Add new setting to show/hide bookmarks and history from the address bar autocomplete results

[rebron]

Description

Users should have the ability to show or hide results from bookmarks and history in the address bar (omnibox).
These settings should live in:
brave://settings/appearance
(also considering these settings to live in brave://settings/privacy)

• Create 4 new boolean preferences, which all default to true.
• If any preference is set to false by the user, then those items are not shown as autocomplete items in the omnibox.
• If the existing "show autocomplete suggestions in the address bar" pref is set to false, then these 4 preferences will appear disabled.
• Also carry over and simplify labelling for "Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions" to "Top sites" and "Show suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions" to "Suggested sites"

Design

Expected result:

Brave version (brave://version info)

Target release 1.41.x

Version/Channel Information:

• Can you reproduce this issue with the current release? n/a
• Can you reproduce this issue with the beta channel? n/a
• Can you reproduce this issue with the nightly channel? n/a

Other Additional Information:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields? n/a
• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Rewards? n/a
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome? n/a

Miscellaneous Information:

#12292

Test Plan

#22948 (comment)

[petemill]

Edited description to include more spec

[waldyrious]

Create 4 new boolean preferences, which all default to true.

If the idea is to be privacy-friendly by default, shouldn't the initial setting for the "Browsing history" preference be false? That would be more in line with the general sentiment in #12292, IIUC.

[fallaciousreasoning]

@waldyrious I worry that it would degrade the default user experience a bit, as all of a sudden a bunch of things that used to show up would stop. I know that the omnibox is the way I normally find things (i.e. I remember, vaguely, a bit of the title of the page I visitied and it shows up in my suggestions).

I wonder if it would be worth having a separate toggle for search results @petemill? It looks like this is exposed and wouldn't be too hard to add. It does seem like it might be hard to explain the difference though, so I dunno.

[fallaciousreasoning]

In addition, I wonder if these settings, rather than living the appearance or privacy section or settings, should live in the search settings, as that seems what they're most closely related too. It seems like these new settings should be grouped with Auto-complete searches and URLs in the privacy section.

[fallaciousreasoning]

Test Plan

1. Open brave://settings/appearance.
   There should be new settings for 'Bookmarks' & 'Browsing History' in the Autocomplete section. Note: In the old version the preferences for Top sites & Suggested sites were there but with different wordings.
   'Show autocomplete in address bar' should be enabled
   'Top sites' should be enabled
   'Suggested sites' should be disabled
   'Browsing history' should be enabled
   'Bookmarks' should be enabled.

2. Toggling 'Show auto complete suggestions in address bar' should show/hide the Top Sites/Suggested Sites/Browsing History/Bookmarks settings. Restore to the original settings.

3. In a new tab, search for Hello.

4. Click on the first result (for me, it's a video of Adele singing Hello) and Bookmark it.

5. Type 'Hel' into the search bar. There should be a search suggestion for Hello and a suggestion for the page you bookmarked.

6. Disable the browsing history toggle and type 'hel' into the search bar. There should be a suggestion for the bookmarked page but not for 'hello' from your search history.

7. Disable the 'Bookmark' toggle and type 'hel' into the search bar. You should have an option to search for 'hel' but no suggestions for 'hello'.

Note: When you disable 'Browsing history' you also don't get tab suggestions (i.e. searching for an open tab). This is expected behavior, though not ideal.

