OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Searching for Content

The Safari browser uses the Google search engine by default to find content on the web. If you want to use the Yahoo Microsoft Bing, or Baidu search engine instead as the default in Safari, you can change the default browser in the General pane of Safari's Preferences dialog box.

New Feature

Safari 6.0 no longer has a separate Search box in the toolbar. What had been only the URL field in previous versions of OS X is now the Address and Search field, which now serves two purposes: It lets you enter a web address, and it lets you enter a search term. (This combined URL/search field is often called an omnibar.) When you enter text in the Address and Search field, a list of possibly matching websites appears below the field; click an item if it's the web page you want to go to.

Support for the Baidu search engine—a popular one in China—is also new to Safari 6.0, part of greater integration in OS X Mountain Lion with Chinese search and social sites.

You also can change the search engine directly in the Address and Search field at any time by clicking the Search pop-up menu (the magnifying glass icon) at the beginning of the Address and Search field. A list of suggested sites appears, followed by a list of the four available search engines; choose the search engine you want to use. The search engine chosen remains in place until you change it again or relaunch Safari.

In addition to entering a search term in the Address and Search field and pressing Return, you ...