Instant internet search and shortcut management for hyperlinks and files.
- Overview
- General Usage
- Switching Between Web and File Mode
- Navigation
- Adding & Removing Categories & Links
- Editing Category Names, Link Labels, and URLs
- Crosslinking
- Update Favorites
- Load & Import
- Export
- Update the Settings
Preview:
HyperSearch is a minimalist bookmark managing utility that focuses on speed and distraction-free access to user-defined web and file path shortcuts.
It provides customizable hotkeys for searching any highlighted text as well as a GUI search bar that can search both the internet and your personal index of link categories.
HyperSearch Lite is a streamlined version of the web searchbar and favorites without the bookmark manager.
Preview:
Activate HyperSearch Lite by typing Set>Min
Set>Min
Open the GUI with Win+Space or search any highlighted text with Ctrl+Win+Space. (These hotkeys can be reconfigured to user preference.)
Close the GUI with Escape or Close Window from the X menu.
The app will stay open in the system tray unless closed from the tray or via Exit App from the X menu.
When the app is launched for the first time it will create HS_Settings.ini and HSR_Master.csv sidecar files. If the .exe is moved the .ini and .csv files must stay in the same root folder as the .exe or the settings will be reset. Do not rename these files or new ones will be created the next time the app is launched and the app will be reset to it's default configuration.
The ? menu contains a link back to this guide, a link to the folder of the current repository file, and the active version number which directs to the folder of the application.
Use the ! in the top right to switch between Web mode and File mode. The current search mode will be indicated by the status bar in the bottom left.
In Web mode all links will be accessed via the default web browser and search engine, whereas in File mode "links" should be input as file paths and will be accessed via Windows Explorer.
Note: Windows 11 allows for copying the file path of a selected file or folder via Ctrl+Shift+C.
When switching to File mode for the first time, a dialog will prompt to enter a name for a new HFR file (HyperSearch File Repository). This will create a separate repository from the HSR_Master.csv file to be used in File mode.
The rest of this guide will refer to input items as "links" or "URLs," although the same methods can be used to input file or folder paths. Be sure that when inputting items, the link or file path is formatted appropriately for the current search mode.
Likewise, when loading and importing repositories, be sure that the new repository is formatted appropriately for the current search mode.
Note: Favorites will remain consistent between Web and File mode and will always be accessed as web links. Also, the search bar will always send the search query to the web unless modifying the repository as indicated in the rest of this guide.
Navigate the favorites menu easily with Alt+1 - 9 or Alt+X for the exit menu.
Type in the search bar and press enter to search the internet via your default search engine (see changing the default search engine below)
Type a Space at the beginning of your search to search the index on the left instead
_Category Name
If the search starts with a Space, pressing Enter will set the focus to the links window below the search bar. Pressing Enter again will activate the highlighted link.
Type a # followed by a number to highlight the link in the specified position.
#10
Type #v to highlight the last link in the current category.
#v
Alt+A and Alt+D will also toggle between the two listboxes, skipping the search bar.
If one of the listboxes is active, Alt+W and Alt+S will toggle the slection up and down, respectively.
If the search bar is active, Alt+S or Alt+W will activate the links window and start cycling down through the links.
Also with the search bar active, Alt+Q will clear all of the current text so a new search can be started more quickly.
To pull the URL of the selected item into the edit bar, type ^ and press Enter. A link index can be specified after the ^ to pull that link's URL into the search bar.
^5
To add a category, type the category name and +
Category Name+
To add a link to the current category, type + followed the name of the link followed by + followed by the URL. New links without a specified position will be added to the top of the links list
+GMail+mail.google.com
Note: When adding a link or filename with a + character, escape it by preceding it with a backtick.
