Documentation

Quick Search Documentation

Everything you need to know about Quick Search for Craft CMS

Quick Access Overlay

The Quick Access Overlay is a full-screen modal that provides instant access to search, history, favorites, and saved searches — all from the keyboard.

Opening the Overlay

Press Ctrl+G (or Cmd+G on Mac) from anywhere in the control panel to open the overlay. Press Escape to close it. The keyboard shortcut is configurable in settings.

The shortcut is ignored when you are focused in a text input, textarea, or contenteditable field, and when another Craft modal is open.

Search Types

Quick Search can search across six different content types. Each type appears as a tab above the search input:

Type What it searches Metadata shown
Entries All entries by title, filtered by section settings Section name, site, status
Categories Categories by title across all groups Category group name
Assets Assets by title and filename across all volumes Volume name, filename
Users Users by username, email, first name, last name Email, status
Globals Global sets by name and handle Handle
Admin Sections, fields, entry types, category groups, volumes, global sets, and plugins by name or handle Type badge (e.g. "Section", "Field")

Click a tab to switch the search type. The search input placeholder updates to reflect the current type.

Entries is the default search type and is always available. It cannot be disabled. The other types can be enabled or disabled in settings.

The Admin tab is only visible to admin users, regardless of settings. Tabs are automatically hidden when only one search type is available.

Search Prefixes

Instead of clicking tabs, you can type a prefix directly in the search input to switch content type on the fly:

Prefix Type
e: or entries:Entries
c: or cats: or categories:Categories
a: or assets:Assets
u: or users:Users
g: or globals:Globals
@: or admin:Admin
sections:Admin (sections)
fields:Admin (fields)
entrytypes:Admin (entry types)
volumes:Admin (volumes)

For example, typing u:john and pressing Enter will search for users matching "john". The prefix switches the active tab but remains visible in the input so you can see which type you're searching.

Prefixes work even if a type's tab is disabled in settings — the search still executes server-side.

Site Selector

On multi-site Craft installations, a site selector dropdown appears in the overlay header next to the "Quick Access" title. It shows the current site name and lets you switch the search scope:

  • Current Site (default) — searches only the site you're currently viewing in the CP
  • Individual sites — search a specific site
  • All Sites — search across every site at once

The selected site applies to all searches performed in the overlay. When searching "All Sites", results include a site badge so you can tell which site each result belongs to.

On single-site installations, the site selector is not displayed.

History Panel

The left panel shows your recently visited entries, with the most recent first. History is tracked automatically as you navigate entries in the control panel.

  • Use the filter input at the top of the panel to narrow the list by title or section name (client-side filtering, instant)
  • Click any entry to navigate to it
  • Use Tab to switch between panels

History is per-user and stored in the database. The maximum number of history entries is configurable (default: 50).

Favorites Panel

The right panel shows your starred entries. Favorites provide quick access to entries you use frequently.

  • Add favorites using the star icon on entry pages in the CP
  • Reorder favorites by dragging the handle on the left side of each item
  • Keyboard shortcuts: Press Alt+1 through Alt+9 to jump directly to your first 9 favorites from anywhere in the CP (even when the overlay is closed)
  • Each favorite shows a keyboard shortcut badge (e.g. "Alt+1") for the first 9 items

The maximum number of favorites per user is configurable (default: 25).

Saved Searches

Saved Searches let you store frequently used queries for one-click access.

Saving a search

  1. Type a query and press Enter to search
  2. A bookmark icon appears next to the search input
  3. Click the bookmark icon and give the search a name
  4. The saved search appears in the Saved Searches section above the results

Using saved searches

  • Click a saved search or its play button to run it — the query and search type are restored automatically
  • Reorder saved searches by dragging the handle on the left
  • Delete a saved search by clicking the X icon (with confirmation)

Saved searches store the query text and the active search type (e.g. "assets"). The maximum number per user is configurable (default: 20).

The Saved Searches section can be hidden entirely via settings.

Copy Actions

Every result in the overlay (search results, history, and favorites) has a copy button that opens a dropdown with three options:

  • Copy URL — copies the entry's CP URL
  • Copy Title — copies the entry's title
  • Copy ID — copies the entry's numeric ID

A "Copied!" notification appears briefly after copying.

Search Input

The search input appears in the CP header. Start typing to search entries by title in real time. Results appear in a dropdown below the input.

Search behavior is controlled by the same settings as the overlay: minimum search length (default: 2 characters), debounce delay (default: 300ms), and search results limit (default: 20).

Section Filter

When enabled, a section filter dropdown appears next to the search input. It lets you narrow search results to specific sections.

  • Click the section button to open the dropdown
  • Check individual sections to filter results
  • Check "All Sections" to search everything
  • The button label updates to show the current filter (e.g. "Blog" or "3 Sections")

The section filter can be configured in two modes:

  • Include mode — only search within selected sections
  • Exclude mode — search all sections except the selected ones

Site Filter

On multi-site installations, a site filter dropdown appears next to the section filter. Options include:

  • Current Site — search the site you're currently viewing
  • Individual sites — any specific site
  • All Sites — search across all sites (results show a site badge)

History Popup

Click the clock icon next to the search input to see your recent entry visits. The popup shows a scrollable list of recently visited entries with client-side filtering.

