As well as finding things, the search panel can run actions: editor commands offered as results. One of the handiest is creating a tab: when you are inside a document and your query looks like you want a new board, search offers a Create New Tab result.
When it appears
The action surfaces when your query matches its name or keywords, for example typing tab, new, create, add, page, sheet or board. It only shows inside a document you can edit, where there is something to add a tab to: never from the Explorer page, and never for a Viewer or Participant.
Create New Tab is an ordinary editor command, listed in the Actions group of the results. That group sits below the navigation and element matches, so an actual match still wins the default Enter, and you arrow down to the command to choose it deliberately. When nothing else matches, the action is the first result and Enter runs it straight away.
What it does
Picking Create New Tab does exactly what the + button at the end of the tab bar does:
- It adds a new tab named "Tab" plus one more than the number of tabs (Tab 3, Tab 4, ...) at the end of the tab bar, and switches to it.
- The new tab takes the current tab's look (its theme, canvas background and font), so it matches the rest of the document.
- It opens in the current tab's mode (an Illustrate tab makes an Illustrate tab, a Plan tab a Plan tab), on that mode's own start, so you can begin from a template or close it for a blank canvas.
From there it is an ordinary tab: rename it, fold it into a folder, or start placing elements. Changed your mind? Delete the tab from its tab menu.
Think of search actions as shortcuts for "I know what I want to do". The panel doubles as a command palette: alongside creating a tab, it can run many other editor actions, from renaming the tab to sharing the document, all matched the same way.
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