Firefox: search Google from DuckDuckGo

[Stephen_C]

This workflow has no dependencies although:

• it uses a little AppleScript;
• it requires DuckDuckGo as your default search engine;
• it uses Firefox.

 

Introduction
As a Firefox user I like to use DuckDuckGo as a search engine because it does not track me. However, sometimes the results are not as good as those you can obtain from Google. This workflow allows for a direct seach using Google even when:

• DuckDuckGo is your default search engine;
• you are in a Firefox private window (although being in a private window is not a prerequisite for the workflow).

Usage
This workflow:

• relies on Firefox being installed (and uses Firefox for the search);
• relies on DuckDuckGo being the default search engine in Firefox;
• uses a DuckDuckGo !Bang to search Google (see this DuckDuckGo help page for more about !Bangs);
• will work in a Firefox private window.

(Note that <https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=!guk  -amazon -youtube -ebay> can be configured as a fallback search in Alfred but cannot be forced to execute in a Firefox private window. This workflow will execute in a private window.)

In the User Configuration you can change:

• the default keyword (guk);
• the default !Bang (so, e.g., you could use !g to search Google generally as opposed to the default UK Google site);
• the default exclusions from the search result (-ebay -amazon -youtube).

This is the Github link for the worklfow.

 

Stephen