A handy Safari keyboard shortcut for Google searches
Here I go again, professing my love for keyboard shortcuts. I have shortcuts and hotkeys for just about everything I do on a daily basis. I'm running out of intuitive combinations, actually, but my muscle memory seems to have room for a few more. There's one shortcut, though, that I think every Safari user -- keyboard-obsessed or not -- really should know about.
If you have a Mac, and forgive my bold assumption that you do, you already have your own copy of Safari's lesser-known keyboard shortcuts on your drive. It's buried inside of the Safari application bundle, but you can reach it directly from a Web browser (Safari or not) at file:///ApplicationsCommand-Option-S, the shortcut for Search Results SnapBack.
You may not have heard of this command before; it's been sitting in the History menu for a while, but it hasn't ever made a huge splash. It lets you travel multiple pages in from a Google search result, and when you hit the end of the line and don't find what you need, you just use Search Results SnapBack to go right back to the last search results page. It's not as elaborate as the original version of SnapBack found in earlier versions of Safari, and it only seems to work with Google, but for my needs, it's very handy. If you combine the Command-Option-S shortcut with gleeBox (which we mentioned very recently) and Google's keyboard shortcuts experiment (I think you have to be logged in to access that), you can navigate an entire search session from the keyboard.
Granted, keyboard-only solutions aren't always faster than purely mouse-based solutions, and Web surfing is one area in particular where the mouse is generally the preferred tool. I'd probably be willing to challenge someone to a mouse vs. keyboard race sometime, but this is really a matter of preference more than speed. Of course, the Search Results SnapBack menu command is always available to mouse users.
We mentioned the SnapBack Extension, which recreates the original SnapBack functionality, back in August. The download page for the SnapBack extension seems to be offline, however, and I haven't had much luck with it recently, so I'll make do with the built-in feature for now. What tricks speed up your Web searches (in Safari or any browser)? Let us know in the comments!
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Here I go again, professing my love for keyboard shortcuts. I have shortcuts and hotkeys for just about everything I do on a daily basis....
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I have been using SnapBack since I first encountered Safari, and it is one of the big reasons why I have not moved to Firefox. Is there a similar function available for Firefox--either built-in and I've just missed it, or as an extension?
October 14 2010 at 9:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI set Google prefs to always open links in a new tab .. that way, the search list is always there in its own tab, and the rabbit trails happen in their own place, and get closed as they don't produce the results I want.
This means you can also scan a bunch of links by opening them all and selecting each one as you go.
I love keyboard shortcuts, so always appreciate these tips. CMD SHFT L is awesome .. props to SIP
What Keyboard is that in the photo?
Very different Option, Command, Tab and other keys.
Sip, you have blown my, and my co-workers minds! Thank you!
October 13 2010 at 4:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI recently discovered, totally accidentally, that if I highlight a word or phrase on a web page and do CMD+SHIFT+L, Safari inserts that word/phrase in the search field (same as CMD+F) but also opens a 2nd window and does a Google search.
I hate tabs because I almost always end up closing the wrong window, so I set Safari to open a new window when I CMD+click-on-link. I don't mind having 5 or 6 windows open at the same time as I can always CMD+~ to cycle through them.
WHat powerful trick, thanks a lot !
I Just hope i will remember it when needed ;)
Doesn't work for me ... nothing happens..
October 13 2010 at 4:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySafari 5 has a snapback feature built into the search bar. It's what the orange back arrow on the right side is. It will immediately take you back to the search page for whatever is typed in the search bar, no matter where you are in the browser.
October 13 2010 at 2:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyRight. That's what keyboard shortcuts are: a way of doing something from the keyboard that might otherwise require a mouse excursion. :-)
October 13 2010 at 2:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyLet me put in a plug for my (free) PopSearch Safari extension. You type Command-K (or your own hotkey) to open a little search bar over the current page. Just type your search terms and press Enter to get the results. You can choose from different search engines. You can define new search engines easily. It's really very handy.
http://canisbos.com/pages/popsearch
What about I don't know cmd+option+f? Tadaa.. instant search bar..!
October 13 2010 at 4:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply@Chris - Can you use any search engine you want by typing Command-Option-F?
October 13 2010 at 5:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHmmm - the link doesn't work for me in Safari via the RSS version of the page or even from this page. Looks like lisa.kraft explains it well.
your link is wrong. it has one too many slashes... should be file://Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/Shortcuts.html
I can't deal with keyboard shortcuts - I hate committing arbitrary codes to memory. I don't want my computing experience to feel like executing combos in Street Fighter. They are the opposite of intuitive. If, of course, still use the basics (cut, copy, paste), but I can't make myself memorize much more than that.
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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