[Tip] Disable or Remove Top Sites Suggestions in Firefox Address bar

In Mozilla Firefox web browser, when you click inside the address bar (or URL bar) or press Down arrow key in address bar, it shows Top Sites suggestions list in a drop-down box. These top sites are the websites you visit most. Firefox automatically adds the websites you visit frequently or regularly to the top sites list.

Following screenshot shows top sites suggestions list showing in Mozilla Firefox address bar:

Top_Sites_Suggestions_Drop_Down_List_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

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Many Firefox users may not like top sites suggestions in address bar, that’s why today in this article we are going to tell how to get rid of top sites suggestions list in Firefox address bar.

Following methods will help you in disabling or removing top sites suggestions drop-down list from Firefox address bar:

METHOD 1: Using Address Bar Settings in Firefox Options Page

This method will work in newer versions of Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla team has added a dedicated option to turn on/off top sites suggestions display in Firefox address bar.

If you are using newer version of Firefox, following steps will help you in disabling top sites suggestions in address bar:

1. Open Firefox and click on the Hamburger (3-lines) icon present at the right-side end of the toolbar to open the main Firefox menu. Now click on Options menu to open Firefox settings page.

You can also direct option this page using about:preferences command in address bar.

2. Now click on “Privacy & Security” tab and in right-side pane, scroll down and go to “Address Bar” section.

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3. You’ll see “Top sites” option which is enabled by default.

Disable_Remove_Top_Sites_Suggestions_Drop_Down_List_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

To remove top sites suggestions from address bar, uncheck or disable “Top sites” option.

That’s it. It’ll immediately remove top sites suggestions from Firefox address bar.

METHOD 2: Using Home Page Settings in Firefox Options Page

If you are using an older version of Firefox and can’t find the above mentioned option to disable top sites suggestions, this method will work for you.

Actually Firefox shows top sites list on New Tab page and Homepage and if you disable top sites list on these pages, it’ll also remove top sites suggestions list from address bar.

1. Open Firefox Options (about:preferences) page and click on Home tab in left-sidebar.

2. Now in right-side pane, uncheck or disable “Top Sites” option listed under Firefox Home Content section.

Disable_Remove_Top_Sites_List_Mozilla_Firefox_New_Tab_Page_Homepage.png

That’s it. It’ll remove top sites list from New Tab page, Homepage and address bar suggestions drop-down box.

Tip for Advanced Users: The same thing can be done using about:config page as well. Just set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.topsites preference/flag to false.

BONUS TIP: Customize or Add/Remove Top Sites Suggestions List in Firefox

If you don’t want to disable or remove top sites suggestions from Firefox address bar but want to customize the list such as adding new sites, removing unwanted sites, etc, this method will help you.

Firefox takes the top sites suggestions directly from New Tab page or Homepage and displays the top sites in address bar in the same order as they are displaying on these pages.

So you can customize top sites on New Tab page and it’ll automatically apply the changes in address bar.

To customize top sites list, open a new tab page in Firefox and you’ll see top sites section.

Customize_Top_Sites_List_Mozilla_Firefox_New_Tab_Page_Homepage.png

To remove an unwanted website from top sites list, hover mouse cursor over the site thumbnail and Firefox will show a 3-dots icon. Click on the icon and select Dismiss option. It’ll immediately remove the site from top sites suggestions.

To add a new site, hover mouse cursor over top sites section and Firefox will show a 3-dots icon at the right-side corner of top sites section. Click on the icon and select “Add Top Site” option. Now you can set top site title or name, URL and icon and it’ll add the site to top sites suggestions.

Similarly you can customize existing top sites title, URL and thumbnail image. Hover mouse cursor over the site thumbnail and Firefox will show 3-dots icon. Click on the icon and select Edit option. Now you can change site title, URL or image.

Also Check:

[Tip] Set a Blank Page as New Tab Page and Homepage in Mozilla Firefox

[Tip] The Best Working Method to Get Classic Address bar in Mozilla Firefox

Published in: Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. I wanted to turn it on. I did NOT turn it off. It just disappeared on it’s own. This setting did work to turn it back on. Thanks. One of many irksome happenings since running POS Windows 10. Windows 7 was MUCH better.

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