Let’s say you’re using Google Chrome…but for some reason, you hate Google search. I have no idea why you would – maybe you had a bad experience involving Google Images. Because hey, let’s face it, there are some things you should never search for. No, I’m not compiling a list. Of course, maybe it has nothing to do with Chrome. Could be you just want to add a new search engine to the mix, so that when you type a term into the omnibox, you’ll see a more varied list of options.
For whatever reason, you want to modify the search engines that Google Chrome automatically looks to whenever you’re looking to find something. This brief tutorial will help you to do just that.
Anyway; to start with, you can access the search engine menu in one of two ways:
Step 1: Type chrome://settings/searchEngines into the address bar. That’ll take you directly to where you want to go.
Step 1a: Alternatively, you can select “options” from the wrench menu at the top left of the screen, then click on the “Basics” tab once the options page loads. Once there, click on “Manage search engines” in the “search” section.
Once you’re in, you can accomplish a number of different tasks.
Adding a New Default Search Engine
Oddly enough, the first step of this process is pretty much identical to setting up keywords for frequently visited pages.
Step 1: Type in the nickname, keyword, and URL of the search engine. Usually, it’s best to just type a shortened version of the engine’s url. For instance, http://www.google.ca is simply google.ca.
Step 2: Mouse over the area next to the newly added search engine and click on “make default.” Note that this will cause it to replace Google search as the default engine. If you don’t want to do this, refer to step 3.
Step 3: Mouse over the area next to Google Search, at the top of the screen. Click on “Make Default” when it appears. Disregard this step if you’re replacing Google search with a new engine.
Step 4: That’s it! You’re done!
Removing A Search Engine
This one’s easy. Just select the engine from the list that you want to get rid of, and click the ‘x’ that appears on the far right. No more search engine.
Step 3: If your website isn’t in the list, add it. For our example, we’ll type “Bob” for the name, “Bob” for the keyword, and then the way-too-long url under the url box.
Step 4: Press [enter], close the tab, and you’re done! Now, whenever you type “Bob” into the omnibox, your favorite website should pop up at the top of Chrome’s suggested sites.
Image Credits: Gev.com
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