How to search the contents of the current page for text or links
When you are viewing a website in Firefox, you can search for words and phrases on the page. Firefox will show you where the search phrase you've typed appears next on the page, and lets you highlight all the places where it appears.
Table of Contents
Using the Find bar
To start searching for text on a page:
- Open the Find bar:
- Use the Ctrlcommand+F keyboard shortcut.
- Click on the button ( menu on Windows XP), then select .
- Type a search phrase into the Find Bar's Find: field. Firefox will start highlighting instances of your search phrase as you type.
- If no instances of your search phrase occur on the page you're viewing, the Find bar will show Phrase not found.
When the Find bar is open, the following actions are available:
- X: Close the find bar.
- Next: Highlight the next instance of the search phrase you've entered.
- Previous: Highlight the previous instance of the search phrase you've entered.
- Highlight All: Highlight every instance of the search phrase you've entered. Click Highlight All again to turn off highlighting.
- Match case: Make searches case sensitive. Normally if you search for search phrase, instances of Search Phrase on the page will also be found when you use the Find bar. If you Match case is selected, only instances of the phrase as you've typed it will be found.
Search links only
If you want to find phrases that occur in links on the page you're viewing:
- Type ' (single quote character) to bring up the Quick Find (links only) bar.
- Type a search phrase into the Quick Find (links only) field. The first link that contains the phrase you've typed will be selected.
- Press Ctrlcommand+G to highlight the next link that contains your search phrase.
To close the Quick Find bar, wait a moment then press the Esc key on the keyboard, or click somewhere in Firefox that is not part of the Quick Find bar.
Find while typing on a page
Firefox can start searching for phrases you enter without having to open the Find bar. To enable this feature:
- At the top of the Firefox window, click on the button and then select At the top of the Firefox window, click on the menu and then select On the menu bar, click on the menu and select At the top of the Firefox window, click on the menu and select
- Select on the panel.
- Click on the tab.
- Check mark Search for text when I start typing.
- Click to close the Options windowClick to close the Preferences windowClose the Preferences window .
After you enable the feature:
- Type a search phrase while you are viewing a website. As you type, the first instance of your phrase will be highlighted.
- Press Ctrlcommand+G or F3 to highlight the next instance of your search phrase.
To close the Quick Find bar, wait a few moments for it to disappear then press the Esc key on the keyboard, or click somewhere in Firefox that is not part of the Quick Find bar. Since the the Quick Find bar is meant to disappear after a few moments, it does not have the Next, Previous, or Highlight All commands the full Find bar does.
If you find that the Quick Find bar interferes with typing in text fields, see Quick find bar opens when typing in text fields.