Search & Pins

At a glance

• The magnifying glass — marks the search field. The little spark next to it lights up when the bar is focused.
• The text field — type a word, phrase, or filter to find Kards.
• The / key hint — a reminder that pressing the / key anywhere in the app jumps straight into the search box. It fades away once you start typing, and is hidden on touch devices and in a narrow sidebar (a window under 900px wide), where the field needs the room. The key still works.
• The Kards count (for example 41 Kards) — how many Kards currently match. With the box empty it shows what's in your current view — your whole library, or just the selected domain or filter when one is active. While you search it shows the number of matches in that view. The scope labels below the field name the grid view and the suggestion scope. Suggestions search the entire library, restricted by any active search filter chips.
• The microphone — search by speaking instead of typing (when enabled and supported by your browser).

When to use it

• You know roughly what you're after and want to get to it in a couple of keystrokes.
• You want to narrow a large library down to one topic before browsing.
• You'd rather speak your search than type it.
• You keep returning to the same domain or subcategory — pin it once (see Pinning what matters below) and skip search entirely next time.

How to… search

• Start typing. Results filter immediately. The sidebar narrows to matching domains, and matching text is highlighted. A Kard matches when your words appear in its title, description, tags, category, or subcategory.
• Type words in any order. dns flush and flush dns find the same Kards — every word just has to match somewhere in the Kard. Title matches rank first, then tags, then category, then description.
• Initials work. A word you type is also matched against the initials of a Kard's name, so mbp finds MacBook Pro and adr finds Active Directory Replication.
• Some typos still match. For search words of at least four letters, matching can tolerate up to two inserted or missing letters when the first letter and remaining letter order agree: pemission finds Permission. Arbitrary letter substitutions or swaps are not generally corrected.
• Old names find new names. A small built-in dictionary of MSP synonyms means AAD also finds Entra Kards, GPO finds Group Policy, O365 finds Microsoft 365, and so on. When that happens, the dropdown's header says so (for example AAD ≈ entra id) — no silent magic.
• Hit a dead end? Generate it. When a search finds nothing, the dropdown offers Generate a Kard for "…" — one click opens the Kard AI Generator with your search already filled in as the topic. It only sets up the form; nothing generates — and nothing is charged — until you run it.
• Use the suggestions. A dropdown lists the best matching Kards and domains. Click one, or use ↑ / ↓ and Enter to pick it. It shows the top matches only; when there are more, its header says so (for example Kards · 6 of 11). The dropdown takes as much height as the window below the bar allows; on a short screen it scrolls, and the key hints stay pinned along its bottom edge. If there isn't enough room below — a very short window, a laptop or phone in landscape, an on-screen keyboard — it opens upward instead, so the whole list stays on screen.
• Press Enter on a search to remember it when Remember recent searches is on and Privacy Mode is off. Recent searches appear in the dropdown next time the box is empty.
• Clear it. Click the × button (it appears when you have search text or active filter chips), or press Esc.

The count colors

Filter shortcuts (power users)

You can narrow results by category, tag, or recency by typing a short filter, then a space to lock in an unquoted value as a chip. Quoted values lock in when you type the closing quote:

For unquoted values, a trailing space turns the filter on. For quoted category, tag, or technique values, the closing quote commits it immediately. Until that gesture, the text remains an ordinary query: cat:Net without a trailing space searches for those literal characters.

Each locked-in filter becomes a small chip in its own row above the text field. Scroll that row sideways if the chips fill it. Remove one by clicking its × — any search text you typed alongside it stays where it is, and the results simply widen. You can combine filters with ordinary search text. When a chip is active and your words find nothing inside it, the dropdown says so — No results for “…” in the active filters — and points you at removing a chip rather than adding another filter.

Voice search

• Click the microphone and allow microphone access when your browser asks.
• The bar turns green and the placeholder reads Listening… Speak your search; the words appear in the box and results update.
• Click the microphone again to stop. Turning off Voice search in Settings or signing out also stops the active session; late transcripts are ignored.

Voice search uses the speech recognition API exposed by your browser. Support depends on the browser, device and policy; browsers without the API hide the microphone. Your browser may send audio to an external speech service. The app does not require local-only recognition or select a speech provider. Typed searches and matching run in the app; recent search terms stay in this tab's session storage.

