Fenix: Bookmarked sites are not autocompleted in the address bar when 'Search browsing history' is switched off

[neekt]

Steps to reproduce

1. On a fresh Firefox install, ensure that 'Autocomplete URLs' is turned on (Settings > Search > Autocomplete URLs)
2. Switch off 'Search browsing history' (Settings > Search > Search browsing history)
3. Bookmark a site that is not listed in Alexa top sites (e.g., https://www.depop.com/)
4. Begin typing "depop.com" in the address bar

Expected behavior

After typing the first few letters, depop.com should be autocompleted in the address bar. This should happen regardless of the 'Search browsing history' option.

Actual behavior

depop.com is not autocompleted in the address bar if 'Search browsing history' is switched off. Other non-bookmarked sites (e.g., amazon.com) are.

Device information

• Android device: Xiaomi Mi A2, running Android 10 (Android One)
• Fenix version: 84.1.1

[neekt]

An additional comment; the current autocomplete behaviour is not just inconsistent with both Firefox for desktop and the old Firefox for Android, it's also inconsistent with Chrome for Android - which autocompletes bookmarked URLs, and not sites that are non-bookmarked and unvisited.

[sheikh-azharuddin]

But it is showing here..

[neekt]

Interesting. Not for me:

[mcarare]

Interesting. Not for me:

@neekt It does show for you also, the suggestion marked with a ⭐ is the suggestion from bookmarks.

[neekt]

@mcarare I'm not talking about suggestions, I'm talking about autocompleting URLs in the address bar. Like this in Chrome for Android:

[neekt]

@sheikh-azharuddin does this still work if you clear your browsing history? Autocomplete does seem to work if Search Browsing History is switched on and the bookmarked site is in your browsing history. Otherwise, not.

[sheikh-azharuddin]

@sheikh-azharuddin does this still work if you clear your browsing history? Autocomplete does seem to work if Search Browsing History is switched on and the bookmarked site is in your browsing history. Otherwise, not.

yes this still works after clearing browing history

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[sheikh-azharuddin]

On a side note another critical bug found due to this auto complete feature... While deleting the character from address bar URL it deletes one character and then it auto completes so literally you have to press delete button twice to delete a single character.. . I will file new issue

[mcarare]

@neekt , @sheikh-azharuddin what keyboards are you using?

[neekt]

@sheikh-azharuddin Thanks for confirming that.

After a little bit more testing, it seems that if 'search browsing history' is switched off (Settings > Search > Search browsing history), then bookmarked URLs aren't autocompleted, regardless of whether the site is in the history or not.

So with the following settings, bookmark URLs are not autocompleted:

[neekt]

Hi @mcarare, I've been using AnySoftKeyboard and Gboard. The results are the same with both.

[neekt]

And after a little more testing I've found that if I have search browsing history switched ON and search bookmarks switched OFF, I still get bookmarked URLs being autocompleted. None of the other settings under Search make a difference to this.

My conclusion from this is that 'Search bookmarks' doesn't do anything at all. Autocompleting bookmark URLs is entirely dependent on 'search browsing history' being activated.

[mcarare]

@neekt Maybe the setting description is not clear enough, but that setting is for the suggestions shown in the awesomebar, not the autocomplete feature.

[mcarare]

Tagging UX for feedback on expected auto-complete behavior and the Settings description.

[neekt]

@neekt Maybe the setting description is not clear enough, but that setting is for the suggestions shown in the awesomebar, not the autocomplete feature.

I think there are a couple of issues here:

1. As in the original post and subsequent comment, I would still expect autocomplete to work for bookmarks - as it does in Firefox for desktop, the old Firefox for Android (Fennec), and in other browsers (e.g., Chrome) - regardless of the search history setting.
2. Even with 'search bookmarks' switched off and the history completely cleared, bookmarks are still suggested (as well as autocompleted) when 'search browsing history' is switched on. [EDIT: This is actually only true for the domain - paths are not suggested]

[sheikh-azharuddin]

Actually there is one setting missing...I have filed a ticket for the same

https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/17196

[neekt]

I have updated the issue to make it properly reproducible, and to be clear this is about autocompleting URLs in the address bar, which is affected by the 'Search browsing history' option. The 'Search bookmarks' option is irrelevant to this particular issue (as @mcarare has kindly pointed out).