Tuned Search Autor: Tuned Search

You already know the result you want. The hard part is phrasing it. Tuned Search takes the operator tricks that power users memorize, quotes for exact phrases, a minus sign to drop a word, site and filetype qualifiers, and turns each one into a plain field you either use or ignore. No syntax to recall, no punctuation to get wrong.

How it works

Click the toolbar button and a small panel drops down. Fill in whatever matters for this lookup and skip the rest. As you type, the assembled query updates in front of you, so you are never guessing what will actually be requested. Hit the button and your results open.

The filters you get

• Exact phrase: pin words together so pages that only scatter them get dropped.
• Any of these: give a comma separated list and match on any option, multi word choices included.
• Leave out: name the term that keeps polluting a topic and push it out of the way.
• One site only: aim a lookup at a single domain, with a one tap option to reuse the site in your active tab.
• File type: ask for a PDF, a spreadsheet, or another format and skip the ordinary pages around it.
• In the title or address: insist a word show up in the page title or the web address to cut past filler.

Make it yours

• Drag cards into the order you like, or move them with the keyboard by focusing a handle and pressing Up or Down.
• Hide the filters you never touch so the panel stays short.
• Decide whether results take over the current tab or open beside it.
• Have your entries wiped when you close the panel, or kept ready for next time.

Good for

• Digging up a spec sheet or manual in a particular format.
• Pinning a topic to one trusted site instead of the whole web.
• Repeating a fussy, qualified lookup without rebuilding it by hand each time.
• Anyone who has retyped the same request four ways hoping one sticks.