# We've lost our address bar!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843 "2004-08-21T12:46:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843/1 "2004-08-21T12:46:35Z")

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You know, that field where you can type in a url and get to where you need to go. Now, in order to get to threads that aren’t bookmarked, there’s a field that will take you to a Yahoo! search engine, and you can pick your site from there.

What did we mess up? We have Internet Explorer, if that matters.

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**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843/2 "2004-08-21T12:57:56Z")

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No doubt you looked at this first:

On **View** , **Toolbars** , is **Address Bar** still checked?

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843/3 "2004-08-21T13:04:10Z")

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Yes, it is.

I’ve clicked it on and off, and I’ve noticed there’s a box that says “Address,”, but there’s no way to expand or modify it by clicking on it.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843/4 "2004-08-21T13:07:56Z")

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And then, I found this little button that said Lock Toolbars, and I unlocked it, and lo and behold I was able to drag things around and reveal the Address Bar!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

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**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843/5 "2004-08-22T02:28:24Z")

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The original problem has been solved, but another tip for people who just like to keep the address bar hidden (it takes a non-negligible amount of screen space that could be taken up by the actual web document):

Ctrl - L will bring up a dialog that lets you enter an address; works the same as the address bar.

Similarly, if the only buttons you ever use on the “button bar” are “Back” and “Forward”, you can turn them off, too: alt + left arrow is back, alt + right arrow is forward.

Together, these will get you roughly an extra inch of vertical screen space; I’d rather have the space than the pretty buttons any day.

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**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-lost-our-address-bar/260843/6 "2004-08-22T15:24:39Z")

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> [@TimeWinder](#):
>
> Similarly, if the only buttons you ever use on the “button bar” are “Back” and “Forward”, you can turn them off, too: alt + left arrow is back, alt + right arrow is forward.

Or you can “Back”, “Forward” and “Refresh” simply by right-clicking …