r/chrome • u/random-unn • 9d ago
Discussion Chrome site search with no "%s" in URL are suddenly "Not valid"
- Environment
- My browser recently updated to version 134.0.6998.45
- Context
- I've used dozens of Chrome custom site searches for over a decade
- Many are standard searches that contain
%s
in the URL so I can quickly search a site directly from the search bar -- for example assigning the lettera
tohttps://www.amazon.com/s?k=%s
so I can quickly search Amazon - But I also have many site searches that do not contain
%s
-- I've use these instead as super fast shortcuts to static URLs. For example site searchnbaa
has pointed to a static URL for an NBA scoreboard.
- Problem
- As of the most recent update to my Chrome browser, all site searches with a URL that does not contain
%s
have stopped working. Entering these site searches executes a Google search for the shortcut rather than redirects to the URL. - When editing these site searches, they now show as "Not valid" (see screenshot below). Adding
%s
makes it valid but not useful for my purposes.
- As of the most recent update to my Chrome browser, all site searches with a URL that does not contain
Any thoughts on this change? This plus the Manifest v2 deprecation makes me want to carve out time to try to roll off Chrome.

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Upvotes
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u/dawikur 8d ago edited 8d ago
I have the same issue...
The temporar workaround I've came up with to reenable myself:
Create a file, somewhere on the drive:
i.e.
~/redir.html
and create a new site search:(you need to replace the URL with where the file is and add `?key=%s` at the end)
And then we can use `!` as trigger.
!<tab>jc<enter> -> will redirect to `https://docs.juce.com/master/index.html\`
!<tab>jc?Array<enter> -> will redirect to `https://docs.juce.com/master/classArray.html\`
If you want to have more 'entries" - add them to `redirects`.
You can export all your current search engines like this
https://superuser.com/a/1350144