livediagram
Choose Template

The Search Panel

One box to jump anywhere: documents, folders, teams, tabs, elements, settings and help, plus actions like adding a shape or creating a tab.

The search panel is the fastest way to get anywhere in livediagram. It is one box that searches across everything you can reach and, when you are in the editor, can act on the canvas too. The scope adapts to where you are, so the same panel finds a document from the Explorer and an element on the canvas.

Opening and closing search

  • Keyboard: press Cmd / Ctrl + K, or Cmd / Ctrl + .. Both open the same panel. (K is the usual command-palette shortcut; . is the original binding, kept because browsers reserve Cmd + T for a new browser tab.) They work in the editor and on the Explorer page alike, including in zen mode and in view-only documents. While you are typing in a text box (such as the Explorer's filter box) they are left to that box, and they are off when you turn off keyboard shortcuts in Settings.
  • Button: click Search near the right-hand end of the bottom bar, just before Settings. In the editor it sits to the right of the tabs; on the Explorer page it is the magnifier in the bottom bar. On a phone, and with Minimal Chrome on, the button is the magnifier alone.
  • Explorer panel menu: inside the editor, the Explorer panel's ⋯ menu also has a Search row.

The panel pops up near the top of the screen and blurs what is behind it so you can focus on the query. Press Esc, click the Esc chip at the end of the search box, or click outside the panel to close it.

What search covers

Type a few letters and matches appear, grouped by what they are. Matching is a simple, case-insensitive "contains" match on the name, so flow finds "Checkout flow" and "Workflow". What is in scope depends on where you open it:

checkEscDOCUMENTSCheckout flowTABSCheckoutcurrentELEMENTSCheck stockon CheckoutPayment checkon PaymentsHELPChecklists
One query, with matches grouped by type and the first result preselected.
  • Always: your documents and folders, and the documents shared with you.
  • When signed in: your teams and their shared folders and documents.
  • Inside a document: also the tabs and elements of the current document, including text inside table cells.

With an empty box, the panel lists what it can browse (your documents, folders, teams and, in the editor, the tabs and labelled elements), so you can open it and arrow straight to something. Most groups show at most 8 results (12 for elements, 10 for Actions and Add to canvas, 6 for Settings and Help; Teams shows up to 8 each of teams, team folders and team documents), so keep typing to narrow a long list.

The results come in this order: Documents, Shared with You, My documents (your folders), Teams, Tabs, Elements, then Actions, Add to canvas, Settings and Help.

Beyond navigation

In the editor the panel does more than jump around:

  • Add to the canvas: search the palette and drop a shape or icon straight onto the canvas.
  • Create a new tab: an action result that spins up a fresh tab.
  • Run any command: type an action's name (undo, auto layout, export, settings) and run it, or pick up a canvas tool. The panel doubles as a command palette on ⌘K.

These three only appear once you have typed something, and only inside a document. Two more groups work everywhere, in the editor and on the Explorer page:

  • Jump to a setting: a Settings group matches the rows of the Settings dialog, by name and by the words people use for them, so "dark mode" finds Theme. Each result says which category it lives in ("in Appearance"), and picking it opens Settings on that row with the row highlighted.
  • Find the help for it: a Help group lists matching articles from this help centre, so the explanation of a feature is reachable from the same box as the feature. Articles match on their search synonyms too, so "transparency" finds Opacity. Picking one opens the article in a new browser tab, so you do not lose your place.
darkEscSETTINGSThemein AppearanceHELPAppearance: Light, Dark, System
A Settings result names the category it opens on, with matching help articles listed last.

The Help group always sits last, so a help article never steals the Enter from somewhere you were trying to go.

Picking a result

Results are ordered by group, and the very first match is preselected, so for the common case you can just type and press Enter. Otherwise click a row, or press the ↑ and ↓ arrow keys to move the highlight and Enter to pick it. Picking a result takes you exactly where it points: opening a document or folder, switching to a tab, selecting an element, or jumping to a team. The panel closes as it goes.

Read-only views

Search only navigates, so it works in a view-only document too: you can still find and jump to tabs and elements. Add to canvas results are not offered there, and the command palette keeps only the actions that do not change the document. See The Command Palette.

Looking for a node buried deep in a big canvas? Open search inside the editor and type part of its label, even a word from a table cell, and jump straight to it.

Was this article helpful?