AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Discussion of features in Mozilla Thunderbird
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pcdoctor01
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Joined: June 5th, 2009, 5:41 am

AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by pcdoctor01 »

I figured since there is a Google Search for Thunderbird, there could be DuckDuckGo Search For Thunderbird.
Maybe this will be included in a later release.
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DanRaisch
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by DanRaisch »

If that ever becomes available it will more likely be from an independent developer in the form of an extension, as is the Google search option.
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tanstaafl
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by tanstaafl »

https://duck.co/help/desktop/thunderbird has a downloadable file (not an add-on) you store in the searchplugins directory in the profile to add support for DuckDuckGo searches from within Thunderbird. But when Thunderbird changed OpenSearch a while ago (got rid of the side panel that let you pick between search engines and searches now show up in browser tab rather than a tab in Thunderbird) I can't get it to work anymore. They never updated https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/open-search and the DuckDuckGo web page doesn't state what versions of Thunderbird it supports so it rather confusing.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1076352 seems to describe what I had tried to do in a new profile. However, it talks about "an icon for DuckDuckGo should now appear in the narrow bar along the left edge of the window: " That narrow bar disappeared when the developers modified OpenSearch in Thunderbird. Nowadays you select the search engine in tools -> options -> general and it updates the context menu accordingly.
pcdoctor01
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Joined: June 5th, 2009, 5:41 am

Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by pcdoctor01 »

I stumbled upon that info on the duck.co webpage. I was like what the what?
Hee hee.
I guess when I saw "Show Folder" and I didn't see a show folder on the page, it totally threw me off.
It's working now.
I have an "Open Directory" button.
Thanks for responding.
toolong
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by toolong »

tanstaafl wrote:https://duck.co/help/desktop/thunderbird has a downloadable file (not an add-on) you store in the searchplugins directory in the profile to add support for DuckDuckGo searches from within Thunderbird. But when Thunderbird changed OpenSearch a while ago (got rid of the side panel that let you pick between search engines and searches now show up in browser tab rather than a tab in Thunderbird) I can't get it to work anymore. They never updated https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/open-search and the DuckDuckGo web page doesn't state what versions of Thunderbird it supports so it rather confusing.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1076352 seems to describe what I had tried to do in a new profile. However, it talks about "an icon for DuckDuckGo should now appear in the narrow bar along the left edge of the window: " That narrow bar disappeared when the developers modified OpenSearch in Thunderbird. Nowadays you select the search engine in tools -> options -> general and it updates the context menu accordingly.

I really liked that feature. Would you happen to know why it was removed?
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tanstaafl
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by tanstaafl »

See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1120777 . It looks like they wanted the search to open in the users browser, which they thought would provide a better user interface than they could provide. Removing the narrow bar is a side effect of that decision.
toolong
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by toolong »

tanstaafl wrote:See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1120777 . It looks like they wanted the search to open in the users browser, which they thought would provide a better user interface than they could provide. Removing the narrow bar is a side effect of that decision.

But sadly, for me at least, they also removed the ability to add search engines. And, IMHO, the current selection leaves much to be desired.
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geckoZine
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by geckoZine »

Here's what I did to get DuckDuckGo to be listed as one of the default search engines in Thunderbird version 45.2.0.

1. Download and install the "Google Search for Thunderbird" add-on.

2. Navigate to your profile library. One way is as follows:

Help >> Troubleshooting Information >> Application Basics - Profile Folder >> click Show Folder

3. Navigate the following folders:

extensions >> gsearch@standard8.plus.com >> searchplugins

4. Save the following file into the searchplugins folder:

https://duckduckgo.com/opensearch.xml

rename as duckduckgo-opensearch.xml or something similar, your choice, you can leave as opensearch.xml if you want.

Just be sure that the file extension remains xml.

5. Leave the existing file google.xml as is.

6. Restart Thunderbird.

7. Open the Options window select the General tab and select DuckDuckGo from the Default Search Engine list--you're good to go.