To add a link at a specific position, type + followed by the position number followed by + followed by the link name followed by + followed by the URL
+1+Calendar+calendar.google.com
To add a link at the bottom of the links list, substitute v for the position value
+v+GDrive+drive.google.com
To move a link to a new position, type the starting position of the link, followed by ~ and the new position of the link
1~5
To move a range of links to a new position, type the first position of the range followed by - and the last number of the range, followed by ~ and the new starting positon of the link range
1-3~5
To remove the current link, type Delete- and select Yes on the prompt
Delete-
To remove a link at a specific position, type Delete- followed by the position number and select Yes on the prompt
Delete-1
To remove a sequential range of links, type Delete- followed by the first number of the range, then - and the last number of the range
Delete-1-5
To remove the current category, type Delete- followed by Category and select Yes on the prompt
Delete-Category
To rename the current category, type the new category name followed by ++
New Category Name++
To relabel the current link, type + followed by the new label followed by +
+New Link Label
To relabel a link at a specific position, precede the command with + and the desired position #
+1+New Link Label
To reassign the URL of the current link, type ++ followed by the new URL
++New URL
To reassign a URL of a link at a specific position, precede the command with + and the desired position #
+1++New URL
To have a link activate a specific category in the index, encapsulate the exact text of the desired category with <...> and set the link URL to *
+1+<Category Label>+*
To update favorites, type a number 1 - 9 and then > followed by your desired label name then > followed by the link URL. For example:
1>GMail>mail.google.com
To clear a selection, type the number of the favorite followed by only >
1>
To set a new label for a favorite, simply omit the last >
1>GMail
To set a new link for an existing favorite without updating the label, use >>
1>>drive.google.com
To load a repository other than the default HSR_Master.csv file, type Load> followed by the pathname of a .csv file that is formatted consistently with HyperSearch. If the file is in the same folder as the HyperSearch executable, only the filename need be typed.
Load>C:\Users\username\Documents\HyperSearch\Repositories\MyCustomRepository.csv
To import bookmarks from Google Chrome, type Import> followed by the pathname of a .html file that has been generated by the "Export Bookmarks" function of Google Chrome. If the file is in the same folder as the HyperSearch executable, only the filename need be typed (with .html extension and case-sensitive spelling).
Import>C:\Users\username\Documents\HyperSearch\Imports\bookmarks_m_d_yyyy.html
NOTE: When importing from Chrome you will have the option to add the bookmarks to the exisiting repository or replace the existing repository with the bookmarks. If you choose to replace the existing repository all links will be permanently deleted. It is recommended to make a copy of the existing repository before choosing to replace it.
To import a HyperSearch category or full HyperSearch repository, type Import> followed by the pathname of a .csv file that is formatted consistently with HyperSearch. If the file is in the same folder as the HyperSearch executable, only the filename need be typed (with .csv extension and case-sensitive spelling).
Import>C:\Users\username\Documents\HyperSearch\Imports\SharedLinks.csv
When importing a .csv, all links will be added to the current repository.
NOTE: When adding new categories via .csv if any imported category has the same name as an existing category, the links from the new category will not be visible. To get around this, rename the exisiting category before or after the import and the new category and its corresponding links will be revealed.
To create a new repository with the default categories, type New> followed by the desired filename or path of the new repository.
New>HSR_New.csv
NOTE: If the new filename is the same as a file in the specified folder, the existing file will be loaded. If no filename is provided, the default name "HSR_Master.csv" will be used. If "HSR_Master.csv" already exists, it will be loaded.
To export the active category or full repository in a more accessible CSV file of hyperlinks, type Export> followed by either Category or Repository
Export>Repository
To export the current category in a way that can be read and imported by the HyperSearch import function listed above, add >HyperSearch
Export>Category>HyperSearch
A new .csv file with the name of either the current repository or the active category will be created in the same folder as the HyperSearch executable.
Begin the search with Set>
To update the search engine, type Search> and then either Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is currently the default.
Set>Search>Google
To edit the hotkeys, type Hotkey1/2> followed by your desired hotkey
For reference: Hotkey1 opens the GUI, Hotkey2 searches for highlighted text
Set>Hotkey1>ctrl+space
To turn on/off window jumping, type Jump>On/Off
Set>Jump>Off
To set the interface to the more streamlined one of HyperSearch Lite, type Min
Set>Min
To return to the full HyperSearch interface, type Max
Set>Max
To set the color mode, type either Dark or Light. Dark is the default
Set>Light
To set the opacity, type Opacity> and enter a number between 1 - 100. Default is 90%
Set>Opacity>80