Search a Website Using the Run Dialog Box

In a previous tip, we discussed how to use the Run dialog box to search the web. As discussed in that tip, this is a handy trick for any Windows power user. Once you have this down you can take your web searching utilizing the Run dialog box to the next level by using it to initiate a search on a specific website.

Many websites offer search capabilities to their users. For many of these site searches, the site search function utilizes a specific search query when implementing a search. Windows.Tips.Net, for example, search queries look like this:

https://windows.tips.net/results.html?q=Run+Dialog

If you were to copy this and paste it into your browser's address bar it would bring up the Windows.Tips.Net search results page showing all the correlating matches for the term (without quotes) "Run Dialog". Once we understand the base of the search query is (in this example) "https://windows.tips.net/results.html?q=" we can add our search term to the end by adding the word or words separated by a "+" symbol. (Hence the "Run+Dialog" at the end of the example shown above.)

To perform this, you would open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows+R keys on your keyboard. This immediately displays the Run dialog box. In the Run dialog box enter the appropriate command needed for your web browser.

Microsoft Edge Chromium

microsoft-edge: "http://windows.tips.net/results.html?q=SEARCH+TERM"

Firefox and Chrome (replace "browser" with the name of your web browser)

browser "windows.tips.net/results.html?q=SEARCH+TERM "

Once you enter the appropriate command, press Enter. Windows launches the web browser you specified, loading the web site's search result you entered.

Common site search strings for various sites are as follows:

youtube.com/search?q=SEARCH+TERM
google.com/search?q=SEARCH+TERM
bing.com/search?q=SEARCH+TERM
duckduckgo.com/?q=SEARCH+TERM
amazon.com/s?k=SEARCH+TERM

All you need to do is replace "SEARCH+TERM" with your unique term. Remember that Microsoft Edge Chromium requires quote marks around the search string. Plus, at a minimum, you need to specify http://, even if the site uses https. (Either way will work). And, as with most modern web browsers, you do not need to type www.

This power-user secret will allow for your searches to be done faster, allowing you to get your work done quicker.

 This tip (2615) applies to Windows 10.