Loading ...Firefox Quick Find as it should (and used to) be
Published: October 25th, 2006
For some strange reason, in Firefox 2 the find Next and Previous buttons have been removed from the Quick Find bar (which is activated by /, ' or just start typing) and reserved for the Find Bar only (Ctrl + F). I find this behavior annoying but lucky me and us all dbcooper dropped this tip in a comment to a previous post to restore the buttons.
Open userChrome.css and add this line:
#FindToolbar > * {display: -moz-box; }
That's it. Happy finding!
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on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Firefox, Tips.
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November 4th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
YES! That’s exactly what I was looking for. Why on earth did they remove this??? And how do we get them to put it back so that everyone can enjoy the benefits? It’s not as if they needed to save space there.
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November 5th, 2006 at 11:35 am
I agree… that one is a step back in Fx 2.0. I suggest them to reverse that.
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November 9th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Does it matter where in the userchrome.css file the line is added?
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November 9th, 2006 at 11:12 am
O.K., I guess it doesn’t matter. I did not even have a userchrome.css file, so I used the example file, saved it as userchrome.css, added the line at the end, and it works. Related question: is there a way to modify the length of time the quick search bar stays there without your taking further action?
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November 10th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I echo everyone’s sentiments that this was a step backwards.
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November 13th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Bonzer. Just upgraded today, and very quickly found this as a bad stumpling block to my efficiency.
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November 19th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
This isn’t working. I created the file userChrome.css in notepad and stuck it in every chrome folder i have and I still don’t have a “fixed” quick find…HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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November 19th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Got it. Don’t stick it in the “C” Drive “programs” folder. Go to “C” “documents and settings” “your user name”.
Just in case anyone else is as dense as I am. :)
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November 20th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Instead of Next and Previous buttons you can use function key F3 (next) and shift + F3 (previous).
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December 15th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
it doesn’t fix the quickfind search bar. it only adds the buttons to the actual find bar (when you press ctrl+F). is there any way to make the / button pull up the Find toolbar instead of the quickfind toolbar?
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January 10th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Does anyone know how to prevent the Quick Find toolbar from popping up when typing an apostrophe? It is very annoying when trying to type an email as i cannot use contractions!
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January 10th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
One Add-on solves all the annoyance:
Find Toolbar Tweaks
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January 13th, 2007 at 7:20 am
This should definitely be default in FF2. I was mystified about how to use Quick Find to find the next instance of a word on the page until I read about this fix.
Makes me wonder what other gems are ‘hidden’ by default in FF2…
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March 28th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
y not just use crt +f it has all the features
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April 12th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
thank you! thank you! thank you!
:)
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June 16th, 2007 at 8:50 am
how do we get rid of this extremely annoying and stupid feature in the new version of firefox?? i can’t stand it and i don’t care if it’s slightly useful in the way you describe because it’s extremely annoying the other 99% of the time when i actually want to type a “/” or “‘”.
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June 27th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Thanks for the tip! This quick find thing has driven me crazy since it was introduced. Why the Mozilla folks think it’s a good idea to cripple the quick find, I don’t know.
For the fellow who suggests using Ctrl-F, well yes, of course you could do that. You’ve entirely missed the point. Ctrl-F works properly. However, there is *no* *reason* at all for the quick find not to include those buttons. None. If I have “Search when I start typing” enabled, I should get the same thing as when I press Ctrl-F. Doing otherwise is just raising the WTF factor and actually makes the search-on-typing feature *slower*, because then I have to realize that alt-n is not going to advance to the next hit until I’ve gone and pressed Ctrl-F anyway.
Anyway, my $0.02 CDN.
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July 30th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
How do I shut OFF the “quick find” feature?
I use an internet based email program. I’m continually using the shift ‘ keys and it’s a PITA. Thank you Karen
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July 30th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Hi Karen,
According to Google, one answer is here:
http://ffextensionguru.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/fx-tweak-quick-find-bar/
Good luck,
Torben
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July 30th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Hi again Karen,
That link I just sent just lets you disable the apostrophe and slash search hotkeys, for the record. Googling for ‘firefox turn off quick find’ brings in a truckload of hits, though.
Torben
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August 23rd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Ok, this is the second forum I (accch! I just tried to type a contraction of “I have” and the Quick Find came up because of the apostrophe!!!)…so, anyway this is the second forum I have been on about this problem of typing an apostrophe in a text field and quick find comes up.
