Use the system search

  1. Open the Activities overview by clicking Activities at the top left of the screen, or by pressing the Super key. Start typing to search.

    Results matching what you have typed will appear as you type. The first result is always highlighted and shown at the top.

    Press Enter to switch to the first highlighted result.

  1. Items that may appear in the search results include:

    • matching applications, shown at the top of the search results,

    • matching settings,

    • matching contacts,

    • matching documents,

    • matching calendar,

    • matching calculator,

    • matching software,

    • matching files,

    • matching terminal,

    • matching passwords and keys.

  2. In the search results, click the item to switch to it.

    Alternatively, highlight an item using the arrow keys and press Enter.

Search from inside applications

The system search aggregates results from various applications. On the left-hand side of the search results, you can see icons of applications that provided the search results. Click one of the icons to restart the search from inside the application associated with that icon. Because only the best matches are shown in the Activities Overview, searching from inside the application may give you better search results.

Customize search results

Your computer lets you customize what you want to display in the search results in the Activities Overview. For example, you can choose whether you want to show results for websites, photos, or music.

To customize what is displayed in the search results:

  1. Click the system menu on the right side of the top bar.

  2. Click Settings.

  3. Click Search in the left panel.

  4. In the list of search locations, click the switch next to the search location you want to enable or disable.