Search & privacy settings

Open Settings → Search & Voice:

• Voice search enables the microphone when supported. Switching it off stops active voice input and prevents new sessions until you enable it again.
• Remember recent searches keeps up to six recent terms in this tab. Switching it off hides the list and stops recording new terms, without changing Privacy Mode or deleting existing terms. Switching it on makes retained terms available again.
• Privacy Mode masks client data across the app and always hides and pauses recent searches, regardless of the history preference. It does not delete earlier terms.
• Clear recent searches deletes this tab's stored terms, including hidden ones. It does not remove pins or Kards. You can also clear the Recent dropdown, or remove one term using its × button.

History survives page reloads. Signing out clears it and the visible query. Closing a tab normally ends its session storage, but browser tab/session restoration may retain it. Use Clear recent searches or sign out before leaving a shared device. Clearing applies to this tab, not the separate session history in other open tabs. The history preference follows normal settings backup and account sync; the stored search terms do not.

Keyboard and screen readers

• Press / anywhere (when you're not already typing in a field) to jump into search. Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on macOS) does the same.
• With the suggestions open and the cursor still in the search box, ↑ / ↓ move through them and Enter selects. Esc closes the dropdown; pressing it again clears the search. Tab onto another control — the ×, the microphone, Clear in the Recent list — and those keys do that control's job instead.
• With the dropdown closed, ↓ jumps from the search box to the first result card, keeping your query and matching results in place.
• Every pinned control is reachable by Tab and shows a focus outline when you get there: a pinned row's name (press Enter to jump), its ×, the Clear all button, and the pin icon on each subcategory row. The pin icon announces what it will do and which row it acts on — Pin to top: Axcient, then Unpin: Axcient once it's pinned.
• The voice state and the suggestion you pick are announced to screen readers as they change. The result count is announced too, as a sentence — 14 Kards match “bitlocker recovery” — once you stop typing, rather than on every keystroke. With only filter chips on and nothing typed, it names them instead: 2 Kards match the active filters.

In Focus Mode, / and Ctrl/Cmd+F focus the visible Focus Mode search field. IME conversion keys stay with your input method until composition finishes. Active filter chips also appear in the Focus Mode search bar; remove one with its × button, or use Clear to remove the text and all filter chips.

Pinning what matters

Search is for finding something you don't have quick access to yet. Pins are for the domains and subcategories you return to constantly — a shortcut list that lives right in the sidebar, above the full DOMAINS list, so you never have to search or scroll for them again.

What you can pin

You pin a domain or one of its subcategories — not an individual Kard. Pinning a domain's All in […] row gives you a shortcut to the whole domain; pinning one of its subcategories gives you a shortcut to just that. (Looking to keep a single Kard close at hand instead? That's Favorites — the star on a Kard tile, covered in The Kard Library — a different feature from a pin.)

Pin, jump, reorder, unpin

• Pin it. In the sidebar's domain list, hover a domain's All in […] row or any subcategory row. A pushpin icon fades in on the right — click it. The icon appears the same way when you move keyboard focus onto the row (the arrow-key navigation covered in Domains & Organizing).
• Find it. The Pinned section sits immediately below search; an empty list shows a brief getting-started hint. Each row shows its name and domain color; subcategory pins also show their parent domain to distinguish matching names.
• Jump to it. Click the pinned name to filter the Kard grid to that domain or subcategory, expand its domain if collapsed, and scroll to the corresponding sidebar row. From the keyboard, Tab onto the row's name and press Enter — the same jump.
• Reorder. Drag a pinned row by the ⋮⋮ handle that appears when you hover it. You can also use the Move up and Move down arrow buttons on each row with a mouse, touchscreen, or keyboard. Tab to an arrow and press Enter or Space. Arrows are disabled at the ends of the list, and the new position is announced. Your order survives a reload.
• Unpin it. Click the pin icon again on the original row — once pinned it's already visible and turns red on hover as a reminder that a click removes it — or click the × that appears when you hover the pinned row. After removal, keyboard focus moves to the next pin, the previous pin at the end of the list, or search when no pins remain.
• Clear all. The Clear all button in the Pinned section's header removes every pin at once. It asks first — Remove all pins? — and the answer defaults to Cancel, so a stray Enter cannot wipe the list.
• On a tablet or phone the pin icons don't wait for a hover that never comes — they sit visible on every subcategory row and on every pinned row, ready to tap.

