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Shortcuts in Opera

Shortcuts do work on Opera 9.21. However, they do not work on earlier versions.

To get shortcuts to work on Opera 9.21, you will need to create a default search engine for OpenDNS.


Go to Tools/Preferences/Search from the menu bar.

  1. Find the default search engine in the list by selecting a search engine and clicking on Details.
  2. Once you've found the default search engine, deselect default option.
  3. Click Add, to create new search engine( Name = OpenDNS Guide, keyword = og, Address = http://guide.opendns.com/?url=%s )
  4. Select "Use as default search engine." Hit OK.

Type "about:config" in the address bar

  1. Select Network
  2. Uncheck Enable HostName Expansion
  3. Check Enable HostName Web Lookup
  4. Set HostName Web Lookup Address = http://guide.opendns.com/?url=%s
  5. Hit Save

If shortcuts still don't work after configuring your search domain, please check if you have installed any web accelerators.  They may interfere with shortcuts.

If you have ruled out any toolbar or web accelerator issues, please try the following tests to show you are properly directed to our OpenDNS guide page.

  1. Type "opendns" in the address bar, and note whether you land on the OpenDNS Guide Page. The URL should look something like this: http://guide.opendns.com/?url=opendns
  2. Now, type "opendns opendns" in the address bar and note whether you land on our OpenDNS Guide Page. The URL should look something like this: http://guide.opendns.com/?url=opendns+opendns

If you are properly directed to our guide page, please note whether your shortcuts are defined network-wide or in your personal OpenDNS account.

For network-wide shortcuts, make sure the following is true:

  1. The given shortcut is defined in the OpenDNS account .
  2. Shortcuts are enabled in network preferences.
  3. All or tagged shortcuts have been applied to your current network.
  4. Your current IP address matches the IP for the network in your OpenDNS account .
  5. If your current IP does not match your IP for your OpenDNS account, update it by doing the following:
    • Make sure Enable Dynamic IP Update is ON, via MyAccount/Networks/(wrench icon)/Dynamic IP Update
    • Either, verify you have a DDNS client installed to handle automatic IP updates
    • Or, go to MyAccount/Networks and click on the Manual IP Update button (green arrows icon) between two network IP addresses, previous IP and current IP. If a manual IP update is necessary, please wait 5 -10 minutes for the shortcuts to be applied to the new IP.

For personal shortcuts, make sure the following is true:

  1. You are signed in to your OpenDNS account from your browser.
  2. The given shortcut is defined in your OpenDNS account.


If you land on an unexpected website when you type in your shortcut, please check your previously defined keywords associated with search domains.


If you type a shortcut, and www. and .com are appended, (i.e. yahoo goes to www.yahoo.com ), then either you are NOT using OpenDNS or you have a default search engine that interferes with OpenDNS shortcuts. If this is the case, please see the previous instructions related to default search engine settings.