Tip: How to Remove the Search Box

Date: June 24, 2007
Author: ElGuru
Comments: 0 Comments
Categories: Legacy

I had a very good comment/question from Sarah today about the Firefox 2.0: Removing ‘Go’ Button entry:

How can I remove the Search Box in top RIGHT corner of the FF2.0.0.4 competlely. or atleast reposition it to LEFT side.

I use googe tool bar and which has search box the LEFT side and I am addicted to use the searh box on the LEFT side. At the moment I have TWO serch boxes and I do not want the one on the topRIGHTside.

Moving or even removing the Search Box is really easy. No about:config or userContent.css tweaking need. All you need to do is:

Right-Click on an empty area on the toolbar
Select ‘Customize…’ from the context menu
If you want to move the search box just grab hold of it with the mouse and drag where you want
If you wnt to remove the search box just grab hold of it with the mouse and drag it into the Customize Toolbar window. Note: If you later want to put it back just locate the search box (may be at the bottom) in the Customize Toolbar window and drag back on the toolbar.

This works (far as I know) with all versions of Firefox as well as Flock. I will be adding this the Tweaks Guide shortly. Thanks for the comment and question Sarah!

Share on Facebook

Save

44 Comments on Tip: How to Remove the Search Box

Dennis Dimetri | July 1, 2007 at 11:58 PM |

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I have been wanting to do that for ages and didn’t know it was so easy!!!
Meghan | September 5, 2007 at 4:11 PM |

So, I took out the google bar easy enough. is there a way to add a bar in firefox 2.0 in which I can type in a URL? typing in http://www.microsoft.com in the search, so example just does a google search, and I have to then find the site and click through. quite a pain. Using the file menu for open location is even worse. x__x
Chris | December 1, 2007 at 11:09 AM |

Just what i was looking to do. Thanks! 🙂
Chris C | December 3, 2007 at 2:45 PM |

Awesome! Found this with a Google search, was exactly the answer I was looking for. And easy!
Mark Iliff | December 30, 2007 at 7:44 AM |

Thanks for sharing the insight.
JP | January 25, 2008 at 6:31 PM |

Thank you very much!

Though I feel that I should have been able to figure
this one out on my own…
toab | March 10, 2008 at 7:22 AM |

Thanks for posting this. It’s easy to do but not 100% intuitive to find, which makes the article quite useful. Thanks! 🙂
nick | July 23, 2008 at 7:04 PM |

Yes, very good tip. Thanks.
operauser | January 15, 2009 at 10:40 AM |

pretty sweet… had the exact problem too
still getting used to ff after years of using opera… opera lags alot on old laptops, firefox doesnt 😉
Thomas Francis | July 23, 2009 at 7:15 AM |

Thanks, never knew you could do that.
jwoollen | October 13, 2009 at 6:14 AM |

The challenge I’m seeing is, you can’t remove the toolbar altogether. At least one search engine stays. Can you not eliminated the toolbar altogether?
- jwoollen | October 13, 2009 at 6:26 AM |
  
  The challenge I’m seeing is, you can’t remove the toolbar altogether. At least one search engine stays. Can you not eliminated the toolbar altogether?
  
  For those interested, I just found the answer. (Thanks to somebody else in a forum.)
  – Right-click the toolbar
  – Click “Customize” at the bottom
  – Drag the Search bar onto the options palette and voila! It is gone.
  
  I also saw a beautiful search shortcut.
  – Ctrl +L (to bring the focus to the address bar
  – type “g” (w/o quotes) followed by a space and a few keywords.
  “g” brings up the Google engine and your search goes from there. Thanks to whoever put that up.
christooss | November 22, 2009 at 10:17 AM |

This tip is not good. When I restart firefox search bar is back!

And I can’t move icons to menu bar and MAKE IT STICK there. Any help would be appriciated!!!
leloloowarl | November 24, 2009 at 3:39 PM |

OMG loved reading this blogpost. I added your feed to my reader.
andre | May 4, 2010 at 12:44 PM |

does anyone know how to make the url field to function as a search field at the same time?
- madmike321 | March 29, 2011 at 1:43 PM |
  
  If you right-click on a search bar you can add a keyword to the search(i.e. g for google.com ) ” g who do i remove the search box”.
Raphael | May 11, 2010 at 11:05 AM |

Muito boa dica…
Trekking in Nepal | August 22, 2010 at 7:20 PM |

i like this web.

