Jack Wallen shows you how to create a handy search engine so you can search your Gmail inbox from the Chrome address bar.
I am highly dependent on gmail and have to regularly search my inbox for various messages. Fortunately, Gmail has a very powerful search function that makes it possible to search even a staggeringly large inbox with ease.
SEE: iCloud vs. OneDrive: Which Is Best for Mac, iPad, and iPhone Users? (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
However, sometimes I don’t want to have to open Gmail to search for something. When I need a little more efficiency in my workflow, I can count on Chrome’s ability to add custom search engines. After adding a search engine to Chrome, all you need to do is type a keyword in the address bar and press the Tab key on your keyboard to search the target.
What you need to add a Gmail search engine in Chrome
This feature works in Chrome. I tested it in some of the Chrome based browsers only to find that it doesn’t work as expected. I’ll be demonstrating with Chrome on Pop!_OS Linux, but this feature works regardless of the operating system.
Add Gmail as a search engine
Open your browser and then open the Settings window. From there, find the Search Engine section and click Manage Search Engines and Site Searches (Image A).
Image A
In the resulting window (Figure B), you will see all the default search engines listed.
Figure B
Below that, you’ll see the Site Search section, which lists all the custom search engines you’ve added. Click Add. In the next window (Figure C) you need to paste this into the settings.
After configuring the new search engine, click Save to close the window. Your new Gmail search engine has been added.
Using the new Gmail search engine
Open a new tab and type “gmail” in the address bar followed by a space. Type the search you want to perform in Gmail and press Enter on your keyboard. This will open the tab in Gmail with the results of your search.
One thing to know is that you don’t have to use the standard Google search engine for this to work. I tested the feature with DuckDuckGo listed as my default search engine and everything worked exactly as expected.
And that, my wonderful friends, is all there is to setting up Chrome with a more efficient way to search through your Gmail account.
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