Web/API/Window/external

DeprecatedThis feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The external property of the Window API returns an instance of the External interface, which was intended to contain functions related to adding external search providers to the browser. However, this is now deprecated, and the contained methods are now dummy functions that do nothing as per spec.

Methods

The External object has the following methods:

Method	Description
AddSearchProvider(descriptionURL)	Dummy function; does nothing. See Autodiscovery of search plugins.
IsSearchProviderInstalled()	Dummy function; does nothing.

Specifications

Specification	Status
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'External' in that specification.	Living Standard

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
external Deprecated'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 2 Notes' Full support 2 Notes' Notes' From Firefox 78 AddSearchProvider() does nothing, as the specification requires.	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 15	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 4 Notes' Full support 4 Notes' Notes' From Firefox for Android 79 AddSearchProvider() does nothing, as the specification requires.	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.'

Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

Window.external by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.