How do I use a custom search engine?

Browser Support
1

The search only uses Google. Where do I click to select a custom search engine that I made?

2

Please see the following article on how to change your default search engine:
https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017479752-How-do-I-set-my-default-search-engine

3

I don’t want to change my default search engine. I want to be able to select a custom search engine. How?

4

@NotYourAverageDuck,
I am not sure I understand what you’re asking — can you please elaborate?

If you’re saying you’ve created a custom search engine string that you’d like to be able to access, you can do so via brave://settings/searchEngines.

5

Literally how do I select it? When I search something it uses Google as that is the default. How do I make it search using my custom engine?

6

@NotYourAverageDuck check post linked below:

Whatever shortcut you use is what you would put in the search bar in front of your search term. That shortcut/bang Is what tells the browser to search using something other than your default search engine.

You can through that menu to see what the current shortcuts are for any search engines or site search names that you have. Or you can always, especially if it’s a search engine that may not already be in your browser

7

So, you can’t select a custom search engine in Brave and use it, you can only bring it up by typing a shortcut? Really?

8

You can set it as your default. When I was reading quickly, I thought I saw you asking how to use other search engine while keeping Google as your default,. But in that same area it talks about where you can create the search engine, assign the shortcut, etc you can set one of them as your default search if you want. Just click on the pencil and then Make Default.

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And just in case it needs repeating as it gets confusing to people…

When you go to Settings → Search engine it will look something like below:

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You’ll need to click on Manage search engines and site search. From which point you’ll see info like below appear:

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Some had gotten confused here because they don’t have a Add button under Search Engines but instead only have it for Site Search. Essentially Site Search and Search Engine are the same thing. When you click Add under Site Search you would fill things out as indicated in link I provided earlier. Then to make it appear under Search Engine, you have to click the hamburger menu and set it as default search engine, at which point it moves from Site Search to Search Engine. However, it’s not required to do this. Once you create it under Site Search, you’re able to use that search by using the shortcut/bang you created

3 Likes
9

You can do exactly this in one of two ways:

  • You can set that custom search engine and access it from the address bar via quick-action keys, as @Saoiray is pointing out (for example, typing :b and then space, you can now search using Bing). This method is extremely fast and easy to use.
  • You can set that custom search engine as the default search you use in the address bar, so that just typing into the address bar and hitting Enter will run the query through the selected search engine.
10

Can we just forget about the setting it as default search? I don’t want that, never mentioned it either. I’m just looking for a normal drop down menu, like we see in other browsers. Is just not something that can be done in Brave? Seems like a glaring omission.

1 Like
11

No, it cannot be done. You can install an extension or use the quick access option mentioned previously, which I highly recommend.

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