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Project Search

Project Search lets you find any word or phrase across every document in your project at once — handy when you can't remember which chapter a scene is in, or when you need to track down every mention of a character name.

PlatformShortcut
macOS⌘ + Shift + F
WindowsCtrl + Shift + F
LinuxCtrl + Shift + F

You can also open it from the search icon (manage_search) in the sidebar toolbar, or from the collapsed sidebar when the panel is hidden.

Browsing & Searching

Open Project Search without typing anything to browse all elements in your project. Start typing and results filter instantly as you type:

  • Browse mode — with an empty query, all elements are listed so you can explore without knowing what to search for
  • Case insensitive — searches are not case-sensitive
  • Partial matches — "moon" matches "moonlight" and "Moonveil"
  • Match count — the number of text matches per document is shown next to the title (hidden in browse mode)
  • Breadcrumb path — the folder path to each result is shown beneath the document name
  • Infinite scroll — results load in batches as you scroll down, so large projects stay responsive

Filters

Click the filter button (funnel icon) to narrow results by:

FilterDescription
TagsShow only elements that have specific tags applied
Element typesLimit results to documents, folders, worldbuilding elements, etc.
Worldbuilding schemasFilter worldbuilding elements by their schema (e.g. Character, Location, Item)
RelationshipsShow only elements related to a specific element

Filters combine with each other and with the text query — for example you can search for "castle" filtered to Location-type worldbuilding elements.

Active filters are shown as chips below the search bar. Click the × on any chip to remove it, or click Clear to remove all filters at once.

Project Search dialog showing results across multiple documents

Result Snippets

Each result shows up to three text snippets from the document, with the matching word or phrase highlighted. This gives you context to identify the right result without having to open each document.

Opening a Result

Click any result to immediately open that document and jump to the first match. The document opens in a new tab (or switches to it if already open).

Keyboard Navigation

KeyAction
Move selection between results
EnterOpen the selected document
EscapeClose Project Search

Tips

  • Open Project Search with no query to browse everything in your project — great for getting an overview
  • Use filters to narrow large result sets — combining a tag filter with a schema filter is a fast way to find, say, all "Major" characters
  • Use Project Search to audit consistency — search for a character's old name before and after a rename to make sure nothing was missed
  • The match count badge on each result helps you prioritise — a document with 12 matches is more likely to be the one you want than one with 1
Also try Find in Document

Once you've opened the right document, use Ctrl/Cmd + F to jump between individual matches within it.


Related: Quick Open · Find in Document