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Possibility to search within all opened tabs

Open Keagel opened this issue 5 years ago • 31 comments

For example, it could be done the same way as in "Tree Tabs" where you have a magnifying glass button which when you click lets you type into a text field, filtering in real-time. Thank you!

Just realized there's a closed issue about that already (#116), though I've tried the % trick in the URL bar and it doesn't seem to find all matching tabs, maybe because the tabs are unloaded:

Add % to search for matches in your currently open tabs.

Keagel avatar Mar 15 '20 15:03 Keagel

Yeah, I'll add search anyway, just a bit later (after the tags for tabs/bookmarks feature).

mbnuqw avatar Mar 15 '20 15:03 mbnuqw

I just recently switched from Power Tabs to Sideberry and do miss the Power Tabs feature of searching across all tabs.

ffabbroc avatar Mar 24 '20 18:03 ffabbroc

Yeah, I'll add search anyway, just a bit later (after the tags for tabs/bookmarks feature).

And please when you add this feature make it for keyboard ninjas. What I mean is that feature should be activated by keyboard shortcut and search it immediately without mouse usage.

AneesAmjad avatar Mar 29 '20 17:03 AneesAmjad

search it immediately without mouse usage Oh, this is the main reason why I didn't implemented this feature from the beginning - it can't be done using the WebExtentions API :crying_cat_face: . So the fastest way to search with only the keyboard is using the native Firefox url bar with its [pre|post]fixes (%, *, etc).

mbnuqw avatar Mar 29 '20 17:03 mbnuqw

it can't be done using the WebExtentions API 😿

Well, currently I'm using this one, this can be used completely by keyboard. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab_search/

The problem with pre|post fixes is they just show only name of the tab. Suppose if I have open multiple tabs of same websites only the website name will be visible or I have to be little more specifc by adding some url word. But with the extension you can see url which is handy. Usually dashboards like Wordpress, or FB manager have same names.

AneesAmjad avatar Mar 29 '20 18:03 AneesAmjad

Well, currently I'm using this one, this can be used completely by keyboard. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab_search/ Thank you for showing me this! Looks like this is possible with popup window (it catch the focus on opening), but not in the sidebar which is usually opened all the time. I think, I can create popup with only input field and maybe some options which will communicate with the sidebar for showing results.

mbnuqw avatar Mar 30 '20 04:03 mbnuqw

Well, currently I'm using this one, this can be used completely by keyboard. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab_search/ Thank you for showing me this! Looks like this is possible with popup window (it catch the focus on opening), but not in the sidebar which is usually opened all the time. I think, I can create popup with only input field and maybe some options which will communicate with the sidebar for showing results.

More power to you. :-)

AneesAmjad avatar Mar 30 '20 06:03 AneesAmjad

I can create popup with only input field and maybe some options which will communicate with the sidebar for showing results.

I suggest you make it pop up over the center of the page (if possible), something like the ueli one? So it would look like the screenshot, and for example when you press Return it either highlights the matches or hides anything that doesn't match (only as a visual filter, maybe CSS-based?). Maybe with a button for regular expressions, that kind of thing (added it to the screenshot).

example

btglr avatar Mar 30 '20 14:03 btglr

I would suggest adding ways to filter the tabs not just by title or url, but also by status: muted, playing audio, unread, discarded, parent, etc.

jathek avatar Mar 31 '20 03:03 jathek

@btglr, to achieve this I need to inject a keylogger script to every active page, which is not very convenient solution. But I'll experiment with it.

@aletaziar, filtering by muted, audible, unread and discarded flags is quite simple to implement. Showing the parents chain of filtered tab possible too (to represent tree structure). But filtering by the parent tab is not clear to me. How it should look.

mbnuqw avatar Mar 31 '20 05:03 mbnuqw

@aletaziar, filtering by muted, audible, unread and discarded flags is quite simple to implement. Showing the parents chain of filtered tab possible too (to represent tree structure). But filtering by the parent tab is not clear to me. How it should look.

Be able to search only for tabs that are parent tabs is what I mean. But showing a search result's parent tab would also be an amazing feature that I didn't even think of.

to achieve this I need to inject a keylogger script to every active page, which is not very convenient solution. But I'll experiment with it.

The active page injection is why I would much rather the search was executed from either the sidebar or the toolbar button. I think injection into the active page should be avoided whenever possible.

jathek avatar Apr 01 '20 19:04 jathek

@btglr, to achieve this I need to inject a keylogger script to every active page, which is not very convenient solution. But I'll experiment with it.

I don't have much experience with browser extensions, but isn't it possible to display the search input in the middle of the screen even if it's part of the sidebar? This would seem like something that can be done with relative ease with a bit of CSS.

Keagel avatar Apr 02 '20 12:04 Keagel

@aletaziar, injection into the active page should be avoided whenever possible True.

@Keagel , this is not possible b/c each part of an extension (sidebar, popups) are isolated documents.

