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COMMENTS

Tweak Firefox’s Address Bar Autocomplete Settings

Address Bar Autocomplete Manager


A few days ago Lifehacker posted a sweet about:config Firefox configuration option that would enable inline auto-completion of URL’s as you type them into the Address Bar. Changing that setting took away the necessity to use the arrows all of the time for selecting the first entry listed.

They really hit the jackpot yesterday, however, when one of their readers sent in a tip pointing out a cool Firefox extension. It’s called Autocomplete Manager, and with it you can customize almost all aspects of how the auto complete works. Here’s a list of the different areas it lets you tweak:

  • Searching of your bookmarks in the Address Bar
  • Matching against page titles and bookmark names
  • Matching anywhere in the address, not just the beginning
  • Changing the sorting criterion to alphabetical, most often visited, most recently visited, or top-level pages first
  • Matching any part of the domain
  • Excluding local pages and pages containing search results
  • Swapping the address and title columns on the suggestion popup
  • Fine-tuning the popup appearance: hiding page titles, changing the number of visible suggestions, and setting the truncation method for long addresses and page titles
  • Opening a suggestion from the popup in a new tab
  • Temporarily or permanently disabling the popup

I really like that you can customize how addresses are sorted, and that you can include bookmarks in the instant search process. It’s not quite the full-text search that Opera 9.5 Alpha has, but it’s still really nice.

Here’s a screenshot of the configuration options for the Autocomplete Manager:

Address Bar Autocomplete Settings
Click to Enlarge

Autocomplete Manager Homepage

40 Million Users Protected By Avast! Home MyFive: Online Mapping Service Alternatives October 24th, 2007 Written by Ryan
  1. The GuruAll-StarOctober 24, 2007 at 3:29 pm

    I will have to look into this more further, sounds like something a reader of my blog has been looking for.

    Reply
  2. RyanAuthorOctober 24, 2007 at 6:50 pm

    I’m sure a lot of people would actually enjoy something like this. I was thinking a few weeks back that it would be nice to just have the address bar autocomplete the entries as I type them, but I didn’t even realize that it was an option tucked away. And then being able to add my bookmarks to it is priceless.

    Reply
  3. ChangeAll-StarOctober 25, 2007 at 1:49 am

    I’ve used the myurlbar_a extension for a long time and find it indispensable: it also combines bookmarks & history results when you type in the location bar and matches parts of url’s or titles. It’s not being developed anymore tho, so I’ll have to check this autocomplete one out :)

    Reply
  4. MohanOctober 25, 2007 at 8:54 am

    Nice find, works very well.

    Reply
  5. K-IntheHouseOctober 25, 2007 at 9:12 am

    I was excited about the AutoComplete Manager extension too when I found it somewhere while browsing. (wrote about that and a few other extensions in my weekly picks – linked to my name) Sorry for the plug. ;)

    Reply
  6. RyanAuthorOctober 25, 2007 at 7:11 pm
    Change wrote:
    I’ve used the myurlbar_a extension for a long time and find it indispensable: it also combines bookmarks & history results when you type in the location bar and matches parts of url’s or titles. It’s not being developed anymore tho, so I’ll have to check this autocomplete one out :)

    This one seems to be updated fairly well, so it should be a good bet.

    K-IntheHouse wrote:
    I was excited about the AutoComplete Manager extension too when I found it somewhere while browsing. (wrote about that and a few other extensions in my weekly picks – linked to my name) Sorry for the plug. ;)

    I actually saw that post of yours and must have glanced over that extension.

    Reply
  7. WALTER EARNSHAWDecember 21, 2007 at 5:36 pm

    Hi_There
    you say this works in all versions of FF
    Well it don’t work in FF 3.01b which I have just started using
    Have a good Xmas
    elwaltura

    Reply
  8. RyanAuthorDecember 26, 2007 at 4:08 pm
    WALTER EARNSHAW wrote:
    Hi_There
    you say this works in all versions of FF
    Well it don’t work in FF 3.01b which I have just started using

    As stated on the extension’s site, this only works with Firefox 2. Sorry.

    Reply
  9. ameoNovember 30, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    i don’t really use all features of the awesome bar, but i found autocomplete manager pretty helpful.. Thanks

    Reply
  10. asadkhanMarch 6, 2009 at 11:18 am

    newsvine said it is on auto complete .i dont find that

    Reply