Pins are saved on this device and survive a reload — recent searches use this tab's session storage. Other open tabs update when you pin or unpin an item. If a save fails, the app warns you and keeps the previous pins. They're included when you back up everything from Settings → Kard Library & Data. Renaming or deleting a pinned domain or subcategory — in the Domain Manager or from the sidebar's right-click menu — keeps its pin in sync or removes it automatically. Renaming a domain carries the pins of its subcategories with it, and moving a pinned subcategory to another domain takes its pin along. If you undo a domain or subcategory deletion using the offered Undo action, its removed pins are restored too.

Supported sizes and input limits

Search has been tested with libraries of 5,000 Kards; this is the validated target, not an enforced library-size cap. Queries accept up to 1,024 characters and 32 active filter chips. Oversized queries are shortened with a message; filters beyond the limit stay in the text field until you remove a chip and submit them again.

Pin data supports up to 5,000 entries and 512 characters per text field. Imported entries with invalid identifiers or oversized text are skipped. Reads do not rewrite saved pin data. Invalid, unreadable or oversized data shows a recovery notice instead of an empty-list hint. Ordinary pin changes cannot overwrite data that needs recovery. Use Export original data to download the exact stored data, including invalid records. For a partly valid collection, Keep valid pins removes invalid entries after confirmation and preserves valid pin order. Clear saved pins also requires confirmation and defaults to Cancel. Allow site storage and use Retry if reads are blocked.

Tips & tricks

• Keep a search while working. Clicking elsewhere closes suggestions but keeps your query and filter chips. Use × or the two-stage Esc behavior to clear them. Signing out also clears the visible search.
• "cat:Networking found nothing." Category names with spaces need quotes — for example cat:"Endpoint Management".
• "The count says 0 but I can see the topic in the list." The count is for Kards; the sidebar list is domains. A domain can match by name without any of its Kards matching your exact words.
• "The count says 0 but the dropdown still shows results." The count follows your current view — with a domain or filter active, Kards outside it aren't counted. The suggestions dropdown always searches your entire library (its header says entire library while a filter is on), and picking a result outside the view clears the filter so that Kard can appear.
• "My Pinned section is empty." Its hint explains how to start: pin a domain or subcategory from the Domains list. Reorder and Clear all controls appear once you have pins.
• "There are three different 'pin' features and I've lost track." Sidebar pins (this page) shortcut a domain or subcategory. Favorites (the star on a Kard tile — see The Kard Library) shortcuts an individual Kard. Pinning a command in the Command Palette shortcuts an action or a saved search. All three are separate, independent lists.

Troubleshooting

• The microphone button is missing: check that Voice search is on in Settings → Search & Voice. The button also requires your browser's speech recognition API; unsupported browsers hide it — type your search instead.
• Voice search won't start: the message tells you which of four things happened. Check the relevant browser permission, device or service setting below.
  • "Microphone access blocked" — your browser is withholding the microphone from this site. Allow it from the address-bar lock icon and try again.
  • "switched off by this site's microphone policy" — the site itself is withholding it, and no browser permission will restore it. Report it; nothing on your machine will help.
  • "Speech recognition is unavailable in this browser" — the microphone is fine, but your browser's speech service is turned off or unreachable. A managed work computer may have it disabled by policy.
  • "No microphone detected" — check that a microphone is connected and selected as the input device.
• Recent searches don't appear: check Remember recent searches and Privacy Mode in Settings → Search & Voice. History is scoped to this tab and is cleared on sign-out. See Search & privacy settings for clearing, retention and browser-session restoration.
• Pins cannot be saved: allow site storage and check available space. Follow the visible recovery notice if saved data is invalid or oversized. Export the original data before repair or clearing; cancelling either confirmation keeps it unchanged.
• A Settings change could not be saved: an error and Not saved replace the success message. Search-history and voice preferences keep their previous effective state. Privacy Mode still applies immediately for this session if its preference cannot be saved; its switch reflects the active mode. Allow site storage or free space, then retry. Do not rely on an unsaved preference surviving a reload.
• A pinned item disappeared: the domain or subcategory it pointed at is gone. Deleting one from the Domain Manager removes its pin, and Reset Kard Library (see Demo Data & Starting Fresh) does the same for pins that named custom domains it replaced. Pins that still point at something — including any on the default domains a reset restores — are kept, in the order you arranged them.

Related topics

• Domains & Organizing
• The Kard Library
• The Command Palette