Setup OpenSearch for Second Life

The Second Life viewer has a new web-based search function. However, by default it only provides access to the search facility provided by Linden Lab. You can change the default to use a more open search mechanism by configuring your Second Life viewer to use our OpenSearch. OpenSearch provides access to several search engines, including Linden Lab's.

All features of the standard Linden Lab search are preserved when you switch to OpenSearch

There are two ways to configure your Second Life viewer to use OpenSearch:

  • Automatically, on Windows only. Close Second Life. Get the OpenSearchSetup.js file. This file is a simple script (you can read it... it's 50 lines long) that automates the manual setup steps, by writing to your Second Life settings file. This file is located at "SecondLife\user_settings\settings.xml". A couple of notes related to the browser you're using:
    • With Firefox right-click here and choose "Save Link As..." to save the file, then Open it, or double-click it, to run it locally.
    • With Internet Explorer, follow this link, you will be asked to Open or Save. If you Open it, then it will run right from the browser. If you want to you can save it first, then double-click it. Or simply click the big button below.
    • In either case, make sure you close Second Life first.
  • Manually, in all systems, including Windows, Mac, or Linux. Here are the steps:
    • Run Second Life.
    • Access the hidden Client menu in Second Life by pressing Ctrl-Alt-D, or Opt-Ctrl-D on a Mac. Click here for more info
    • Select the "Debug Settings" menu.
    • In the drop-down, select "SearchURLQuery" (also "SearchQueryURL" in a previous release)
    • In the text box, change the part of the text before the "? to be the following string:
      http://www.MetaverseInk.com/OpenSearch?
      
    • If you want, you can also change the "SearchURLDefault" (or "SearchDefaultURL") setting to be
      http://www.MetaverseInk.com/OpenSearch?
      
Note that every time you install Second Life, you will have to re-configure OpenSearch.