[Firefox Tip] Use Separate Default Search Engine in Private Browsing Mode

If you use Mozilla Firefox web browser and want to set up a different or separate search engine in private browsing mode, this tutorial will help you.

Many people prefer to use private browsing mode also known as Incognito mode in web browsers for improved privacy. In private browsing mode, your browsing session such as visited websites, cache, cookies, etc are automatically cleared as soon as you close the browser or exit from private browsing mode. It doesn’t store the websites you visit, files you download, forms you fill, your searches, etc. Private browsing mode is very useful if you are using a public computer.

Related: [Tip] Always Start Your Web Browser in Private Browsing Mode By Default

Mozilla Firefox web browser also comes with private browsing feature and you can open a private browsing window using Ctrl+Shift+P hotkey or by selecting “New Private Window” option from Firefox main menu.

Many times you may want to set different search engines for normal and private browsing modes in Firefox browser. For example, you may want to set Google as default search in regular browsing mode and a different search engine such as DuckDuckGo in private browsing mode for privacy issues.

By default, Firefox doesn’t allow users to apply separate or different search engines for normal and private browsing modes but with the help of a hidden secret preference/flag you can activate and enable this feature. Once you activate this hidden feature, you’ll be able to set different search engines for normal and private browsing modes.

Newer versions of Mozilla Firefox web browser come with this new feature to have separate search engine for private browsing mode which is not enabled by default and we need to manually activate it.

If you also want to use different search engine in private browsing windows in Firefox web browser, following steps will help you:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “Accept the Risk and Continue” button. It’ll open Firefox’s hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

2. Now type SeparatePrivate in Search filter box and look for following preferences in the window:

Both preferences are set to False by default which means the feature to have separate search engine for private browsing windows is disabled in Firefox.

The first preference “browser.search.separatePrivateDefault.ui.enabled” is responsible to add the UI option to Firefox Options page to select different default search engine for private browsing windows.

The second preference “browser.search.separatePrivateDefault” tells Firefox whether to use same search engine in both normal and private browsing modes or use separate search engines in both browsing modes.

3. To activate the feature and UI options, double-click on browser.search.separatePrivateDefault.ui.enabled preference and set its value to true. Alternatively, you can click on the Toggle icon given next to the preference name.

4. Now open Firefox Options page. Click on the Hamburger icon present at the right-side end of the main toolbar to show Firefox menu and select Options menu to open Firefox settings page. Alternatively, you can direct option this page using about:preferences command in address bar.

5. Now under “Search” tab, you’ll see an extra newly added checkbox “Use this search engine in Private Windows“. It’ll be enabled i.e. checked by default since the preference “browser.search.separatePrivateDefault” is set to false by default in about:config page. If you changed the preference to true in about:config page, the checkbox would have been unchecked on Firefox Options page.

Uncheck “Use this search engine in Private Windows” option and you’ll get a new option to set different default search engine for private windows only.

Now you can select a separate search engine for private browsing mode using the drop-down box.

That’s it. Enjoy separate default search engines for normal and private browsing windows in Firefox web browser.

Also Check:

[Tip] Allow Extensions in Private or Incognito Windows in Web Browsers