# Does this Firefox add-on (or feature) exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850 "2007-11-01T11:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dystinct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Dystinct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dystinct)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/1 "2007-11-01T11:22:32Z")
I have firefox, and what i love most is the search box in the top right hand corner of the browser. Yet what i’d love more is the ability to highlight text and search for THAT in any number of search engines. For example, if i was reading an article about a new tv show starring John Smith, i could highlight “John Smith” and then click “Search IMDB”(or Wikipedia, or [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) or SuperTorrents… depending on the context) to find out more information about the person/thing. Am i able to do this currently? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/2 "2007-11-01T11:34:04Z")
[Here’s one](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2194). There are probably more. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/3 "2007-11-01T11:48:36Z")
I don’t get it. Is using cut and paste to cumbersome? Sounds like you’d be saving one click with this feature but adding bloat to the browser. I use Firefox and with the search window in the upper right (defaulted to Google, of course) I can click the drop down arrow and select a different search engine or ‘manage search engines’ to change things around. I’m lost as to what you want to do. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/4 "2007-11-01T11:53:09Z")
Doesn’t it already have that? Right now if I click the Google symbol in that upper right hand search box I can choose from a number of engines that the box will search. Also, when highlighting a word or phrase anywhere and right clicking, I have the option to Search x for “y” where y is the word or phrase and x is whatever engine the search box is currently set to. Being as you can add other engines to the list of available choices for the box it sounds like you already have all the functionality you need. ---
**Author:** ![Dystinct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Dystinct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dystinct)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/5 "2007-11-01T12:33:42Z")
Sure i can do essentially the same thing by copying and pasting into the top window, or by changing the listed search engine and doing the right click that way, but i was looking for something slightly simpler. Some would say “who needs google search in the corner when you can just click “home” and then type in your search?” It’s not a need, it’s a want. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/6 "2007-11-01T12:40:34Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] I don’t get it. Is using cut and paste to cumbersome? Sounds like you’d be saving one click with this feature but adding bloat to the browser. I use Firefox and with the search window in the upper right (defaulted to Google, of course) I can click the drop down arrow and select a different search engine or ‘manage search engines’ to change things around. I’m lost as to what you want to do. [/QUOTE] You can’t see that one right-click on highlighted text is more convenient that the procedure you describe? I use right-click search all the time. If I had to copy & paste the text into a search box, I wouldn’t do half as many searches. **flight** ’s suggestion is better, but you still have to change the selected search engine first. That SearchWith extension sounds really handy. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/7 "2007-11-01T12:56:04Z")
This is pretty much exactly what you are looking for: [http://www.hyperwords.net/](http://www.hyperwords.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/8 "2007-11-01T13:35:53Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] You can’t see that one right-click on highlighted text is more convenient that the procedure you describe? I use right-click search all the time. If I had to copy & paste the text into a search box, I wouldn’t do half as many searches. **flight** ’s suggestion is better, but you still have to change the selected search engine first. That SearchWith extension sounds really handy. [/QUOTE] I didn’t see the part where the OP said he wanted to be able to highlight and ‘right click’ to do a quick search. I didn’t even know you could do that. That would be a measurable difference, I see. The OP only suggested that the search window in the upper right be somehow differently useful. That’s the part I didn’t get. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/9 "2007-11-01T13:56:01Z")
The Opera browser already has that feature. Plus if you highlught a URL, one of the options is “Go To This URL.” I like Opera. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/10 "2007-11-01T18:13:42Z")
[QUOTE=Rico] Plus if you highlught a URL, one of the options is “Go To This URL.” [/QUOTE] One of my favourite Firefox extensions is [PTTL](http://www.tommasobeniero.com/PTTL/en/). ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/11 "2007-11-01T18:57:29Z")
On my Mac, using the older Firefox 1.5, I can highlight a word and then drag it into the search box, and it searches for it without any further action. It uses whichever search engine the box is set to at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/12 "2007-11-01T19:12:44Z")
[QUOTE=riker1384] On my Mac, using the older Firefox 1.5, I can highlight a word and then drag it into the search box, and it searches for it without any further action. It uses whichever search engine the box is set to at the time. [/QUOTE] That works with Firefox 2 on Linux too. Just tried it, hadn’t known about that. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/13 "2007-11-01T19:27:08Z")
[QUOTE=Dystinct] what i’d love more is the ability to highlight text and search for THAT in any number of search engines [/QUOTE] [Like this?](http://home.earthlink.net/~ah3files/Stuff/CMSelectedSearch.jpg) This is actually in Shiira, but Firefox does it too. (Google search of selected text). I don’t have any plugins in Firefox whatsoever and whithersoever (it’s not my regular browser). You sure you don’t have this built in? ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-firefox-add-on-or-feature-exist/424850/14 "2007-11-01T19:35:35Z")
[QUOTE=Myglaren] That works with Firefox 2 on Linux too. Just tried it, hadn’t known about that. [/QUOTE] It’s a Firefox feature, not related (AFAIK) to OS. I use it on Linux and Windows all the time.