Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

How to remove the blue duplicate search bar

more options

Using DuckDuckGo as my search engine, a blue bar that duplicates the URL search appears. I want to remove it. No searches have helped solve this.

Using DuckDuckGo as my search engine, a blue bar that duplicates the URL search appears. I want to remove it. No searches have helped solve this.

All Replies (3)

more options

Hi Chaly, does the extra bar appear right at the top of the page below the toolbar area? You can test whether something is in the webpage or in the toolbar area in either of these ways:

  • Temporarily switch to full screen: click in the body of the page and press F11. The toolbars should roll up, letting the page take over. Press F11 again to switch back.
  • Zoom the content: click in the body of the page, hold down the Ctrl key, and tap the + key several times. To reverse, either hold down the Ctrl key and tap the - key several times, or press 0 once (Ctrl+zero resets to 100%).

If you mean that when you type into the address bar a drop-down appears to show suggestions, and the top line has a blue background, that is true. That top line indicates what would happen if you submit the contents of the address bar. This will change as you type.

more options

The blue bar drops down as I start to type a site into the search bar, saying "Search with...."

more options

Hi Chaly, yes, that top row of the drop-down is for your information. It can show a wide range of different actions depending on what is matched from your history or whether you have a used a keyword to send your input to a different search site or load a bookmark.

There is no built-in way to hide that row, but you can hide it using a custom style rule in a userChrome.css file. The rule can be adapted to your preferences. So for example, if you want to see when Firefox might do something other than send your search to DuckDuckGo, you could show the bar when it indicates some other action.

This is an example:

If you already have a userChrome.css file, skip to step (3).

Custom Style Rule Method

This takes about 10 minutes, so when you can set aside time and take it slowly and carefully:

(1) Create a chrome folder in your currently active Firefox profile, by following Steps 1-3 on this page:

https://www.userchrome.org/how-create-userchrome-css.html

I have a demo video there if the text needs some visual context.

(2) Set Windows to show all file extensions (Step 4 on the above page)

(3) This is the custom style rule text:

/* Remove bar when it has " - Search with DuckDuckGo" */
#PopupAutoCompleteRichResult richlistitem:first-of-type[actiontype="searchengine"][title="DuckDuckGo"] {
    display:none !important;
}

(A) If you don't have a userChrome.css file yet:

Copy the rule text and paste it into a page on my website which will let you download it as a userChrome.css file:

https://www.userchrome.org/download-userchrome-css.html

After saving the file, move it into the chrome folder.

(B) If you already have a userChrome.css file you can paste the above rule into it.

(4) Exit Firefox and start it up again so Firefox reads and applies the rules.

Success?