diff --git a/modules/libpref/init/all.js b/modules/libpref/init/all.js
index 590e43c693..ee74541fd3 100644
--- a/modules/libpref/init/all.js
+++ b/modules/libpref/init/all.js
@@ -908,6 +908,7 @@ pref("findbar.highlightAll", false);
 pref("findbar.modalHighlight", false);
 pref("findbar.entireword", false);
 pref("findbar.iteratorTimeout", 100);
+pref("findbar.termPerTab", false);
 
 // use Mac OS X Appearance panel text smoothing setting when rendering text, disabled by default
 pref("gfx.use_text_smoothing_setting", false);
diff --git a/toolkit/content/widgets/findbar.xml b/toolkit/content/widgets/findbar.xml
index b92fb1d051..c312a6a25a 100644
--- a/toolkit/content/widgets/findbar.xml
+++ b/toolkit/content/widgets/findbar.xml
@@ -282,6 +282,7 @@
           return this._browser;
         ]]></getter>
         <setter><![CDATA[
+          let prefsvc = this._prefsvc;
           if (this._browser) {
             if (this._browser.messageManager) {
               this._browser.messageManager.removeMessageListener("Findbar:Keypress", this);
@@ -300,7 +301,9 @@
             this._browser.messageManager.addMessageListener("Findbar:Mouseup", this);
             this._browser.finder.addResultListener(this);
 
-            this._findField.value = this._browser._lastSearchString;
+            if (prefsvc.getBoolPref("findbar.termPerTab") == true) {
+              this._findField.value = this._browser._lastSearchString;
+            }
           }
           return val;
         ]]></setter>