The Google Chrome web browser is by far the most used app on nearly every device I own. This is mostly because functions that were traditionally provided by standalone desktop applications are now made available as integrated online services that can be accessed from anywhere. So, the browser has become more than just a way of viewing websites, it’s how I access my email, calendar, to do lists, phone system, helpdesk, CRM and accounting software just to name a few!
TLDR? Skip to the video on YouTube: http://technoju.do/V6xh4
With so much time spent working in a tool, it is important to understand how to use it to complete tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible. Google Chrome is an easy to use tool that is full of time saving features. In this tech tip, we demonstrate how to use the omnibox and custom search engines in Google Chrome to streamline repetitive tasks and boost your productivity.
The omnibox is the area located at the top of the Google Chrome browser where you can enter a website address. It is like the address bar in other browsers but in addition to entering website addresses such as https://technojudo.com, you can enter search terms just as you would on a search engine like “technojudo how to video”.
The power of the omnibox is extended with a feature called custom search engines. The custom search engine feature allows you to search other websites directly from the omnibox address bar. As an example, instead of opening Gmail, then clicking the search field and then typing your search, you can type a keyword like “gm” for gmail and your search all in one step! (See example below) This feature is immensely useful and allows you to conveniently search a countless number of services such as your email, calendar, Dropbox, Google Drive files and shopping sites like Amazon.
To create a custom search engine in Google Chrome, you need to do two things: 1. find the search engine URL and 2. locate where to put the search string within the search engine URL. Let’s say we wanted to create a custom search engine for Amazon.com. We’d perform the following steps:
Note: Step-by-step YouTube Video Tutorial also available here: http://technoju.do/V6xh4
Find Search Engine URL
1. Browse to the website you’d like to search (e.g. Amazon.com).
2. Click in the search box on the website and type a search that will be easy to recognize such as NNN and press enter. This is our search string.
3. Click in the omnibox, make sure the entire web address is highlighted and copy the address (right click and select copy or use the keyboard combination Ctrl+C to copy). This is our search engine URL.
Locate Where To Insert Search String (%s)
4. Right-click in the omnibox > Click Edit search engines… > Click Add
Click Add
5. In the Add search engine window:
a. Type a name for the custom search engine under “Search engine”. In this example we will use Amazon.
b. Type a keyword to use to perform this search.
TIP: Use a short keyword such as “amz” to reduce typing.
This keyword lets Google Chrome know that you want to perform a search with this particular custom search engine. To use it you would simply
c. Paste in the address you copied in step 3 under the field with the label “URL with %s in place of query”.
For example: https://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=technojudo30-20&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=NNN
d. Replace your search string from step 2 with %s
Our final URL should look like https://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=technojudo30-20&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%s
e. Click the add button.
6. Use your new custom search engine by clicking in the omnibox, type the keyword such as amz and hit the Space bar or Tab key and then type your search terms such as battleworn tshirt and press the Enter key.
7. Congratulations! You’ve just created your first custom search engine.