[bsclifton]

Added to 1.42.x milestone 😄
cc: @fallaciousreasoning

[stephendonner]

Verification PASSED using

Brave	1.42.65 Chromium: 103.0.5060.114 (Official Build) beta (x86_64)
Revision	a1c2360c5b02a6d4d6ab33796ad8a268a6128226-refs/branch-heads/5060@{#1124}
OS	macOS Version 13.0 (Build 22A5295i)

Steps:

1. installed 1.42.65
2. launched Brave
3. opened brave://settings/appearance
4. compared to 1.41.96
5. confirmed Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar was checked
6. confirmed Bookmarks & Browsing History were added
7. confirmed all options except for Suggested Sites were Enabled

1.42.65	1.41.96

1. toggled Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar to Disabled and confirmed it collapsed the subcategories. Toggled it back to Enabled.
2. opened a new tab and searched for Hello
3. clicked on the first result and bookmarked it
4. typed Hel into the search bar. Confirmed search suggestion for Hello and a suggestion for the YouTube page I bookmarked.
5. disabled the Browsing History toggle and typed hel into the search bar. Confirmed suggestion for the bookmarked YouTube page but not for 'hello' from my search history.
6. disabled the 'Bookmarks' toggle and type hel into the search bar. Confirmed option to search for hel but no suggestions for hello.

step 1	step 2 & 3	step 4	step 5	step 5(b)	step 6	step 6(b)

Migrations/upgrades

From 1.41.96 -> 1.42.65:

• default prefs -> default prefs

1. launched 1.41.96
2. opened brave://settings/appearance
3. shut down Brave
4. renamed Brave-Browser profile to Brave-Browser-Beta
5. launched 1.42.65
6. confirmed:
   • Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar is toggled to Enabled
   • Top sites is toggled to Enabled
   • Browsing History is toggled to Enabled
   • Bookmarks is toggled to Enabled

1.41.96	1.42.65

• all prefs disabled -> all prefs disabled

1. launched 1.41.96
2. opened brave://settings/appearance
3. toggled Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions to Disabled
4. toggled Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions to Disabled
5. renamed Brave-Browser profile to Brave-Browser-Beta
6. launch 1.42.65
7. confirm Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar is toggled to Disabled (which collapses the rest of the settings)

1.41.96	1.42.65

• Disabled Show autocomplete in address bar

1. launched 1.40.113
2. opened brave://settings/appearance
3. toggled Show autocomplete in address bar to Disabled
4. shut down Brave
5. renamed Brave-Browser profile to Brave-Browser-Beta
6. launched 1.42.65
7. confirmed Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar is toggled to Disabled (which collapses the rest of the settings)

1.41.96	1.42.65

From 1.40.113 -> 1.42.65:

• default prefs -> default prefs

1. launched 1.40.113
2. opened brave://settings/appearance
3. shut down Brave
4. renamed Brave-Browser profile to Brave-Browser-Beta
5. launched 1.42.65
6. confirmed:

• Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar is toggled to Enabled
• Top sites is toggled to Enabled
• Browsing History is toggled to Enabled
• Bookmarks is toggled to Enabled

1.40.113	1.42.65

• all prefs disabled -> all prefs disabled

1. launched 1.40.113
2. opened brave://settings/appearance
3. toggled Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions to Disabled
4. toggled Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions to Disabled
5. renamed Brave-Browser profile to Brave-Browser-Beta
6. launch 1.42.65
7. confirm Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar is toggled to Disabled (which collapses the rest of the settings)

1.40.113	1.42.65

• Disabled Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions

1. launched 1.40.113
2. opened brave://settings/appearance
3. toggled Show top sites in autocomplete suggestions to Disabled
4. renamed Brave-Browser profile to Brave-Browser-Beta
5. launch 1.42.65
6. confirm Top Sites was toggled to Disabled, beneath Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar

1.40.113	1.42.65

[GeetaSarvadnya]

Verification PASSED on

Brave | 1.42.73 Chromium: 103.0.5060.134 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | 8ec6fce403b3feb0869b0732eda8bd95011d333c-refs/branch-heads/5060@{#1262}
OS | Windows 10 Version 21H2 (Build 19044.1826)

• Verified the test plan from Add new setting to show/hide bookmarks and history from the address bar autocomplete results  #22948 (comment)
• Logged Add bookmarks popup flickering in the URL bar #24209

