TheBrain HelpPreview
Open in TheBrain

Web Search

Overview

Web Search sends a thought out to the open web — handy when you want to look up the subject of a thought without retyping it into a browser. It searches for the thought's name (or, if you've selected text in a note, that selection) using whichever search engine you prefer, and opens the results in your browser.

How to Search the Web

  1. Right-click the thought (or select text in its note) and choose Web Search.
  2. The Web Search dialog opens with the query filled in — the thought's name, or your selected text.
  3. Pick a Search Engine if you want a different one, then choose Search.

The Web Search dialog with the thought's name, Competitor Profiles, as the query, Google as the search engine with a pencil button beside it, and Cancel and Search

TheBrain opens the results in your browser. The default engine is Google, and your choice is remembered for next time.

Choosing and Editing Engines

The dialog includes a built-in list of engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, image and video searches, and others). Edit Search Engines lets you add your own: give it a name and a URL that uses TARGETSTRING where the query should go.

  • This searches the web, not your brains; to search your brains, see Finding and Creating Thoughts.
  • Web Search has no default keyboard shortcut — open it from the right-click menu (or the thought's actions menu).

Related Topics