How to open your sites by typing one word in Chrome's address bar
The orders dashboard, the CRM, the team wiki. If you open them twenty times a day, it's worth getting there by typing a single word.
Many work tools have long addresses that are hard to remember. And you usually do the same thing every time: open the site, find the search box and type an order number or a customer's name. It only takes a few seconds, but it adds up over the day.
Chrome has a built-in way to search inside a site from the address bar, and with NexoPad you can open your saved links by typing one word. We walk you through both options, step by step, and when each one makes sense.
The simplest way: bookmarks and autocomplete
If you bookmark a site or visit it often, Chrome remembers it. When you type part of the address or the name in the address bar, Chrome suggests it and you just press Enter. Nothing to set up.
The trouble starts when you have lots of similar sites, like several pages of the same internal dashboard. The suggestions get mixed up and you end up pressing the down arrow several times. If that sounds familiar, take a look at how to organize your bookmarks.
1. Chrome's site search
Open the search engine settings
Go to Settings > Search engine > Manage search engines and site search. You can also type chrome://settings/searchEngines in the address bar and press Enter.
Add a site
Next to Site search, click Add. Enter a name, a shortcut (for example orders) and the site's search address with %s where your search term goes. For example: https://admin.acme.example/orders?q=%s. Click Add.
Use it from the address bar
Type the shortcut, press Tab or the space bar, type what you're looking for and press Enter. Chrome opens the site with your search results.
It works great for searching inside a site. You can use it to open a fixed page with a short word, but it's a workaround: it was built for searches. Also, these shortcuts live only in that Chrome profile. If your team uses the same tools, everyone has to create them by hand.
2. NexoPad's sys keyword
Save the link
Open the NexoPad popup with Ctrl+Space, click + and choose Create manual link. Enter the name and the address.
Add a word in Tags
In the Tags field, type the word you'll use to open it, for example order. You can add several words separated by spaces. Click Save.
Type sys in the address bar
In the address bar, type sys, press the space bar and type your word. As you type, NexoPad suggests the links whose name or tags contain that text, like this: "NexoPad: name — address".
Press Enter
NexoPad opens, in a new tab, the link whose name matches what you typed or the first word, or whose tags include that first word.
Search inside a site with %s
Just like in Chrome, a NexoPad link address can include %s. Whatever you type after the keyword takes its place.
For example, save a link called "Find order" with the address https://admin.acme.example/orders?q=%s and the tag order. When you type sys order 4512 in the address bar, it opens https://admin.acme.example/orders?q=4512. You get straight to a customer's order without going through the dashboard's home page.
crm, wiki, order. The shorter the word, the faster you get there.The same link in the right-click menu
If you tick Show in context menu (Right click) in the link form, you also get it when you select text on any website. Select, say, an order number in an email, right-click and choose NexoPad > Find order. It opens the address with the selected text in place of %s.
One more trick: if you put several addresses separated by | in the address field, NexoPad opens one tab for each. Handy for looking up the same customer in the CRM and in your billing tool at once.
And if you work in a team, the Teams plan lets you share links so everyone uses the same words. We explain how in how to share links with your team. You'll find every detail about links in the links guide.
Which option should you choose?
| What you type | Searches with %s? | Shared with your team? | In the right-click menu? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookmarks and autocomplete | Part of the address or name | No | No | No |
| Chrome site search | Your shortcut + Tab + search term | Yes | No, only in your Chrome profile | No |
| NexoPad (sys) | sys + space + your word | Yes | Yes, with the Teams plan | Yes, if you tick the option |
If you only search one or two sites and work on your own, Chrome's site search is enough. If you want to open your tools with one word, use the same link from the right-click menu or give your whole team the same shortcuts, NexoPad makes it easier. To go even faster, check out these Chrome keyboard shortcuts.
FAQ
What happens if I type sys and a word I haven't saved?
Nothing opens. NexoPad doesn't fall back to a Google search: it only opens links that match the names or tags you've saved.
What does %s do in the address?
It marks where your text goes. In https://admin.acme.example/orders?q=%s, if you type sys order 4512, the %s is replaced by 4512.
Can I use several words for the same link?
Yes. Type several words separated by spaces in the Tags field. Any of them works after sys.
Is Chrome's site search shared with my team?
No. It's saved in your Chrome profile and each person has to set it up. With NexoPad and the Teams plan you can share the same links.
Does it work in other browsers?
NexoPad works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Brave. The site search steps in this article are for Chrome.
Published on October 20, 20266 min read
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