Clean profile

Case 1: Verify default autocomplete suggestion switches behavior_PASSED

• Confirmed that the switch Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar in brave://settings/appearance is enabled by default
• Confirmed that the Top sites, Suggested sites, Bookmarks and Browsing History options were added as subcategories under the main switch Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar
• Confirmed that the 3 switches Top sites, Bookmarks and Browsing History options were enabled by default.
• Confirmed that the option Suggested sites is disabled by default
  

Case 1: Top sites in autocomplete will match against Alexa 500 sites

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Open NTP and enter cnn.com in the address bar
3. Confirm that the website suggestions are shown in the address bar for the entered site
4. Open 2nd NTP and enter a letter t in the address bar
5. Confirm that the suggestions are shown in the address bar for the entered letter

Default settings	Step 3	Step 5

Case 2: Autocomplete suggestion from seach history

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Visit few sites (e.g: twitter.com, cnn.com, nytimes.com and buzzfeed.com)
3. Confirmed that browser history is created in brave://history/
4. Close all the websites opened tabs
5. Open any of the sites from step 2
6. Confirm that there should be a suggestion from seach history

Default settings	Step 3	Step 6

Case 3: Autocomplete suggestion from the bookmarks

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Visit a site cnn.com and bookmark it
3. Confirmed that browser history is created in brave://history
4. Close the websites cnn.com
5. Clear the browser history
6. Type cnn.com in address bar
7. Confirm that there should be a suggestion from the bookmarks

Default settings	Step 2	Step 3	Step 5	Step 7

Case 2: Turn ON all the autocomplete suggestion switches_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn ON all the switches under brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and enter a string cnn in the address bar
5. Confirmed that the auto complete suggestion are from top sites
6. Visit cnn.com
7. Ensured browser history is created for the visited site
8. Close the cnn.com site
9. Enter a string cnn in the address bar
10. Confirmed that the auto complete suggestion are from browser history
11. Open a new NTP and visit nytimes.com and bookmark it
12. Go to brave://history and remove nytimes.com from history
13. Close the nytimes.com site
14. Open a NTP and enter a string nyt in the address bar
15. Confirmed that the auto complete suggestion are from bookmarks

Step 2	Step 5	Step 7	Step 10	Step 11	Step 12	Step 15

Case 3: Turn OFF all the subcategory autocomplete suggestion switches_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off the subcategory autocomplete suggestion switches from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and enter the string ny in the address bar
5. Confimed that the no autocomplete suggestion are shown as all the subcategory autocomplete suggestion switches are OFF

Step 2	Step 5

Case 4: Turn OFF induvidual autocomplete suggestion switches_PASSED

Case 1: Turn OFF Top sites switch

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off Top sites switch from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and enter a letter t in the address bar
5. Confirmed that no autocomplete suggestions are shown as Tops sites switch is OFF

Step 2	Step 5

Case 2: Turn OFF Browser history switch

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off Browser history switch from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and open cnn.com site
5. Confirm browser history is created in brave://history
6. Confirmed that no autocomplete suggestions from browser history even though history is available for the visited site as Browser history switch is OFF
7. Confirmed that auto complete suggestion are from top sites

Step 2	Step 5	Step 7

22. Turn on the browser history switch in brave://settings/appearance
23. Enter cnn string in address bar and ensured auto complete suggestion are from browser history
    

Case 3: Turn OFF Bookmarks switch

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off Bookmarks switch from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and open cnn.com site and bookmark it
5. Close the cnn.com site
6. Enter a string cnn in address bar
7. Confirmed that autocomplete suggestion are NOT from boommarks even though cnn.com is bookmarked as bookmark switch is turned OFF in brave://settings/appearance
8. Confirmed that auto complete suggestions are from browser history

Step 2	Step 8

10. Clear the browser history
11. Enter cnn string and ensured auto complete suggestion are from Top sites as browser history is deleted
12. Enable the Bookmarks switch via brave://settings/appearance
13. Enter cnn string and ensured auto complete suggestion are from bookmarks

