# Simplified search in Firefox - possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501 "2011-04-07T08:43:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/1 "2011-04-07T08:43:46Z")
I use Firefox 4.0 (Windows) as my browser and want to do the following: 1. Highlight any kind of text in a browser window/tab. 2. Right click on the highlighted text. 3. In the context menu, choose from a list of all my installed search engines. 4. After having chosen the search engine, the search result for the highlighted text should open in a new tab. Is there a tweak or add-in for Firefox which makes this possible? ---
**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:** [April 7, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/2 "2011-04-07T09:53:34Z")
This is close. [Hyperwords](http://www.hyperwords.net/) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/3 "2011-04-07T10:49:04Z")
Wow, **GuanoLad** , that’s almost exactly what I was looking for, plus some bonuses like numeric conversions and translation. Thanks a lot. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/4 "2011-04-07T12:44:55Z")
No problem. I might actually install it myself, it looks handy. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/5 "2011-04-07T13:19:02Z")
After fiddling around with it since you posted the link, I have to say that it looks like a very useful extension. It doesn’t use the search engines installed in Firefox, but you can add any website with a search field to its context menu, which IMO is much more convenient. The display of the search results is customizable to be shown in a pop-up window or same/new tab/window. There’s also the already mentioned conversion feature, which handles currency and several physical units, and translations between a set of over 30 languages, which can be done in the page itself or to a pop-up window. Worth a try. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/6 "2011-04-08T06:40:06Z")
I’m glad you found an extension to do what you want. But did you know you can highlight a word or group of words and drag it up to the search bar, and instantly get a search? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/7 "2011-04-08T08:35:53Z")
No, I didn’t know that. It’s a nice feature, but I’m a lazy guy, and it’s just not as convenient as the search possibilities offered by Hyperwords. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/8 "2011-04-08T14:46:01Z")
Check out SearchWith as well- you can define what site you want to power each category of search. I’ve been using it for a year or two now, and it’s awesome. After looking at Hypersearch, SearchWith is exactly what you described in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simplified-search-in-firefox-possible/577501/9 "2011-04-08T18:49:16Z")
If one is running a [Gnome](http://www.gnome.org/) desktop, [Googlizer](http://www.linux.org.uk/~telsa/BitsAndPieces/googlizer.html) is a handy little app. You can highlight text in any application, not just a browser but anything… a spreadsheet, a pdf, etc. Anything that can be highlighted works. Once the word or phrase is highlighted then just click on the Googlizer icon. In Firefox, it will open a new tab with the google results for that search.