was disabled by default).

As a power user, I'd prefer having the ability to find a selection immediately over avoiding a scroll to an arbitrary position. I scroll up and down pages all day, so it doesn't bother me as much to scroll from that jump. Once I know that it's probably because I had selected something outside the viewport, I'd acknowledge it's my own fault that the page jumped when I opened the Find bar.

It bothers me more that I have to do an extra step to find the selection. It would save me time and effort if I didn't need to.

Thank you anyway.

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That is not possible. When this feature was added initially years ago, they decided that some action was required to prevent jumping to another position on the page (i.e. losing the current context) when you opened the find bar. Clicking on one of the option buttons should also update the number of hits.

Comment 8:

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Chosen Solution

cor-el said

That is not possible. When this feature was added initially years ago, they decided that some action was required to prevent jumping to another position on the page (i.e. losing the current context) when you opened the find bar. Clicking on one of the option buttons should also update the number of hits. Comment 8:
  • 250910#c8 - Find toolbar: initialize with the current selection

OK, I've noted it. Though I wish there was a preference to control this as per my desire (even if it was disabled by default).

As a power user, I'd prefer having the ability to find a selection immediately over avoiding a scroll to an arbitrary position. I scroll up and down pages all day, so it doesn't bother me as much to scroll from that jump. Once I know that it's probably because I had selected something outside the viewport, I'd acknowledge it's my own fault that the page jumped when I opened the Find bar.

It bothers me more that I have to do an extra step to find the selection. It would save me time and effort if I didn't need to.

Thank you anyway.