Monday, November 14, 2016

Search Google Drive from the Omnibox

Save a few steps when you need to search for something in your Google Drive by setting up the Omnibox (that's what the address bar in Chrome is called) to automatically search those places when you type in a special keyword. I search Google Drive MANY times each day, but I never have to go to Google Drive before I do it. Saves me a ton of time!

Do this by going up to the Omnibox (where the website URL is across the top) and right-clicking in it.  Then choose "Manage Search Engines and Site Search" from the list.


Under the "Site search" section, click the "Add" button on the right. 


A box will pop up asking for the Search engine name, a keyword, and the URL.  This trick works by using a keyword.  Whenever you type that keyword into the Omnibox and then hit the spacebar (or the tab key), it will be ready for you to type in what you want to search for on that specific website.  You can see below what I typed in for Google Drive.  You can choose a different keyword if you want, but be sure that the URL is exactly the same as what I typed.

https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=%s

When you are done, click "Add". 


Now, no matter what website I'm currently on, I can go to the Omnibox and type in dr and hit the spacebar or tab.  Then it will be ready for me to search Google Drive.  It's a beautiful, time-saving thing!


You can do this for most any website that has a search feature - Amazon, YouTube, Bible Gateway, etc.  Just repeat the process we did above.  To get the correct URL, you'll need to search for something on the desired website and copy the URL of the search results.  Then when you paste it into the new search engine entry, replace the word or phrase that you searched for (and anything after it) with %s.


Helping teachers incorporate technology, one tech tip at a time.