I have version 2.0.0.6. on Mac OS X. I do not know how to create a chrome file whatsit or what to do with it if I could…I have installed an add on for the toolbar and it does not work. I never had the apostrophe issue occur before updating to 2.0.0.6.
I JUST want to type in contractions! I’m (argh, now it works?) tired of writing like a prim and proper English teacher in my writing…and it is just too weird that it happens randomly, though it seems to always pop up in google search bar.
I’ve (ok, weird…that apostrophe worked too!) gone around and around in circles and there is still no clarification:
HOW DO I DISABLE THE “‘” QUICK FIND FUNCTION???
I’m not a programmer…just a lowly computer user that likes to type conversationally! Help?
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September 29th, 2007 at 12:52 am
OK, how do I turn OFF “quick find” in Firefox 2.0?? It’s driving me batty. Specifically when I try to type a posting in Google Notes and type a ‘, the darned quick find becomes active.
Torben posted a link he says tells how to turn it off, but all I find under that link is a bunch of posts from people just as frustrated as I am with it! — Cheers, Tom
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October 14th, 2007 at 11:31 am
The Help folder of Firefox tells you how to turn it off, but I’ll tell you anyway.
1. Go to Tools->Options
2. Go to Advanced
3. Stay on the General tab
4. Click on the checked “Search For Text While I’m Typing” box.
Hope that helps!
Jim
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October 14th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Tom: In a later post on this thread I noted that the link I posted actually addresses a different issue.
As Jim said, it’s all in the Help anyway.
Torben
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October 31st, 2007 at 11:02 am
How do I open more than one tab. Among all your instructions I can not find how to open more than one tab.
Advice.
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November 4th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I find quick find to be incredibly annoying. I just dont get why everytime I type .. well I cant even type them or itll go to it… I just dont get it. why in the hell would that make any sense to have that be an auto feature.
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November 12th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
thanks for this post !
wtf were they even thinking…having a crappy find system for a great browser…
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December 11th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Take that stupid useless no good God forsaken quick find thing off please.
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December 19th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
bizarrely, this fixed it for me:
tools -> options -> advanced -> general -> check the box next to “search for text when i start typing”
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December 22nd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
None of the aforementioned “fixes” work! Im doing exactly as they say, and I still get the damned “Quick Search” field when I type a slash, apostrophe or the f key. Im having to cut and paste my fs!! I am *thisclose* to going back to IE!
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January 16th, 2008 at 10:50 am
This is laughable. I can’t believe people are still posting about this yet FF does absolutely nothing about it. For the record, I have turned off my quick find option in preferences, but it still will “Find” stuff when I try to type contractions, notoriously when I’m in the google search text box and occasionally in text fields such as this one. Obviously it’s working now, but it sometimes won’t and I’ll have to go back to writing like a podunk.
The other strange thing is that when it occurs when I’m in a google search text field, I’ll try three or four times to type with an apostrophe because all of a sudden it lets do it.
MOZILLA/FF: WAKE THE HELL UP!!! NO ONE LIKES YOUR “FIND” “Quick key” It’s LAME and USELESS! What? You think everyone on the internet is 1) illiterate and doesn’t know what contractions are or 2) so stiffly and properly articulate that they refuse to use them?? NO! We are a world of contractions! You’ve bungled it! AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!! * runs off screaming, flailing arms *
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January 24th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This is the most outrageously annoying feature I’ve encountered on computers since 1981. HOW THE DEVIL DO I GET RID OF IT FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN??? Every time I want to add a forward slash, the danged thing pops up. I hit escape, it disappears, and the instant I try to enter a forward slash, there it is again. I truly despise it. HELP! HOW DO I KILL IT?
Thanks.
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January 24th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Sunny and Krissindor, you have to focus on a text box for a slash or apostrophe to appear, otherwise it will prompt QuickFind since there’s no purpose for entering any of these characters while not on a text box or textarea.
If QuickFind appears even when on a text box then you should contact Firefox support (knowledge base, forums and now even live chat). It could be a conflict with an extension: http://support.mozilla.com
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Percy,
Thank you for your comment. I am confused just a bit by your terminology. “Focus” on a text box? Do you mean have the cursor IN the text box? Or, do you mean stare at the text box and use the power of my mind to will the frickin’ apostrophe button to work in a sentence rather than bring up Quickfind? Because that’s about what it’s coming to.
:) Ok, ok…My apologies. You are trying to help and I’m being flippant. But to make it perfectly clear, I DO have my cursor in a text field, such as this one (or for instance on MySpace or Google search) and the apostrophe will NOT work 99% of the time. There is that 1% miracle occurance when it does and it’s totally random. And, again, I DO have the “find text” option OFF in my preferences.
