Search the web

Search the web with the combined search and address bar

The combined search and address bar allows you to query search engines or input web addresses to find what you’re looking for on the web.

If you don’t know the location of a page, or if you want to see relevant results from search engines to help you find information, use the combined search and address bar to search the web. Opera queries the Google search engine by default.

To search the web:

  1. Click the Search or enter address field.
  2. Type key words for what you want to find. For example, type movies.
  3. Click one of the predictive search suggestions that appear or press Enter.

Predictive search suggestions appear as you type. If you want to view results from another search engine, such as Yahoo!, Amazon or Bing, click the corresponding tab that appears at the lower-right of the predictive search suggestion box.

If you already know the location of a page, type the web address directly into the combined search and address bar and press Enter to navigate to that page. For example, type www.opera.com and press Enter to navigate to the Opera Software homepage.

Change the default search engine

Opera’s default search engine is Google, but you may prefer to search using Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, or Wikipedia. To change the default search engine:

  1. Go to Settings (Preferences on Mac).
  2. Click Browser on the sidebar.
  3. Under Search, select your preferred search engine from the dropdown menu.

Set up custom search engines

In addition to Opera’s defaults, you can set up the combined address and search bar to return results from other search engines. To do so:

  1. Ctrl+click (or right-click) on a site’s search bar and select Create Search Engine….
  2. Assign the engine a name and keyword.
  3. Click OK.

You can view results from your custom engine by clicking the new tab that appears in Opera’s combined search and address bar. Or, type your engine’s assigned keyword first followed by a space and then enter your query.

You can edit keywords, and manage or remove search engines from the preferences page.

  1. Go to Settings (Preferences on Mac).
  2. Click Browser on the sidebar.
  3. Under Search, click the Manage Search Engine button.

Search the web using text on the page

Text on the page can be used as a phrase to search the web. If you are reading an article and want to quickly search for an unfamiliar term, or if you are curious what others have written about a subject, Opera can query search engines based on text you highlight.

To search the web for text you find on a page:

  1. Highlight the text.
  2. Ctrl+click the highlighted text.
  3. Select Search to use your default search engine, or Search With to use another search engine.