# IE 8 and Address Bar Favorites List **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311 "2011-05-26T16:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/1 "2011-05-26T16:26:34Z")
In IE 8, there is a pull-down arrow on the address bar that will show you History and Favorites. My question is how does IE 8 determine which Favorites to show? I have five showing, and two of them are sites I haven’t accessed in a year, yet here they are on this Favorites list. Are the Favorites listed on the address bar pull-down list sites from your Favorites list that have been _recently_ accessed? If not, what criteria does IE 8 use to determine which sites are on this list? (Note, I am not talking about my Favorites in general, just those that show up via the address bar.) ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/2 "2011-05-27T15:37:29Z")
Bump? Anybody know why sites from my Favorites that I haven’t visited in a year suddenly show up in the Address Bar Favorites? ---
**Author:** ![tbook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tbook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbook)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/3 "2011-05-27T16:08:13Z")
On the right side of the IE menu bar is an icon “wrench” that opens a drop down menu. From the menu choose the Bookmark manger. In bookmark manager there is a folde for Bookmarks bar.Add the favorites you wish to this folder and they will display. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/4 "2011-05-27T16:19:46Z")
And install IE9 (if you can). ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/5 "2011-05-27T19:52:59Z")
> [@tbook](#): > > On the right side of the IE menu bar is an icon “wrench” that opens a drop down menu. From the menu choose the Bookmark manger. In bookmark manager there is a folde for Bookmarks bar.Add the favorites you wish to this folder and they will display. Did you even read my question? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/6 "2011-05-27T20:15:31Z")
**tbook** , I apologize. That was uncalled for. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/7 "2011-05-27T20:19:11Z")
**Carol** , I never noticed that before (I use Chrome primarily) but I see what you mean. Oddly, if I click on the “Favorites” title there it expands to more sites, but the order of the sites is somewhat random. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/8 "2011-05-28T09:04:43Z")
According to this [forum thread](http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/ie/51272/Algorithm-for-what-appears-in-addressbar-drop-down-in-IE8) and this[vague Microsoft post](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2008/09/12/the-ie8-smart-address-bar-part-ii-a-few-more-features.aspx), it might indeed be a most-frequently-used (MRU) list of favorites, but I didn’t test it myself… ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-8-and-address-bar-favorites-list/583311/9 "2011-05-28T09:10:13Z")
And if it’s really bothering you, considering switching to Firefox, which instead uses a “[frecency](http://lifehacker.com/396603/tweak-the-awesomebars-suggestion-algorithm)” (frequency + recency) rating for each URL. You can even customize the weights to your heart’s content with a bunch of hidden config options.