Also there is no possibility to programmatically focus on the input element in the sidebar (e.g. using shortcut). So I think to add two options for search:

  • Show search-bar in the sidebar - User will be able to click on it and start the searching process.
  • Keybinding for opening popup - This will allow user, without mouse, open popup with the focused input element.

mbnuqw avatar Apr 02 '20 15:04 mbnuqw

Hi Everyone, @mbnuqw,

I tried the Tab Search recommendation above. Thank you for sharing. I've also been using Tridactyl for a while, which has the b shortcut for buffer/tab commands -- b shows a list of tabs and allows navigation through the TAB key.

One item I'd highlight here is that neither Tab Search nor Tridactyl honors the panel/group organizations in Sidebery.

For example, if I navigated to another tab through either of the above extensions, Sidebery's sidebar panel remains unnotified and doesn't reflect any tab-navigation related changes.

Thank you.

EDIT:

  1. Show search-bar in the sidebar - User will be able to click on it and start the searching process.
  2. Keybinding for opening popup - This will allow user, without mouse, open popup with the focused input element.

Between the choices above, I think [1] is cleaner.

A keyboard shortcut e.g. Alt+S to focus Sidebery's tab search-bar and arrow-keys to scroll up/down between the searched/filtered tab-list would be rather handy.

Thanks a lot.

gsbabil avatar May 07 '20 09:05 gsbabil

@gsbabil For example, if I navigated to another tab through either of the above extensions, Sidebery's sidebar panel remains unnotified and doesn't reflect any tab-navigation related changes.

I cannot reproduce this. Sidebery is highlighting the active tab and switch the panel if needed: Peek 2020-05-10 21-34

Please, open the new issue with debug info, which I could use to investigate this.

mbnuqw avatar May 10 '20 19:05 mbnuqw

@mbnuqw

Please, open the new issue with debug info, which I could use to investigate this.

Thanks. Will do accordingly in a fresh profile with limited number of add-ons.

  • What are the recommended steps to grab the debug output?

Thank you.

EDIT:

  • I just created a fresh Firefox profile, installed Sidebery, Tab Search, and Tridactyl, and tried to reproduce similar actions in your GIF above. I can confirm that the issue is not there in a fresh profile.

  • Once you let me know the "debug info" producing steps, I'll try to share ASAP. Currently I see the following in about:debugging > Sidebery > Console but not sure if this is relevant. Thanks.

image

gsbabil avatar May 11 '20 06:05 gsbabil

@gsbabil, you can open debug info and copy it in Help section in the Sidebery settings page.

mbnuqw avatar May 11 '20 13:05 mbnuqw

@mbnuqw

@gsbabil, you can open debug info and copy it in Help section in the Sidebery settings page.

Thanks you.

I have added a new issue here with the necessary details. Please have a look. Thanks.

gsbabil avatar May 11 '20 13:05 gsbabil

Coming from TreeTabs, the search is the feature I miss the most. With it not uncommon to have 500 or more tabs across all panels, search is a necessity. Having to click on it matters nothing to me, I just need the functionality. TreeTabs did it wonderfully. Could search title or url, and it highlighted entries as you typed.

Vaelek avatar May 31 '20 16:05 Vaelek

I'm trying out Sideberry and looking for a way to search open tabs across all browser windows too.

Previously I tried Saka which I thought is a nice implementation, echoing @btglr suggestion for something like a Spotlight (Mac) popup.

vurtomatic avatar Mar 17 '21 14:03 vurtomatic

use o from the vimium plugin

simin75simin avatar May 29 '21 13:05 simin75simin

I've tried the % trick in the URL bar and it doesn't seem to find all matching tabs, maybe because the tabs are unloaded:

Using the % trick just now in Firefox 90.0b12, I found that it did find unloaded tabs, but only when they are in the same container as the New Tab page.

I find this annoying in practice because I can rarely remember which container some content was in, so the search is pointless. Searching all containers would be useful. But it explains why Firefox doesn't find tabs even when they are visible.

jlokier avatar Jul 01 '21 19:07 jlokier

is this still not implemented ?

Maki711 avatar Mar 23 '23 11:03 Maki711

is this still not implemented ?

It's in v5, which is technically still in beta but completely functional:

https://github.com/mbnuqw/sidebery/releases

albino1 avatar Mar 23 '23 18:03 albino1

Will this search work like Firefox built-in tab search with only searching titles and urls or like https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/search-all-tabs/ searching also in the content of all pages?

matrixik avatar Jul 19 '23 13:07 matrixik

👍 for search!

levinotik avatar Aug 30 '23 05:08 levinotik

I have waaay toooooo many tabs for the native % search tabs feature to be useful. Please have a look at the (no longer maintained) "All Tabs Helper" and its separate window usable for searching tabs across all windows. It can search title/url only or also content; temporary sort by title or url+title.

Next level would be a tag cloud based on TF/IDF, but that's probably going to be down to me to make something like that happen.

zesty avatar Feb 15 '24 20:02 zesty

Came here to check if sideberry would work with tabs across all my windows

AJolly avatar Feb 18 '24 18:02 AJolly

Came here to check if sideberry would work with tabs across all my windows

Some alfred-like interface would be great

rublev avatar Sep 15 '25 20:09 rublev

I press ctrl+s and i get a search popup in the top right and in sidebery, but it doesn't auto focus it, unless i was already focused in sidebery first

rublev avatar Oct 17 '25 03:10 rublev