Forum find/search functionality and Ctrl+F

Hello everyone

This one really gets on my nerves nearly every time I use this forum (and others that use the same backend), so today I decided to share my pain.

Am I the only one that finds it extremely annoying that the browser’s Ctrl+F shortcut is being captured by the forum and instead of opening the browser’s find bar, it opens the forum’s search field?

The search icon is right there if I want to click it, I don’t want it overriding my browser’s functionality. Or if it needs its own shortcut, it can be another one.

The problem is it’s much more convenient to find something within the thread by using the browser’s find, rather than the forum’s search. If I want to search for something across the forum, then I will use search.

And yes, I know that in long threads not all messages are being shown, so the “Search this topic” option makes sense (although I’d still prefer to scroll all the way down and then use Find), but this should be an OPTION, not shoved down my throat whether I want it or not!

Rant over :slightly_smiling_face:

Don’t even know if it’s something that can be changed, but I’d be curious to know if we at least WANT it to be changed. I know I do!

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I have been frustrated by this also.

Oddly, when I Cmd-F (on the Mac) in this thread, it brings up the browser search box. OTOH, if I select a longer thread, the same keystroke brings up the form search box. Strange.

I have found on Chrome (at least) hit ctrl F twice and it brings up the built in browser.

And oddly enough I don’t have this issue currently, hitting the short cut once brings up the browser one vs the forum search bar.

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It’s weird, now it brings up the browser’s search bar for me as well!
When I created the thread about an hour ago, it didn’t (and I tested both on FF and Chrome).

No. I freaking hate it with a passion. What’s worse is it’s not consistent. Sometimes it captures it and sometimes it doesn’t (e.g. when editing a post it does not capture it).

It’s nothing that we can change. You’d have to go complain to the Discourse developers.

OK, so based on the answers here, it is only supposed to happen on threads with more than 20 replies, not smaller ones. So that’s why it might seem inconsistent (although I don’t know the logic behind it not happening while editing).

And like @anonymous.one said, hitting ctrl+F twice should open the browser’s native find functionality. I tried it on a large thread and it seems to work.

So now that I know this my life feels a little better. But I do pity anyone that doesn’t know this and is suffering like I was.

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