Trekking in Nepal
EncountersNepal | September 1, 2010 at 10:30 PM |

Useful
James | October 31, 2010 at 3:51 AM |

Thanks mate too easy.
CCC | March 3, 2011 at 1:41 PM |

Thanks! Your explanation was a big help mate, thank you!
abc | March 12, 2011 at 6:10 PM |

Thank you very much!!
I was looking for a way to completely uninstall it as I’m using a way outdated computer but at least not having it load every time will lessen what the video processor has to load and seems to speed up loading times by a few milliseconds lol….
Sam | March 24, 2011 at 6:54 PM |

this helped me out. i never thought to just drag it off.
Doug | April 17, 2011 at 11:31 PM |

When I open a new tab and Google comes up, is there any way in about:config to make Firefox put the cursor on the Google web page like it used to, instead of in the address bar?
CookiezNomNom | June 15, 2011 at 4:42 PM |

Finally I got rid off this damned search box, taking up space while never being used.

Thanks you kindly for sharing this with us,much appreciated!
Carlos | July 14, 2011 at 1:18 AM |

Thank so much!
Jo | August 17, 2011 at 10:43 PM |

Very useful. Thanks.
Ricky | October 4, 2011 at 2:28 PM |

http://www.google.com in the clank bar in the middle to search, the moment I click to type it blocks the tying and only when highlighted there is visibility for what is typed. If not it is hidden. I would like to see what is being typed.
Please help to clear the band that block the type.
Joel | November 12, 2011 at 3:18 AM |

wow thanx! it still works with firefox 7 and 8 in case you were wondering!
d.rag | January 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM |

Thanks – firefox – just moved from chrome – missing this feature – good work
Darshan | January 28, 2012 at 5:16 AM |

Thanks. Helped me to solve my problem. Nice effort keep the good work on.
Joe | February 2, 2012 at 9:51 PM |

How do I change the search engine in the bar?
- gareon | February 4, 2012 at 9:32 AM |
  
  I have used this add-on for quite awhile and have found it quite useful.
  
  Have you ever wanted to have a search engine available in Firefox’ search bar that isn’t shipped by default, but this site doesn’t have the ‘glowing’ search bar icon to add its search (like e.g. YouTube)? With Add to Search Bar you can add the search functionality of any page to the search box with no effort.
  
  Add to Search Bar
  
  Source: Add to Search Bar – Search on Fire
David Domincki | June 6, 2012 at 2:54 AM |

Hiya, I am really glad I’ve found this information. Today bloggers publish only about gossips and net and this is actually irritating. A good site with interesting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this web-site, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can’t find it.
Kyle | June 27, 2012 at 1:22 PM |

Thanks been bugging me for a while, bar is useless. if you put your search into the address bar it does the same thing.
igor Griffiths | November 5, 2012 at 2:13 PM |

Well hello

Thanks for providing the answer to an irritation that I needed to remove from Firefox, after all now that you can search using the address bar why do you need a dedicated search box.

Toolbar area looking far more clean now, thanks

igor
Justin | November 19, 2012 at 7:28 PM |

How do I remove the actual “Search Here” bar at the top far right of the tabs in my browser? I tried the above steps but it only allows me to remove the google search bar but I don’t get the hand to drag and remove the other search bar.
Susana Pereira | December 25, 2012 at 6:20 PM |

Finalmente, eu me livrei daquela merda de barra inútil! Uso o Firefox 17.0.1, e a dica continua funcionando!

Obrigada, obrigada, obrigada, OBRIGADA! Mil beijos pra você, Guru!
Docmex | July 6, 2013 at 8:20 AM |

THANK YOU! It’s the old; “Why didn’t I think of that!”
Sixtease | July 16, 2013 at 5:08 AM |

This is a relief. Many thanks. I would share on Facebook but it always shows the most recent post, not this specific one. 🙁
Jaana Pollitt | July 28, 2013 at 6:34 AM |

And what would I do if I want to keep the one on the right, but wanna get rid of the one on the left? Apparently you can’t just drag that one away. Please help me before I go totally crazy.
Sather | December 26, 2013 at 10:20 AM |

this does not work on Firefox 26.0 any suggestions to get rid of the search bar now?
TuoDecaps | November 24, 2010 at 1:14 PM |

Thanks man. Been bugging me forever.
freddy amino | December 6, 2010 at 2:07 AM |

Thnx alot! This was exactly what I was looking for and this is way better than having to make adjustments in regedit, which is needed for internet explorer.