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5

I have noticed that certain websites (e.g. Stack Exchange sites, Dell, etc.) are automatically added to my list of search engines in Google Chrome.

They even add a keyboard shortcut to their entry. Here are some examples:

  • Dell: Keyboard -> Dell.com
  • Stack Exchange Web masters: Keyboard -> webmasters.stackexchange.com
  • Reuters: Keyboard -> reuters.com

Q1: Is this the default behavior in Chrome? (to let websites add themselves to the list of search engines?)

Q2: Is it possible to disable this behavior in Chrome?

Note: I'm running the latest version of Chrome: 11.0.696.57 on Windows 7 64, and I only have one extension installed: Google URL shortener.

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2  
1. Yes. 2. Why? – Sathya♦ Apr 27 '11 at 16:27
3  
@ Sathya, Why? I want to have the flexibility to disable it. If your question is why would I disable something like this: the interface to edit search engines is not particularly good, and as the list grows it's hard tell which search engines I added manually and which ones were added automatically. It's also harder to find a particular entry within a large list. – user815423426 Apr 27 '11 at 17:41
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@Sathya - Many reasons: * Convenience: Sometimes you want to search ABOUT a site, rather than ON that site. * Consistency: Randomly and silently adding new "search engines" causes unexpected behavior in the omnibox. * Privacy: Chrome does not inform you when it decides to add new "search engines," and they don't go away when you clear your browsing history. * Common courtesy: Shouldn't I be able to choose whether to enable this "feature" is enabled, or—failing that—at least choose to be informed when Chrome decides to add a site, so I can countermand this decision? – phenry Oct 28 '11 at 17:43

5 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

If I'm understanding what you're describing correctly, then this isn't the websites doing anything at all. Rather, Chrome itself identifies search boxes on websites and then itself adds those to its list of search options in the omnibar.

A1: Yes, this is default behavior, but it's not the websites adding themselves, it's Chrome adding the websites.

A2: I do not believe you can disable this behavior, however you can remove search engines by going to the tool menu -> Options -> Manage Search Engines; they will appear under "Other Search Engines". You may be able to specify that one should not be re-added when you remove it, I'm not sure -- I happen to like this feature, so I'm not going to try removing them.

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Thanks @Kromey, That's a good point. I just updated the question to reflect your comment. – user815423426 Apr 27 '11 at 17:49
up vote 6 down vote
  1. Yes, this is by design.
  2. No, there's no way to disable this.
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I love this answer. This is simple but informative – Vdt May 9 '12 at 14:03
up vote 2 down vote

Here a somewhat hacky workaround which works just fine for me. Just rename the search alias to something cryptic like "§$%!/()&/". While the search engine is still there you won't see it again, ever. Pretty annoying if you can't google for "jenkins" because chrome forces you to search in jenkins.

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up vote 1 down vote

The new Google Chrome (version 21.0.1180.57) has a new behavior for the custom search engines.

The user explicitly needs to press the TAB button in order to use the specific search engine.

And they changed it again in 21.0.1180.79), now space also activates. This is the most annoying feature of Google Chrome :(

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up vote 1 down vote

One workaround I've found for this is to acquire the habit of starting all my searches with a space. If you type ・Splunk median (where ・ represents the space character), Chrome will perform a Google search on Splunk median.

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