How do I disable Bookmark Suggestions in my Chrome Search bar in 2020?

Question

While searching/navigating the web I often use the address bar to get to where I want to go, but I see that Google Chrome is combing through my bookmarks to make suggestions based on my bookmarks. While I can see this might be a useful feature to some, it is not something I wish to have happen when using the address bar.

So my question is: How do I disable Bookmark Suggestions in my Chrome Search bar in 2020?

• Using Chrome build: Version 81.0.4044.138 (Official Build) (64-bit)
• Windows 10 Pro 1909 build 18363.815

Solution 1

This was already demanded in 2011 in Issue 91378: Option to turn off autocomplete in Omnibox, and received a very definitive answer from developer [email protected]:

As has been said numerous times, we will not ever provide an option to disable inline autocompletion entirely.

The final act by that developer was to set the Status of the bug request to "WontFix" (won't fix).

Since then and up till today, there had been 11 similar bug-reports about requested changes in the omnibar that have all been merged into this WontFix report. I conclude that the chances of getting this problem fixed by Google are exactly zero.

Another solution, probably unsatisfactory, is to turn off predictions entirely in the omnibar, but Google has nowadays disabled even this option.

The only solution I can see is to change your search engine (which is the solution I actually use). You can more easily switch back and forth also by using one of the several switcher extensions for search engines. A quick search found Search Switcher and Search Manager, but more exist.

For managing search engines in Chrome, see Custom Search Engines in Google Chrome and Set your default search engine.

Solution 2

Google Chrome does not allow disabling specific types of inputs in the prediction service. According to the Chromium project, bookmarks were added to the prediction service in June of 2015 and have been in place continuously since that time. If you have the prediction service turned on, it may include any of these types of inputs:

case TYPE_BOOKMARK:
case TYPE_BUILTIN:
case TYPE_CLIPBOARD:
case TYPE_DOCUMENT:
case TYPE_HISTORY_QUICK:
case TYPE_HISTORY_URL:
case TYPE_KEYWORD:
case TYPE_ON_DEVICE_HEAD:
case TYPE_SEARCH:
case TYPE_SHORTCUTS:

Incidentally, the option to disable autocomplete has moved as of Version 81.0.4044.138. To disable the prediction service, open Chrome, click the 3-dots menu, and choose Settings. Under Sync and Google Services / Other Google Services you will find Autocomplete searches and URLs. However, this STILL does not disable bookmark recommendations in the search bar.

Possible solutions:

1) Use a Chromium branch that has added an option for this like CentBrowser v4.1.7.182.

2) Use a bookmark extension that does not store bookmarks in the standard Chrome bookmark manager.

Comments

[Kalamalka Kid]

Hi thaks for your response. I am not looking to change browsers. I am specifically looking for a way to disable the prediction service in Google Chrome from accessing bookmarks.

[Allen J]

I understand. Sounds like a third-party extension might be the best alternative because then Chrome would be unable to "see" your bookmarks.

[Allen J]

Nice. Even more definitive than my answer.

[Kalamalka Kid]

wow. Time to ditch this stupid browser I guess. I cant stand that the lazy developers wont listen to the public and install an easy feature like this.

[harrymc]

The problem is more with Google Search than with the browser itself. It can be solved by switching only the search engine.