Adding A Custom Search Engine To Firefox [closed]

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I need to add a custom search engine to Firefox. I have a name and a search url.

1. What options should I change in %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\prefs.js file?

2. Do I need to create a distinct xml file for new search engine in one of these folders?

   • %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\searchplugins

   • %PROGRAM_FILES%\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

3. Should I modify %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\search.sqlite sqlite database file?

Answer 1

You can also use this opensearch Mycroft Project

It has everything already created just enter the values into textbox and and you have the XML code; and you can install the search engine directly in the browser from there.

You can also submit your website search engine, and search for (and use) a search engine submitted by another user.

Answer 2

If your objective is just to be able to search a certain site from the address bar, you do not have to create any OpenSearch XML.

You can add a bookmark with %s as a placeholder, and add a keyword. The subsequent search terms will fill into the placeholder. For example, put these fields into a "New Bookmark" to search Stack Overflow:

Name Search Stack Overflow
Location https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%s
Tags
Keyword so
Description

To perform a search, type so How to exit Vim into the address bar and hit enter.

Answer 3

Make sure that your & is escaped as &
Firefox will NOT activate the search engine that are broken in format
Check https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/Creating_OpenSearch_plugins_for_Firefox#Troubleshooting_Tips

Just put a right xml file in right place,it will take effect after restarting firefox

Answer 4

Give this a try.

http://www.investintech.com/resources/blog/archives/5263-address-bar-search-engine.html

Using Iceweasel (Linux), should work for Firefox too. Tried it for about 30 sites that i had with Chrome/Chromium.

Pro:

Works!

Cons:

Too much manual work.

Answer 5

Here are the steps:

1. Need to create an xml file which will contain information about search engine like ShortName, Description, Url etc. (Example)

2. Give a name to that xml file and put it here

   "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\searchplugins"
   

   or here

   "%PROGRAM_FILES%\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins"
   

3. Modifying firefox preferences file "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.default\prefs.js"

   Simply add/modify this line:

   user_pref("browser.search.selectedEngine", "engine_name");
   

No need to modify sqlite database file manually. New search engine will be added automatically after restarting Firefox.

Answer 6

It helped for me. (Firefox v50)

1. Close Firefox;
2. Delete in profile of Firefox: search.json, search.json.mozlz4
3. Copy your OpenSearch in searchplugins folder;

4. Add an entry in search-metadata.json;

   "[profile]/your-opensearch.xml": {
     "alias": "your-opensearch",
     "order": 25
   }