diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a1b7599d741..a388f06b88e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ Note that this project **does not** adhere to [Semantic Versioning](https://semv
 - Enhanced field selection logic in the Merge Entries dialog when fetching from DOI to prefer valid years and entry types. [#12549](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12549)
 - We fixed an issue where theme or font size are not respected for all dialogs [#13558](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/13558)
 - We removed unnecessary spacing and margin in the AutomaticFieldEditor. [#13792](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/pull/13792)
+- We fixed an issue where global search auto-completion only worked after switching tabs. [#11428](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/11428)
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/LibraryTab.java b/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/LibraryTab.java
index e68abe6fa04..a05eacf3020 100644
--- a/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/LibraryTab.java
+++ b/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/LibraryTab.java
@@ -161,6 +161,8 @@ public class LibraryTab extends Tab implements CommandSelectionTab {
 
     private final AiService aiService;
 
+    private Runnable autoCompleterChangedListener;
+
     /**
      * @param isDummyContext Indicates whether the database context is a dummy. A dummy context is used to display a progress indicator while parsing the database.
      *                       If the context is a dummy, the Lucene index should not be created, as both the dummy context and the actual context share the same index path {@link BibDatabaseContext#getFulltextIndexPath()}.
@@ -258,6 +260,10 @@ private void initializeComponentsAndListeners(boolean isDummyContext) {
         });
     }
 
+    public void setAutoCompleterChangedListener(@NonNull Runnable listener) {
+        this.autoCompleterChangedListener = listener;
+    }
+
     private static void addChangedInformation(StringBuilder text) {
         text.append("\n");
         text.append(Localization.lang("The library has been modified."));
@@ -303,7 +309,10 @@ private void onDatabaseLoadingSucceed(ParserResult result) {
         }
 
         setDatabaseContext(result.getDatabaseContext());
-
+        // Notify listeners that the auto-completer may have changed
+        if (autoCompleterChangedListener != null) {
+            autoCompleterChangedListener.run();
+        }
         LOGGER.trace("loading.set(false);");
         loading.set(false);
         dataLoadingTask = null;
diff --git a/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/frame/JabRefFrame.java b/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/frame/JabRefFrame.java
index c5e0fdba932..aeb7217775d 100644
--- a/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/frame/JabRefFrame.java
+++ b/jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/frame/JabRefFrame.java
@@ -403,6 +403,9 @@ private void initBindings() {
                 stateManager.searchResultSize(SearchType.NORMAL_SEARCH).bind(libraryTab.resultSizeProperty());
                 globalSearchBar.setAutoCompleter(libraryTab.getAutoCompleter());
 
+                // Listen for auto-completer changes after real context is loaded
+                libraryTab.setAutoCompleterChangedListener(() -> globalSearchBar.setAutoCompleter(libraryTab.getAutoCompleter()));
+
                 // [impl->req~maintable.focus~1]
                 Platform.runLater(() -> libraryTab.getMainTable().requestFocus());