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Can I change the behaviour of text selection in the address bar

  • 7 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 24 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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When I select text in the address bar, Firefox defaults to appending what I type, rather than replacing the selected text.

This is frustrating because it is different from just about everything else in Windows, where selecting text & then typing replaces the text.

If I want to append something to a URL, I'd click at the end & start typing.

When I select text in the address bar, Firefox defaults to appending what I type, rather than replacing the selected text. This is frustrating because it is different from just about everything else in Windows, where selecting text & then typing replaces the text. If I want to append something to a URL, I'd click at the end & start typing.

Chosen solution

Have you tried pressing the <Insert> key?

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Chosen Solution

Have you tried pressing the <Insert> key?

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Why didn't I think of that!

Thanks

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Glad to help. Safe Surfing.

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Thinking about it, I'm not aware of any other application in which the insert key works this way. It normally changes the behaviour of typing when there is no text selected. And is a 'toggle', rather than a permanent change of behaviour!

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This is not standard behavior as far as I know.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is is causing the problem.

  • switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Appearance
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window
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cor-el said

This is not standard behavior as far as I know.

Which? The behaviour I complained about, or the solution I was given?

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Both. I've never seen Firefox not replacing selected text when you start typing, but I'm not on Windows so can't check this platform. Firefox has never honored the Insert key as far as I know, so I'm surprised that it works for you, but you already had a weird and not standard issue in the first place. It is possible that this is a Windows 10 feature that Firefox supports for this platform.