My Google search is not working by which I mean that nothing happens when I try to use Google search. When I go into “Manage search engines” and open the editor for the Google search engine is see its URL as
Could you provide details such as which version of Brave you’re using, which specific OS (I see Windows tag, but which Windows?), and any other info you could think of.
Also, on your new profiles, is everything default? I want to make sure you’re not adding any extensions.
Lastly, have you changed anything in brave://flags?
Extensions include: Copy-n-Paste Clipboard, Print Edit WE, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin Lite, Windscribe (not enabled when Google search fails)
I created new profile solely to test Google search. Nothing was done in that profile other than a Google search attempt.
I do not recall changing anything in brave://flags but will reset all and report back after a restart.
Edit: There is no change after resetting flags but that testing narrowed down the problem. Google search works if I set Google as the default search engine and then search from the address bar. I does not work if I search using Google in the search widget on the new tab page.
Hey there,
I do not have a solution as I’ve never re-produced the problem, but I’ve seen a similar complaint and wanted to post that to the thread.
(dark reader issue: google search)
This doesn’t directly address your issue, it’s just something I see as a topic of interest for brave users and brave devs.
(also) startpage.com uses giggles™ search engine if you’d prefer the power of giggles™ search without the ummmm… oversight?
Thanks for this tip. I was disappointed with the search results produced by startpage.com when I tried it several years ago so have been using DuckDuckGo.
Occasionally it produces unexpected results so I then try again with Google. I’ll give startpage another look.
@Peobody,
Just to make sure I’m clear on whats happening, you have Google set as your default search engine and if you type into the address bar and hit Enter nothing happens at all? As if you never hit Enter?
The problem in the search widget on the new tab page. A search attempt there with Google selected as the search engine results in nothing happening, as if Enter was not hit. IIRC from my testing, it does not make a difference which search engine is set as default.
FWIW, this was happening in the address bar too when I first made this post. I could not duplicate that earlier today hence my clarifying post about the problem being in the search widget. That failure has occurred in all of my tests.
I suspect that one of your extensions may be causing the conflict here.
Can you please try opening a Guest profile (Menu --> More tools --> Guest profile) window, then closing your original profile window (so that only the guest window is open) and try using the search widget on the NTP there and tell me if you get the samer results?
The Guest profile opens in a private window. I can not find a way to create a NTP. The landing page contains a search widget but that is fixed to use Brave search. Setting Google as the default search engine only affects searches using the address bar.
As previously stated, I created a new profile (no extensions) and confirmed that the problem existed in it as well. It is possible that an instance of Brave was running with the default profile when I tested the Test profile so I will do this again and report back, insuring that only a Test profile is running.
I’m back. This time I tested in the Test profile after closing all Brave windows and then restarting in in the Test profile. The search widget in the NTP worked with Google. I then restarted in the Default profile, turned off all extensions, restart in the Default profile again, and tested. Nothing happened. This problem is a minor one for me so I’m not willing to go to the extent of uninstalling all of the extensions to further test whether an extension is to blame.
Can you clarify again, what exactly happens? Like if you did a video or a set of screenshots like I did above, what would we see?
Three more things
Does your issue only occur with Google search? If you switch to other search engines on the dashboard, do they work?
Can you go to brave.com/download and install on top of your current version? Don’t uninstall but just install on top to manually update. It can fix things if anything is corrupted or whatever.
Can you test with Brave Beta and/or Brave Nightly and see if the issue occurs there as well?
The issue only occurs with Google search.
I will do an over-the-top install and report back only if that fixes it.
I’m not willing to test with Brave Beta or Brave Nightly.
No problem if you’re not willing to try Brave Beta or Nightly. I just wanted to clarify that these are separate browsers, so they wouldn’t impact your current data or settings. Testing them is just a way to check if the same issue occurs there. If it doesn’t, that could indicate the problem is specific to the version you’re using and help narrow down the source.
Thanks for trying everything you have so far. I know it’s frustrating, but we’re hoping to figure this out and get things working smoothly for you. The fact that we can’t replicate the issue and haven’t seen similar reports suggests it may be something external affecting the browser. That’s why we’re asking you to try different troubleshooting steps, to help rule out potential causes
An over-the-top install did not fix it. I normally run with “Search engine suggestions” disabled but thought I would enable and test just for ha-ha’s. No suggestions appear with any of the search engines tested (Brave, DuckDuckGo, and Google), not in the NTP widget nor in the address bar with different ones set a default. They work in my Test profile though. I’m hopeful this will provide a clue into what is going on.
I’m also inclined to think it has to do with some data contained in the main profile. I imagine clearing your browsing data (at least cache and cookies/site data) may resolve the issue, but also understand that that may be a pain to have to do.
You might first try clearing site data for Google only first before clearing all of it since the issue only occurs with Google searches. Quickest way to do this would be to go to brave://settings/content/all, search for “google” (or accounts.google.com) and clear everything there by clicking the trash icon next to the entry:
No joy after clearing site data for all hits resulting from a search for “google”. Needless to say, building a new profile to match my existing one is not appealing. I can live without Google search in the NTP widget.
"Sorry we couldn’t find a clear answer for you, @Peobody. I’ll keep testing on my end, and maybe others in the community or at Brave will be able to weigh in as well. So far, you’re the only one I’ve seen reporting this issue, and none of the usual factors seem to be causing it.
Unfortunately, without a way to generate a specific report to track it down and isolate things within the millions of lines of code, it can be tricky with so many variables across devices. Hopefully, one of the upcoming updates will fix the issue, or whatever is interfering will eventually sort itself out.
Something just came to mind. I am running Brave on a relatively new Window 11 laptop. Previously it was on a Windows 10 laptop. IIRC, I installed Brave on the new laptop but then replaced its \User Data directory with the one from the old laptop. Wondering whether that was a bonehead move, I just fired up that old laptop, updated Brave, then tested Google search in it NTP search widget. I doesn’t work there either so whatever is causing the problem has likely been with me, undiscovered, for a long time, carried to the new machine by the copy of \User Data.
@Peobody,
It could be the case that carrying user data over in that way caused the issue but even then it seems unlikely to me if everything else is working properly. I’m shocked it didn’t resolve itself after clearing data.
As @Saoiray said I do apologize that we can’t find a solution here. I did pass this off to some of our devs to see if they have any other ideas on what might be causing it so I’ll leave this thread open in case any new information comes up.
