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LaunchBar Search

Easily Add Twitter and Google Photos search

Launch Bar is a great Macintosh productivity utility. It makes using the Macintosh so much easier.

One of the cool features is the ability to quickly enable a search action. With a couple of keystrokes, you can instantly open up your browser to whatever search results that you want to see. Potentially saving a lot of time doing it the old fashion way.

Use LaunchBar to Search

Here's a quick way to search for something on Twitter:

First you'll need to add a new Search Template. This is done by opening the LaunchBar Index, and selecting the Search Templates (UTF-8):

  1. Trigger the LaunchBar Action (Command Shift)
  2. Open the LaunchBar Index: Option-Command-I
  3. Select the "Search Templates (UTF-8)" in the left panel
  4. Click the '+' button at the bottom left of the main window.

Launch Bar Search

Now Your Ready!

Now your ready to create your own search templates. The key thing to remember in a search template is to grab the URL from search results and replace the keywords that you used with a '*'.

A basic example:

If you had the following URL from a Bing Search for GusODog:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=GusODog&form=QBLH&sp=-1&pq=gusodog&sc=8-7&qs=n&sk=&cvid=F62E44EB0F524B788301CE611566657C

Your Search Template might look like this:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=*

I filtered out some of the text in the URL that I didn't think was important.

Twitter Search

You can now search Twitter for what people are talking about:

For Twitter Templates:

Name: Twitter

Template URL:

https://twitter.com/search?q=*&src=typed_query&f=live

Google Photos Search

If you have a lot of photos in Google Photos, now you can quickly search for the one you're looking for.

Name: Google Photos

Template URL:

https://photos.google.com/search/*

Instant Search

Now when you want to search for something on twitter:

  1. Command Space
  2. Type: Twitter
  3. Click Space
  4. Type in your Search Term and then click the return

 

About

A Mac veteran since 1989, I'm here to share my experience with tips and tricks every Friday. Witnessing the evolution of Mac software and hardware firsthand, I've gained a deep understanding of how these machines work and can help you troubleshoot any issues that may come up.

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