Cuil Blog

A lot of users have written to us asking how to make Cuil the default search engine in Safari. Our response up to now has been that it simply isn’t possible. Apple restricts Safari’s search to Google only, and there is no way to change this in Safari’s preferences. However, there is another method out there that works quite well, but it involves installing a Safari plugin. In the past, we have shied away from recommending this due to the involved installation process.

Our users have spoken loudly though, and there are now better plugins available than when we first surveyed the issue. In this post I will guide you through the task of installing Glims, a great Safari plugin, and configuring it to search Cuil. It’s not that painful. I promise!

Download and install Glims

1. Download the Glims installer from this link: Glims1b16.dmg.zip. More information about Glims is located on the Glims site.
2. If you downloaded using Safari, the dmg will mount automatically and the installer will launch. Skip to step 6. If the installer did not launch automatically, continue to step 3.
3. Find the downloaded file in your Downloads folder and unzip the archive by double clicking it. This will create “Glims1b16.dmg” in your Downloads folder.
4. Mount Glims1b16.dmg by double clicking it. This will mount a disk called “Glims” on your desktop.
5. Double click “Glims.mpkg” to run the installer.
6. Follow the instructions to install Glims. You will need to enter your password.

Configure Glims

1. Quit and restart Safari.
2. From the “Safari” menu, select “Preferences”
3. Select “Glims” from the options along the top.
4. Select “Search Engines” from the options on the left.
5. Click the “Add” button in the bottom left of the Preferences window.
6. Enter these settings for each field:
   Name: Cuil
   Type: Search Engine
   Query URL: http://www.cuil.com/search?q=#query#
   
   
7. Click “Set”
8. Feel free to disable any search engines you do not use. If you click and drag an item in the list, you can change it’s order.
9. Close the Preferences window.

Usage

What Glims does is allow you to change the search engine in Safari’s search box. When you click on the Google icon in the search box, you’ll get a list of other search engines to choose from. Cuil will be in that list.

To search using Cuil, click the Google icon and then select Cuil. Now, searches you make in the search box will return Cuil results.

I hope this walkthrough was helpful and not (too) difficult to follow. Let us know how it works for you!