Firefox – Keyboard Shortcut to Switch Search Engines

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I would like to know if there is a keyboard shortcut for switching the search engine in the search bar in Firefox. The current way to do is clicking on the down arrow beside the icon, but I am looking for a quick keyboard shortcut.

Checked the Firefox help, it just has this regarding the switching of search engines in search bar.

I need this, as I need to frequently switch between Google and the internal intranet search engine.

Best Answer

  1. Click at the icon
  2. Select "Manage Search Engines…"
  3. Select the search engine you want to set a shortcut for
  4. Click on "Edit keyword…"
  5. Give a shortcut, e.g. "g" for Google

Now you can type into the address bar the chosen search shortcut followed by what you like to search. Example: g weather berne.

To switch to the address bar with the keyboard, use the shortcut Ctrl+L. You could also open a new tab (Ctrl+T), because it sets the focus to the address bar automatically.


By the way: this works for nearly all search fields on any website. Just right-click on a search field and select "Add a keyword for this search…" (don't know the actual English translation). Instead of adding this search to the search widget, Firefox saves it as a bookmark.

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