Shortcut Keys for Google Search Tools

by Martin Brinkmann on June 11, 2013 in Firefox 3

The search tools that Google makes available on search results pages can be quite useful to filter results by time or other factors. While that is great, for instance to limit the results to posts made in the past week or day, it is also not really comfortable to use as you need to click three times before you can make any modifications to those filters.

A click on search tools displays the any time and all results options underneath the main menu bar. You need to click on the selection here, and then again on the filter that you want to make use of.

The Firefox extension Shortcut Keys for Google Search introduces keyboard shortcuts for all time-based options that Google lists under Search Tools. Instead of having to click through, you simply use the shortcut to activate the filter right away.

Here is the list of shortcuts and filters it makes available:

Time Filter

• Alt-A: set the filter to display results from any time.
• Alt-H: only display results published in the last hour.
• Alt-D: display results of the past day.
• Alt-E: display results of the past week.
• Alt-M: only display results of the past month.
• Alt-3 or Alt-6: display results of the past 3 or 6 month period.
• Alt-Y: past year
• Alt-C: set a custom range.

The add-on introduces shortcuts that enable you to navigate on the search results page.

Navigation

• Alt-J or Alt-K: select the next or previous result.
• Alt-N or Alt-P: go to the next or previous page in the results.
• Enter: open the selected result in the current tab.
• Alt-T or Alt-W: open the selected result in a new tab or new window.

There is also a set of "other" shortcuts that you may find useful.

Other

• Alt-U: display results in your language.
• Alt-I: display all results.
• Alt-I: translate foreign pages.
• Alt-S: toggle the Search tools menu.
• Alt-F: toggle the time filtering menu.
• Alt-L: display a help window with all shortcuts.

What I personally like most is the option to quickly set a time filter without having to click through the menu to do so. Just hit one of the available shortcuts and the results page gets reloaded automatically. It can be quite useful if you are using Google Search Tools regularly.