Zen URL bar insists on showing history even when the option to do so is disabled.

[oattbread]

Captchas

• [x] I have read the instructions.
• [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• [x] I am not filing an enhancement request.
• [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

The zen URL bar (both when using CTRL + T or clicking the address bar itself) show results and suggestions from search history even though the option is explicitly disabled in settings (Search Suggestions: Show recent searches disabled, Address bar: Suggest from browsing history disabled). This issue does not occur in vanilla Firefox.

Version

1.12.5b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows - x64

What component is this issue related to?

URL Bar

Relevant log output if applicable

[Propheticus]

I suspect these are 'shortcuts' an not history entries. They are forced on for some strange reasons related to the URL bar breaking otherwise. see https://github.com/zen-browser/desktop/issues/8259

Workarounds involve removing shortcuts from the about:newtab page (but they get populated again with sites you visit often) or adding a piece of CSS to userChrome.css Neither is ideal and not really a fix, but perhaps they help a bit.

[SushiByte-beep]

I suspect these are 'shortcuts' an not history entries. They are forced on for some strange reasons related to the URL bar breaking otherwise. see #8259

Workarounds involve removing shortcuts from the about:newtab page (but they get populated again with sites you visit often) or adding a piece of CSS to userChrome.css Neither is ideal and not really a fix, but perhaps they help a bit.

This seems to be it and if its true its quite a dealbreaker for me.

The searchurl expanding downwards means it blocks visiblity of the bookmark page. When you click new tab it will position the cursor on search... so it will expand it.

99% of time when i press new tab i mean to press a bookmark icon, not actually search.

The css solution also doesnt seem to work for me for some reason.

[Propheticus]

You could set the floating url bar to

So that it does not expand up there.

Or use bookmarks sidebar (ctrl+b) > ctrl+click/middle click a bookmark to open in new tab.

(still I understand these are working around the issue of the bar expanding immediately instead of waiting for input like Firefox does... but perhaps acceptable for the time being)

[SushiByte-beep]

You could set the floating url bar to

So that it does not expand up there.

Or use bookmarks sidebar (ctrl+b) > ctrl+click/middle click a bookmark to open in new tab.

(still I understand these are working around the issue of the bar expanding immediately instead of waiting for input like Firefox does... but perhaps acceptable for the time being)

Sadly enough this doesn't seem to work for me. It still expands with shortcuts and frequent sites

I sort of technically have a solution by putting it to always floating because if its in the middle of the screen its not covering the bookmark bar but i really don't like the floating look.

I have been practicing middle click since migrating to this browser but honestly my personal flow is you open a bunch of empty tabs and then i populate each of them with a bookmark. Not the most technical efficient but flows well in my head. The "do things your way" is what i was here for. It was already rather upsetting to find i cant spam click the new tab button on sidebar.

[Propheticus]

You can if you revert Zen's newtab behaviour back to standard Firefox's

In the about:config advanced prefs search for zen.urlbar.replace-newtab and set it to false.

I think Zen's way works faster if you get used to it, cutting out the middleman so to say, but habits and muscle memory are sometimes hard to change.

[SushiByte-beep]

You can if you revert Zen's newtab behaviour back to standard Firefox's

In the about:config advanced prefs search for zen.urlbar.replace-newtab and set it to false.

I think Zen's way works faster if you get used to it, cutting out the middleman so to say, but habits and muscle memory are sometimes hard to change.

Thanks, this helped solve the issue entirely and somethig i strugled with since moving to zen. Now the newtab button actually it opens a new tab as configured in preferences#home and it no longer automaticly opens the address bar.

It does make me wonder if i have/had a different issue. I believe with zen.urlbar.replace-newtab set to true the about:newtab returned an empty page and i couldnt figure out how to get my custom newtab extension to work.

[geeseofbeverlyroad]

Having the same issue: frequently visited URLs show up in the search bar regardless of any other settings. Does not happen on Firefox with those same settings.

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi, @oattbread. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary

• The Zen URL bar in version 1.12.5b on Windows x64 displays search history suggestions despite being disabled.
• @Propheticus suggests these might be 'shortcuts' and offers workarounds like modifying userChrome.css.
• @SushiByte-beep resolves the issue by changing zen.urlbar.replace-newtab to false in about:config.
• @geeseofbeverlyroad confirms the issue, indicating a broader problem with Zen's implementation.

Next Steps

• Please confirm if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If no updates are provided, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[TheRealGLH]

Unfortunately the issue is still relevant. I came here looking to see if someone else had already made the suggestion to let us customize the links initially shown in the URL bar (which I'd very much prefer to just be the bookmarks in my root favourites folder), but unfortunately it seems to be a technical issue.

[SushiByte-beep]

The Issue is still relevant and my workaround in about:config no longer works. Though using the plugin "Bookmark toolbar tweaks" i found an alternative flow which makes this lower priority for me personally. (My Main problem was that i auto hide the bookmark bar and had to select the address bar to show them, with the suggestions blocking the bookmarks. The plugin has a show bookmarks on hover so i no longer have to select the address bar.)

The items it shows seem to be 7 bookmarks. 3 of those are also shortcuts, 2 are pinned and 2 of them are neither. 6 from the 7 seem to be my top daily visited bookmark but the 7th item definitely is not visited frequently (Unlisted ones are visited more frequently) which adds to the confusion.

In the search settings everything is disabled except "shortcuts" which remains greyed out.

I noticed the summary mentioned the issue is on Windows x64 which i don't use. I am on Arch Linux.

[taco-neko]

Just wanted to add that I dislike the inability to disable shortcuts too. Sometimes I stream my browser window to my friends, and I don't want them to see essentially my browsing history when I open a new tab.

[chadoh]

I also have the "am streaming" use-case. I cleared my browsing history so that the address bar would not automatically show my audience all my banking, payroll, and reddit activity. And yet!!! The address bar still shows all my browsing activity!!!!!!!!!!!

This seems like a pretty big privacy violation for a browser that is trying to stay focused on privacy!!!!

I also went into settings and set the address bar to only show "open tabs" and "shortcuts" (because I'm not allowed to disable "shortcuts" for some reason), and it STILL shows all my recent history!!!

wtf Zen I guess I won't show you off in my recording!!!!

[taco-neko]

I also have the "am streaming" use-case. I cleared my browsing history so that the address bar would not automatically show my audience all my banking, payroll, and reddit activity. And yet!!! The address bar still shows all my browsing activity!!!!!!!!!!!

This seems like a pretty big privacy violation for a browser that is trying to stay focused on privacy!!!!

I also went into settings and set the address bar to only show "open tabs" and "shortcuts" (because I'm not allowed to disable "shortcuts" for some reason), and it STILL shows all my recent history!!!

wtf Zen I guess I won't show you off in my recording!!!!

A workaround I found was to go to about:newtab and then designate pinned shortcuts. Once you have 7 pinned shortcuts, those are what will show up no matter what, so you can essentially use it as a second bookmark bar. I changed them to some frequently-used sites (like YouTube, etc) that I don't mind anyone seeing.

[Rigel772]

Another easy workaround is to use the "Containers" Firefox extension. You can choose which profile (which history) you open new tab in (you can have "private" profile) or open new tab with "No container" option. there is no history then, tab opens without any history based shortcuts.

IMO it is a shame we cannot configure custom shortcuts not based on history.

[sprocketaudio]

I have come here to express this is also an issue for me and is definitely not working as intended. I hope this can be resoled. I dont want my history showing when I click the address bar or click new tab.

[jjanrb]

The mod No Top Sites could work as a temporary fix while we wait.