Fauxbar

An alternative to Chrome's Omnibox. Replaces the New Tab page.

What is Fauxbar?

Fauxbar is a Chrome extension that offers an alternative to Chrome's standard New Tab page. By mimicking the function of Firefox's Awesome Bar, it allows users to quickly find the website, bookmark, or open tab they're looking for. It uses Mozilla's 'frecency' algorithm to provide the most relevant results first. Additionally, Fauxbar makes adding and using your favorite websites' search engines easier, shows tiled thumbnails for your top sites and installed Chrome apps, and offers over 60 different configurable options for personalized usage.

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Extension stats

This extension was removed from Chrome Web Store on 2023-11-01

By: Chris McFarland

Users: 4,351+

Rating: 4.23 (188)

Version: 1.8.1 (Last updated: 2019-06-13)

Creation date: 2019-06-13

Risk impact: Very high risk impact

Risk likelihood: High risk likelihood

Manifest version: 2

Overrides new tab: Yes

Permissions:

<all_urls>
tabs
history
bookmarks
chrome://favicon/*
unlimitedStorage
management
clipboardWrite
clipboardRead
contextMenus

Size: 335.87K

URLs: Website

Other platforms

Not available on Firefox

Not available on Edge

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Extension summary

Analyze keywords

Fauxbar makes Chrome's New Tab page act like classic Firefox's Awesome Bar: • Quickly find the history page, tab or bookmark you're after • Results are ranked using Mozilla's frecency algorithm, just like Firefox • Add and use your favorite websites' search engines with ease • Show tiled thumbnails for your top websites and installed Chrome apps

To use Fauxbar, simply open a new tab, or click the orange Fauxbar icon beside Chrome's Omnibox, or focus the Omnibox and press F+Spacebar.

What's the difference between Fauxbar and Fauxbar Lite? -- Fauxbar replaces Chrome's New Tab page; Fauxbar Lite does not.

If you'd rather keep Chrome's New Tab page as is, please install Fauxbar Lite instead: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bfimmnpbjccjihohjkimphfmmebffbmk

For Fauxbar's source code, please visit https://github.com/ChrisNZL/Fauxbar

Features include:

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.

Pros

Many users appreciated the larger font size provided by the Fauxbar extension
Fauxbar's replacement Omnibar helped users see what they input
Many users found the 'tiles for most used sites' feature extremely beneficial

Cons

Some users had issues with Fauxbar defaulting to URL history and bookmarks instead of Google search
Several users experienced problems with Fauxbar not showing custom search engines
Issues were reported regarding Fauxbar's handling of certain bookmarks and hidden sub-menus

Most mentioned

Fauxbar's compatibility with multiple operating systems
Problems with Fauxbar's search function
Users would be willing to pay for the extension due to its usefulness

User reviews

My preferred OS is Linux Ubuntu Mate and Chrome's Omnibar's fonts are way too small. After doing numerous searches to increase the font size, it can't be increased. Then I came across Fauxbar extension and decided to try it. WOW! Due to all the features, I use it with all my OSes using Chrome. Fauxbar's replacement Ominibar is wonderful so I can see what I input. To the right, I also have a Search bar. Having all the tiles with my most used sites is great and a lot "better" than other similar extensions. I totally recommend Fauxbar for Chrome on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. You will be happy you installed this extension.

James Kramer, 2023-09-28

Fauxbar is absolute life critical Chrome extension for me - I am a software engineer and use it to look up recently visited documentation/JIRA issues/etc. I would not use Chrome without it. I already bought the author's game and would definitely pay for this as a product to ensure that the developer can continue to maintain / improve it if there was an option to do so :)

Jakub Kaplan, 2023-09-08

Works well with one annoying quirk: I use Fauxbar as my everything url bar. When I start typing in it, expecting to then launch a word or two into google search, it instead looks at url history and bookmarks (of course, that's what it's supposed to do) but has the first one highlighted. So when I hit enter to just search google for the word I typed in, it instead opens the url that is first in the list of things it found in the history/bookmarks. It should not do this, the url list can be displayed but there should not be a highlighted entry until the user arrows down into the list.