Search & the address bar

The address bar and the search box are the same thing. Type an address and you go there; type words and you search; type a keyword you defined and you jump straight to the site behind it. This page covers how that decision is made and how to shape it.

How does MetaDock decide between opening a site and searching?

When you press Enter, MetaDock resolves what you typed in a fixed order:

You typed and What happens
You typed	What happens
A keyword you defined	Jumps to the address saved behind that alias
Something that looks like an address	Opens it as a site
Anything else	Runs it as a search on your default engine

A bare address typed without a scheme is opened over HTTPS rather than plain HTTP. Addresses on your own machine, such as localhost and 127.0.0.1, are left alone so local development servers still work.

Note

The suggestion list that appears as you type is a preview, not a promise. What actually happens is decided when you press Enter, using the rules above.

What appears in the suggestion list?

As you type, MetaDock blends several sources into one ranked list:

•Your aliases: matched on what you have typed so far, so "wor" surfaces "work"
•Address guesses: the site you are most likely spelling out
•Bookmarks: matched on title and address
•A search row: run what you typed as a query, with the option to fan it out to more engines
•History: pages you have visited in this profile, ranked by how often and how recently
•Native apps: Windows applications you can dock straight into the layout

Arrow keys move through the list, Enter accepts, Escape closes it. Suggestions appear after a short pause in typing; you can change that delay in Settings if you want them to come up faster or stay out of your way.

What is a keyword alias and how do I make one?

An alias is a single word that stands for an address. Define hn as https://news.ycombinator.com and typing hn takes you straight there, no matter which browser or profile you are in.

•Case-insensitive: "HN" and "hn" resolve to the same alias
•Global: aliases work in every browser, profile, and workspace
•Editable: create, edit, and remove aliases from the alias dialog; duplicates are rejected as you type

Warning

An alias wins over a search. If you define hn as an alias, typing hnon its own will always open that site rather than searching for the letters “hn”. Pick alias names you would not otherwise search for on their own, or add a second word to force a search.

Which search engines are built in, and can I add my own?

MetaDock ships with a long list of engines already set up, well beyond the usual web search: Google (including regional variants), DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and Yandex, plus shopping and site search for Amazon, eBay, Best Buy, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Google is the default on a fresh install.

Open Manage Search Engines to change the default, add your own, or remove ones you never use:

•Add an engine: give it a name and its query address with {searchTerms} where the query goes
•Set the default: the engine that plain typed queries use
•Remove an engine: delete anything you do not need; the engine currently set as default cannot be removed until you pick another one

Note

Search engines are global, not per profile. There is one list and one default shared across every profile and workspace. Engine names and addresses are both unique, so the same engine cannot be added twice.

Can I run one query against several engines at once?

The search row in the suggestion list has an expand control. Open it and every other configured engine appears as a tickable row. Tick the ones you want, press Go, and MetaDock runs the same query against each of them, opening one browser panel per result page.

Checked engines are shown in bold with an accent bar, so you can see your selection at a glance rather than squinting at checkboxes.

Tip

This is the fast way to price-check across marketplaces or compare what different search engines surface for the same term. Type the query once, tick Amazon, eBay, and Best Buy, and you get three panels tiled side by side.

What else should I know about search?

The floating launcher and the bar inside a browser resolve what you type the same way, so there is one behaviour to learn. Aliases and engines are separate lists: an alias is a shortcut to one page, an engine is a query template. Both can be managed over the automation API.

•One bar, everywhere: the floating launcher and the bar inside a browser resolve input the same way
•Aliases and engines are separate lists: an alias is a shortcut to one page; an engine is a query template
•Engine icons fill in over time: an engine's icon appears once you have used or visited it, so a freshly added engine may look plain at first
•Automation can manage both: aliases and search engines can be listed, created, and removed from the API

See Getting Started for the shortcuts that open the bar, and Browsing history for how visited pages are ranked in the suggestion list.