Favorites Popup

Click the star icon to see your favorites. From this popup you can also add the current page to favorites if you're on an entry page.

Back Button

The arrow icon provides a one-click way to return to the last visited entry. It shows the title of the previous entry on hover.

Entry Tools

Entry Tools are contextual buttons that appear on individual entry pages in the CP.

Entry Outline

When editing a complex entry, the Entry Outline button appears and opens a sidebar showing a hierarchical view of all fields and Matrix blocks in the entry. Click any item to scroll directly to that field.

This is especially useful for long entries with many Matrix blocks or nested fields. The outline updates automatically as the page content changes.

Can be toggled on/off in settings.

Dashboard Widget

A dashboard widget is available that provides search, history, and favorites directly on the Craft dashboard. Add it via the Dashboard settings in the CP.

The widget includes:

  • A search input for quick entry search
  • Recent history list
  • Favorites list

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Context Action
Ctrl+G / Cmd+G Anywhere in CP Open Quick Access overlay
Escape Overlay open Close overlay (or close drawer first)
Enter Overlay search input Execute search
↑ / ↓ Overlay open Navigate through results
Enter Result selected Open selected entry
Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter Result selected Open in new tab
Tab Overlay open Switch between History and Favorites panels
← Overlay open Focus History panel
→ Overlay open Focus Favorites panel
Alt+1 through Alt+9 Anywhere in CP Jump to favorite 1–9

The overlay shortcut (Ctrl+G) is configurable. On Mac, ctrl is automatically mapped to Cmd.

Settings Reference

All settings are found at Settings → Quick Search in the Craft control panel.

Display Settings

Setting Description Default
Compact Mode Use a more compact display for search results, history, and favorites lists. Reduces padding, font sizes, and icon sizes throughout the plugin. Off
Show Section Filter Show the section filter dropdown in the header bar search. On
Show Entry Outline Display the entry outline button on entry editing pages. On
Show Related Entries Display the related entries button on entry editing pages. On

Search Settings

Setting Description Default
Searchable Sections Select which sections to include in entry search. "All" searches all sections. Use this to exclude irrelevant sections from results. All
Enabled Search Types Select which content types appear as tabs in the search overlay and header bar. Options: Categories, Assets, Users, Globals, Admin. Entries is always enabled. All
Minimum Search Length Number of characters required before a search is triggered. Range: 1–10. 2
Debounce Delay Delay in milliseconds after the user stops typing before the search executes. Range: 100–2000. 300
Search Results Limit Maximum number of results to return per search. Range: 5–100. 20

History Settings

Setting Description Default
History Limit Maximum number of recent entry visits to keep per user. Older entries are removed automatically. Range: 1–200. 50
Favorites Limit Maximum number of favorites per user. Range: 1–50. 25

Quick Access Overlay Settings

Setting Description Default
Enable Quick Access Overlay Master switch to enable or disable the overlay entirely. When disabled, the keyboard shortcut does nothing. On
Keyboard Shortcut The keyboard shortcut to open the overlay. Use format like ctrl+g, meta+g, or ctrl+shift+k. On Mac, ctrl is automatically converted to Cmd. ctrl+g
Default Panel Which panel to focus when the overlay opens: History or Favorites. History
Show Entry Search Show the search input at the top of the overlay. When disabled, the overlay only shows history, favorites, and saved searches. On
Clear Search on Tab Switch When enabled, switching between search type tabs clears the search input and results. When disabled, the current query is re-executed in the new search type. On
Show Saved Searches Show the saved searches section in the overlay. When disabled, the save-search button is also hidden. On
Saved Searches Limit Maximum number of saved searches per user. Range: 1–50. 20

Permissions

Quick Search respects Craft's built-in permission system. Content types and tabs are only shown to users who have permission to view them:

Tab Required Permission
Entries Always available to all CP users
Categories User must have view permission for at least one category group
Assets User must have view permission for at least one volume
Users User must have the "View users" permission
Globals User must have edit permission for at least one global set
Admin User must be an admin

The Enabled Search Types setting works as an additional filter on top of permissions. For example, if Assets is enabled in settings but a user doesn't have permission to view any volume, the Assets tab will not appear for that user.

Multi-Site Support

Quick Search fully supports Craft's multi-site feature:

  • Header Bar Search includes a site filter dropdown to switch between sites or search all sites
  • Quick Access Overlay includes a site selector in the header that applies to all searches
  • Search results show site badges when searching across multiple sites
  • History and Favorites track the site context of each entry, so the correct site version is opened
  • Saved Searches store the query and type but use the currently selected site when executed

On single-site installations, site selectors and badges are automatically hidden.

Internationalization

Quick Search is fully translated into 20 languages:

Arabic Bulgarian Chinese (Simplified) Czech Dutch English French German Hungarian Italian Japanese Korean Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Slovak Spanish Turkish Ukrainian

The plugin automatically uses the language set in each user's Craft CP preferences.