Search box doesn't work in Firefox for OS X

Question

I'm using Firefox 3.5.1 on a Mac and the search bar seems to have stopped responding to the "enter" key. I can type searches, and it will even "find as I type", but hitting "enter" doesn't do anything, no search is performed.

Have you had this problem? Is there an explanation, solution or workaround to it?

• I deleted Firefox from the applications folder and reinstalled it, but the problem remains.
• I don't run any add-ons or plugins.
• I discovered that the box reacts to "enter" if it is empty, but as soon as I have entered some text nothing happens.
• The equivalent search box in Safari works fine.

Answer 1

I deleted

• search.json
• search.sqlite

from the Firefox profile on Mac OS X 10.7.4 with Firefox 15.01. Problem solved.

See also this Mozilla support forums thread on the same issue.

Answer 2

I was able to resolve this with a little less work than Reinstalling the OS. Here's what I did (It's likely not every one of these steps is necessary):

1. Delete the Firefox application
2. Delete the "/Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Firefox" directory
3. Delete the "/Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Mozilla" directory
4. Delete the "/Users/yourusername/Library/Caches/Firefox" directory
5. Delete the "/Library/Application\ Support/Mozilla" directory
6. Delete the "/Library/Application\ Support/Mozilla" directory

Just to be sure, I then did a search for Firefox and Mozilla to make sure no directories or anything that looked like a preference storage was still present.

Finally, I reinstalled Firefox from the same dmg I'd used to install it last

Answer 3

In the regular Find (CmdF) field, ↩ finds the next occurrence.

However, if you are using "Quick Find" (by typing /, or just typing search text, depending on your configuration), ↩ is passed on to the newly focused content.

For example, if you Quick Find some text that is found as part of a link, then pressing Enter will follow that link. CmdG can be used to go to the next occurrence with either Find or Quick Find.

Answer 4

I have not experienced this myself. I also can't find much on Google about the problem being reported.

I can only imagine that you need to remove and reinstall Firefox, or if you use add-ons disabling them all and then trying. You may have a add-on that is intercepting the enter key or something similar.