# Firefox version 30: Separating URL bar and Search Bar functions?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-version-30-separating-url-bar-and-search-bar-functions/692065>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 1, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-version-30-separating-url-bar-and-search-bar-functions/692065 "2014-07-01T03:14:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Frapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@Frapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frapp)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-version-30-separating-url-bar-and-search-bar-functions/692065/1 "2014-07-01T03:14:51Z")

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In previous versions of Firefox, there was the URL or Address bar, which would do a Google search if you simply typed in a search term. To the right of it was the smaller search engine bar. This had a drop-down menu from which one could select a different search engine or site (such as Wikipedia or YouTube). This effectively gave the user 2 separate and powerful search tools.

Since I’ve been forced to upgrade to Firefox 30, the two inputs now share whatever search engine the drop-down bar uses. This to me seems redundant.

Is it possible to fiddle with certain under-the-hood settings and get the old functionality back? I keep forgetting to set the drop-down back to Google and I’ve sent Google type queries to Wikipedia.

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**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-version-30-separating-url-bar-and-search-bar-functions/692065/2 "2014-07-01T19:48:14Z")

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Yes. there’s a setting in about:config that disable searching form the address bar (or awesomebar as it’s called in mozilla’s documentation).

The setting is keyword.enabled. If it’s true the address bar is treated as a second search box for your default search engine.

Here’s the link to a fuller explanation: [Search the web from the address bar | Firefox Help](http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/search-web-address-bar)