Case 5: Turn OFF show autocomplete suggestion main switch_PASSED

• Toggled Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar switch to Disabled and confirmed it collapsed the subcategories.
• Restart the browser and ensured settings toggle to Disable is retained
• Confirm no autosuggestions are shown for the entered site in the address bar when the Show autocomplete suggestion in address bar main switch is turned OFF

Example	Example

Upgade profile

Case 1: Upgrade without making any changes to autocomplete settings_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.41.88 beta build
2. Go to brave://settings/help and wait for the update
3. Upgrade the profile to 1.42.65
4. Confirmed that top sites autocomplete suggestion settings is still in enabled state after the upgrade
5. Confirmed that Suggested sites settings is OFF in an upgraded profile (as it was OFF in 1.41.x)

1.41.88	1.42.65

Case 2: Turn OFF `Show top sites autocomplete` settings in 1.41 and then upgrade to 1.42_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.41.88 beta build
2. Turn OFF the Show top sites autocomplete suggestion settings in brave://settings/appearance
3. Go to brave://settings/help and wait for the update
4. Upgrade the profile to 1.42.65
5. Confirmed that Top sites settings option is turned OFF in an upgraded profile as expected
6. Open a NTP and enter the string cnn in the address bar and ensured no top sites autocomplete suggestions are shown as Top sites switch is OFF

1.41.88	1.42.65

Case 3: Enable `Show suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions` settings in 1.41 and then upgrade to 1.42_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.41.88 beta build
2. Turn ON the Show suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions settings in brave://settings/appearance
3. Go to brave://settings/help and wait for the update
4. Upgrade the profile to 1.42.65
5. Confirmed that suggested site settings are retained in an upgraded profile
6. Confirmed that suggested site settings is Binance switch

1.41.88	1.42.65

---

Verification passed on

Brave	1.42.78 Chromium: 103.0.5060.134 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
Revision	8ec6fce403b3feb0869b0732eda8bd95011d333c-refs/branch-heads/5060@{#1262}
OS	Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

• Verified the test plan from Add new setting to show/hide bookmarks and history from the address bar autocomplete results  #22948 (comment)

Clean profile

Case 1: Verify default autocomplete suggestion switches behavior_PASSED

• Confirmed that the switch Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar in brave://settings/appearance is enabled by default
• Confirmed that the Top sites, Suggested sites, Bookmarks and Browsing History options were added as subcategories under the main switch Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar
• Confirmed that the 3 switches Top sites, Bookmarks and Browsing History options were enabled by default.
• Confirmed that the option Suggested sites is disabled by default

Case 1: Top sites in autocomplete will match against Alexa 500 sites

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Open NTP and enter cnn.com in the address bar
3. Confirm that the website suggestions are shown in the address bar for the entered site
4. Open 2nd NTP and enter a letter t in the address bar
5. Confirm that the suggestions are shown in the address bar for the entered letter

Case 2: Autocomplete suggestion from seach history

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Visit few sites (e.g: twitter.com, cnn.com, nytimes.com and buzzfeed.com)
3. Confirmed that browser history is created in brave://history/
4. Close all the websites opened tabs
5. Open any of the sites from step 2
6. Confirm that there should be a suggestion from seach history

Case 3: Autocomplete suggestion from the bookmarks

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Visit a site cnn.com and bookmark it
3. Confirmed that browser history is created in brave://history
4. Close the websites cnn.com
5. Clear the browser history
6. Type cnn.com in address bar
7. Confirm that there should be a suggestion from the bookmarks

