Now for something different: a time-saving tech tip!

Most modern browsers allow for custom searches to be issued right from the address bar. I use these shortcuts many times a day. Read how to set these up at https://www.howtogeek.com/114176/how-to-easily-create-search-plugins-add-any-search-engine-to-your-browser/.

If you find yourself going to the same web site often to perform a certain kind of search, this tip allows you to go to the site and initiate the search in one step. This tip, combined with keyboard shortcuts for opening new tabs (ctrl-T on Chrome) and putting the focus into the address bar (ctrl-L or alt-D), can really speed up your browsing.

Here are some custom browser searches I’ve enabled:

d = google dictionary search
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A%s

ga = Google Address book
https://contacts.google.com/search/%s

gd = Google docs
https://drive.google.com/#search/%s

gd0 = Google Drive search (acct 0)
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/search?q=%s

gd1 = Google Drive search (acct 1)
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/search?q=%s

gk = Google Keep
https://keep.google.com/#search/text=%s

map = Google Maps search
http://maps.google.com/?sourceid=navclient&q=%s

scholar = google scholar search
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%s

w = wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=%s

y = Youtube search
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s&search=Search

yelp = yelp in Los Angeles
http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=%s&find_loc=los+angeles%2C+ca