So, I will take your advice and contact Mozilla support and perhaps rather than re-explain the problem, I’ll simply direct them to this thread. I don’t think the point could be made any clearer.
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January 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hi everyone,
I saw the link to this post in feedback on support.mozilla.com, thanks for letting us know this exists, and of course we’re sorry this issue is still occurring.
A few things to start with: there have been several different causes for this issue and *most* of them have been fixed. This has been a very tricky issue to diagnose though, as the devs aren’t hitting it, and no one who does see this issue has yet been able to provide the clue needed to track this down.
It seems that the only reports left of this issue are from Mac users, or at least the majority anyway. What we need to diagnose this issue are people to get together who are seeing this issue to compare when it’s happening, and what sort of systems it’s happening on. Are you all using the same version of OSX? Do you all have the same extensions, or have some 3rd party software in common?
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=320465 is a tracking bug for all bugs filed to do with the quickfind bar coming up when it’s unwanted. If you look at the depends on section, any numbers that don’t have a line through them are still open. Note, it looks like a lot, but we make a practice of not resolving bugs fixed if the original reporter doesn’t come back and tell us it works for them. It looks like some of those bugs should be fixed, and some of them are duplicates of each other.
If you want to help, you could try to find a bug that looks like it’s *exactly* what’s happening to you, including your operating system and when it’s happening, and see if you can come up with any new information to add.
Please feel free to use a forum thread at http://support.mozilla.com/forum to coordinate with other users who are having this problem until you can find something in common. In fact that would be the preferable first step.
Next step would be to back up your profile and install a Firefox 3 beta from http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Firefox_3_for_developers . Let us know if the problem still happens to you using those builds. If not, that will be a clue as well.
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David EgolfApril 23rd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Actually, a good first step would be for ff developers to REMOVE this “feature” until it actually works. ff has not been good with “focus” for several releases. And no, it is not just Mac users. I have had the notorious / and ‘ problem on my HP pavilion laptop running XP for years. NEVER has the Tools/Options/Advanced button turned off the “feature”.
I did find a “secret” command which disables it, but it came back after the next major update and I lost the command. ARGH!
Given that -F does the job, this running battle strikes me as similar to the religious wars between vi and EMACS users. (vi is an ancient unix editor with “modes” where clear keystrokes were sometimes commands based on which mode you were in. Emacs, on the other hand used the ESC, CTRL, and ALT keys to send commands to the editor.) I have always been an adherent to Emacs and the idea of a keystroke operating differently based on “focus” is not really all that appealing even if it did work.
I also have problems using copy and paste with firefox and I am suspicious that this is due to the same problem with focus.
My only add-ons are TabMixPlus and Firebug.
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February 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Firefox just updated itself, OK, next the browser rebooted, OK, then I installed Google toolbar, the box came up for page rank, enable/disable, I make a selection, the “finish” button pops up at the bottom of the box, I select it and the damn thing wont close the box, and it reappears every time i open firefox, There is no way to contact Google, can you HELP?
Thanks,
Steve
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April 25th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Steve, Why cant you try install the latest updates?
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May 31st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Works in firefox 3!
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June 13th, 2008 at 4:41 am
This works great….the only thing that has annoyed me about ff2 is now out of the way! Just remember to use the folder in documents and settings and NOT in program files (just so you dont make the same mistakes as I did)
I added the line at the very end of the examplefile and renamed it….thats it!
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June 26th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Does not work for me on Firefox 3. I just updated, it worked before and does not now. The userChrome.css is intact.
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June 27th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Had exactly the same problem as you Hans. Found this in another blog comment. Works in FF3 for me.
“Firefox 3 needs
/* Add Next/Previous Buttons to Quick Find Bar */
.findbar-container>* {display: -moz-box !important;}
instead.”
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July 6th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Thanks a lot Johan! Just rephrasing this, hoping to get Google to notice it, because for me it just produced a lot of bad hits.
Firefox 3 quick find can be repaired with
/* Add Next/Previous Buttons to Quick Find Bar */
.findbar-container>* {display: -moz-box !important;}
in the userChrome.css . This repairs quick find in Firefox 3.
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ChuckAugust 27th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I’ve researched The Google seemingly for hours to find this answer and was becoming convinced it was an FF3 oversight that couldn’t be rectified. Great job and much appreciated!
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