Keyboard shortcut for "Search Tabs"

[yoasif]

This came through as a question on reddit with 87 net votes, showing a screenshot of Chrome's "Search Tabs" feature (in the tab strip).

People pointed out that you can search tab titles via the address bar using the % restriction token. However, this is a bit of a multi-step process, unlike the same feature in Chrome, which allows people to do a Ctrl-shift-a and begin typing for the tab vs. the Firefox feature, which requires people to do Ctrl-l then type % space and begin typing the tab title.

Ideally, there would be a keyboard shortcut that would focus the address bar with the restriction token already populated.

[anekdotos]

I saw someone do this in Chrome on a Zoom call and commented how useful that was. Then they called me out in front of everyone for using Firefox and that it doesn't have that feature :pensive:

[d00k]

please add this, it's the only thing stopping me from switching

[Tom1380]

Hi, I'm working on the code and I've got it working. What should the shortcut be?

[zhou]

command + shift + A is what most other browsers support

[spade]

@Tom1380amazing. I think the shortcut should be Cmd+Shift+A on macs and Ctrl+Shift+A on PCs following convention in other browsers and extensions.

[gdw2]

Cmd+Shift+A already opens the "Add-ons Manager"

[RainyDonutPaper]

I'm looking forward into using this feature

cmd+shift+A would be really convinient. Maybe ctrl+shift+space?

[howar31]

must be Cmd+Shift+A.  We don't need a shortcut to open the Add-On Manager which is not daily usage.

[MrParent]

"Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + A" tab search in native Firefox sounds awesome!
Add-ons shouldn’t be necessary for this functionality, and currently, add-ons can't use this binding since it's reserved by Firefox.

I didn't want to switch browser solely for lacking fast tab search, so I developed an add-on called "Fastlane Tabs". Additionally, there are other add-ons that offers similar functionalities, such as Tabby, TabSearch and Fast Tab Switcher. These tools might be worth checking out while we wait for Firefox to implement its own fast tab search functionality.

[theferrit32]

"Cmd+Shift+A already opens the "Add-ons Manager""

I don't know how often I open the Add-ons Manager, maybe a couple times a year? Probably don't need a dedicated shortcut for it, or it could get a different one and that shortcut could be reassigned to this tab search feature, matching other browsers. When I use Chrome I use the tab search several times a day. Firefox's tab search with '%' in the address bar works, but is clunkier than Chrome's.

Firefox: cmd+t+cmd+i+%+space+<search>+arrow+enter

Chrome: cmd+shift+A+<search>+enter

I'm trying the Tabby addon now and it is more user friendly. I agree that this would be extremely useful to have natively in the browser, accessible in 1 shortcut, 3 keystrokes maximum, and the first result should be auto-focused so `cmd+shift+a`, then typing "sho", then `enter` would immediately bring me to this current tab (assuming no other tab titles/urls match).

I like the Tabby feature that it supports multiple fuzzy terms, and searches the whole URL in addition to the title, which Chrome does not do. In Chrome if you have this current forum thread open in a tab and use the tab search and type "key sh" it will not match this tab because it's not an exact substring match for either the host name or the title. Tabby (and Firefox's current '%' tab search) will match this tab with "key sh" since "key" and "sh" each match (matches the title and the URL).