Disable automatic google search
I'm using Firefox 75.0 on macOS. When I enter the phrase "google docs", Firefox assumes that I want to do a google search for the word "docs", instead of using my chosen search engine (StartPage) to search for the phrase "google docs".
- As I'm typing, as soon as I hit the space after the word "google" it shows a pop-down thing below the address bar saying "http://www.google.com/search?q=". - When I type the "d" in "docs" it changes to "www.google.com: d".
The browser seems to be assuming that for any input starting with the word "google", the user is thinking of the word "google" as a verb, as opposed to it being the first word in something that the user wants to search for.
I spent about ten minutes going through the various settings screens to remove anything involving Google, other than the "safe browsing checklist" downloads (and I only allow that because the checking happens on my local machine).
How do I make Firefox NOT assume that the phrase "google x" means "do a google search for x"?
الحل المُختار
You could try removing the keyword google from the bookmark for Google searching. I'm not sure of the easiest way to find it, but you could try this:
(A) Launch the Library window using Command+Shift+b (or "Show All Bookmarks")
(B) In the small search box upper right, type or paste this phrase (the space is intentional)
google %s
(C) Click the first match and glance down to the bottom of the Library window to see whether this bookmark has a Keyword set to google. If so, there's your trouble. I suggest shortening it to gs -- this is unlikely to be the first word of any search -- or clearing it if you don't use this bookmark for searching.
Were you able to track it down?
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The blue star added indicates that this is a bookmark. You can try to force a search by starting with a '@'.
الحل المُختار
You could try removing the keyword google from the bookmark for Google searching. I'm not sure of the easiest way to find it, but you could try this:
(A) Launch the Library window using Command+Shift+b (or "Show All Bookmarks")
(B) In the small search box upper right, type or paste this phrase (the space is intentional)
google %s
(C) Click the first match and glance down to the bottom of the Library window to see whether this bookmark has a Keyword set to google. If so, there's your trouble. I suggest shortening it to gs -- this is unlikely to be the first word of any search -- or clearing it if you don't use this bookmark for searching.
Were you able to track it down?
That was it ... there were about a dozen bookmarks in there with titles like "Google search", "Google quicksearch", "Google stock lookup", and so forth. I'm not sure where they came from, unless they were some kind of "helpful" default thing that got added when I installed, re-installed, or upgraded Firefox, or migrated bookmarks from other browsers over the years.
Those are all gone now, and I'll be doing a full audit of my bookmarks at some point in the next few days.
Thanks for your help!