Case 2: Turn ON all the autocomplete suggestion switches_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn ON all the switches under brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and enter a string cnn in the address bar
5. Confirmed that the auto complete suggestion are from top sites
6. Visit cnn.com
7. Ensured browser history is created for the visited site
8. Close the cnn.com site
9. Enter a string cnn in the address bar
10. Confirmed that the auto complete suggestion are from browser history
11. Open a new NTP and visit nytimes.com and bookmark it
12. Go to brave://history and remove nytimes.com from history
13. Close the nytimes.com site
14. Open a NTP and enter a string nyt in the address bar
15. Confirmed that the auto complete suggestion are from bookmarks

Case 3: Turn OFF all the subcategory autocomplete suggestion switches_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off the subcategory autocomplete suggestion switches from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and enter the string ny in the address bar
5. Confirmed that the no autocomplete suggestion are shown as all the subcategory autocomplete suggestion switches are OFF

Case 4: Turn OFF induvidual autocomplete suggestion switches_PASSED

Case 1: Turn OFF Top sites switch

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off Top sites switch from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and enter a letter t in the address bar
5. Confirmed that no autocomplete suggestions are shown as Tops sites switch is OFF

Case 2: Turn OFF Browser history switch

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off Browser history switch from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and open cnn.com site
5. Confirm browser history is created in brave://history
6. Confirmed that no autocomplete suggestions from browser history even though history is available for the visited site as Browser history switch is OFF
7. Confirmed that auto complete suggestion are from top sites

Case 3: Turn OFF Bookmarks switch

1. Clean profile 1.42.x
2. Turn off Bookmarks switch from brave://settings/appearance
3. Restart the browser and ensured switch states are retained
4. Open a NTP and open cnn.com site and bookmark it
5. Close the cnn.com site
6. Enter a string cnn in address bar
7. Confirmed that autocomplete suggestion are NOT from boommarks even though cnn.com is bookmarked as bookmark switch is turned OFF in brave://settings/appearance
8. Confirmed that auto complete suggestions are from browser history

10. Clear the browser history
11. Enter cnn string and ensured auto complete suggestion are from Top sites as browser history is deleted
12. Enable the Bookmarks switch via brave://settings/appearance
13. Enter cnn string and ensured auto complete suggestion are from bookmarks

Case 5: Turn OFF show autocomplete suggestion main switch_PASSED

• Toggled Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar switch to Disabled and confirmed it collapsed the subcategories.
• Restart the browser and ensured settings toggle to Disable is retained
• Confirm no autosuggestions are shown for the entered site in the address bar when the Show autocomplete suggestion in address bar main switch is turned OFF

Upgade profile

Case 1: Upgrade without making any changes to autocomplete settings_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.41.x
2. Go to brave://settings/help and wait for the update
3. Upgrade the profile to 1.42.x
4. Confirmed that top sites autocomplete suggestion settings is still in enabled state after the upgrade
5. Confirmed that Suggested sites settings is OFF in an upgraded profile (as it was OFF in 1.41.x)

Case 2: Turn OFF `Show top sites autocomplete` settings in 1.41 and then upgrade to 1.42_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.41.x
2. Turn OFF the Show top sites autocomplete suggestion settings in brave://settings/appearance
3. Go to brave://settings/help and wait for the update
4. Upgrade the profile to 1.42.x
5. Confirmed that Top sites settings option is turned OFF in an upgraded profile as expected
6. Open a NTP and enter the string cnn in the address bar and ensured no top sites autocomplete suggestions are shown as Top sites switch is OFF

Case 3: Enable `Show suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions` settings in 1.41 and then upgrade to 1.42_PASSED

1. Clean profile 1.41.x beta build
2. Turn ON the Show suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions settings in brave://settings/appearance
3. Go to brave://settings/help and wait for the update
4. Upgrade the profile to 1.42.x
5. Confirmed that suggested site settings are retained in an upgraded profile
6. Confirmed that suggested site settings is Binance switch

[LeuschkeTressa]

For others coming across this: in Brave 1.48, this option can be found under the "Appearance" heading in Settings. It's called "Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar". If the setting is enabled, check-boxes for more fine-grained control is shown.