As a side note, any other opensearch xml definition files can be placed here now to add any other search engines that you might want to also use.
Humanist_Geek
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by Humanist_Geek »

geckoZine wrote:Here's what I did to get DuckDuckGo to be listed as one of the default search engines in Thunderbird version 45.2.0.

1. Download and install the "Google Search for Thunderbird" add-on.

2. Navigate to your profile library. One way is as follows:

Help >> Troubleshooting Information >> Application Basics - Profile Folder >> click Show Folder

3. Navigate the following folders:

extensions >> gsearch@standard8.plus.com >> searchplugins

4. Save the following file into the searchplugins folder:

https://duckduckgo.com/opensearch.xml

rename as duckduckgo-opensearch.xml or something similar, your choice, you can leave as opensearch.xml if you want.

Just be sure that the file extension remains xml.

5. Leave the existing file google.xml as is.

6. Restart Thunderbird.

7. Open the Options window select the General tab and select DuckDuckGo from the Default Search Engine list--you're good to go.

As a side note, any other opensearch xml definition files can be placed here now to add any other search engines that you might want to also use.
This worked for me. Thanks, geckoZine.

Thunderbird 45.3.0
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geckoZine
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by geckoZine »

Good to hear Humanist_Geek. I also tailored the default DuckDuckGo opensearch xml file to clean it up a bit (IMO):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
<ShortName>DuckDuckGo (SSL)</ShortName>
<Description>DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personally identifiable information. SSL protects searches between you and DuckDuckGo.</Description>
<InputEncoding>UTF-8</InputEncoding>
<LongName>DuckDuckGo (SSL) Open Search</LongName>
<Image height="16" width="16" type="image/png">https://duckduckgo.com/favicon.png</Image>
<Url type="text/html" method="get" template="https://duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms}"/>
<Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" template="https://duckduckgo.com/ac/?q={searchTerms}&type=list"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>

I'm not sure how the good folks at DuckDuckGo might feel about it, but...
pafboing
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Joined: November 29th, 2014, 4:02 am

Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by pafboing »

Thanks! Finally. I know all this software is free, but still...
geckoZine wrote:Here's what I did to get DuckDuckGo to be listed as one of the default search engines in Thunderbird version 45.2.0.

1. Download and install the "Google Search for Thunderbird" add-on.

2. Navigate to your profile library. One way is as follows:

Help >> Troubleshooting Information >> Application Basics - Profile Folder >> click Show Folder

3. Navigate the following folders:

extensions >> gsearch@standard8.plus.com >> searchplugins

4. Save the following file into the searchplugins folder:

https://duckduckgo.com/opensearch.xml

rename as duckduckgo-opensearch.xml or something similar, your choice, you can leave as opensearch.xml if you want.

Just be sure that the file extension remains xml.

5. Leave the existing file google.xml as is.

6. Restart Thunderbird.

7. Open the Options window select the General tab and select DuckDuckGo from the Default Search Engine list--you're good to go.

As a side note, any other opensearch xml definition files can be placed here now to add any other search engines that you might want to also use.
dumascon
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by dumascon »

To add DuckDuckGo as a search engine (or to make it the default) in Thunderbird,
follow the instructions for adding Google to the search engine list, but either add or substitute the DuckDuckGo file
for the Google file that is mentioned in the instructions.

Instructions: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ad ... pen-search

DuckDuckGo.xml file: https://addons.cdn.mozilla.net/user-med ... eda6c911d1

I just did this in Thunderbird v. 52.9.1 (64bit) and it worked perfectly.

- Tip: Be sure to use 'save file as' to copy the .xml file to the 'searchplugins' folder instead of trying to copy/paste the contents.


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LIMPET235
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Re: AddOn - DuckDuckGo search for Thunderbird

Post by LIMPET235 »

Why reply to a thread that died on the 11th Oct 2016?
Thanks but...
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