Unity Search & Shortcuts

Unity Search & Shortcuts

As projects grow, finding specific assets, components, or settings can become challenging. Unity provides powerful built-in Search features and keyboard shortcut customization tools.

Unity Search Window

Open the Search window using Edit -> Search (or press Ctrl + K / Cmd + K):

• Classic Search vs Advanced Search: Search by typing name keywords, or use Search Providers to target specific registries.
• Search Providers: Prefixed search filters like h: (Hierarchy GameObjects), p: (Project assets), s: (Settings/Preferences), or menu: (main menu items). For example, typing h:Player finds all GameObjects named Player in the current scene.
• Visual and Textual Queries: Use query operators (AND, OR, NOT) to construct complex filters (e.g. finding meshes larger than a certain size).

Creating a Custom Search Provider

Advanced developers can write C# scripts to create new search providers that query external databases, check custom naming conventions, or fetch files from remote servers:

• Inherit from the SearchProvider class in the UnityEditor.Search namespace.
• Register the provider using the [SearchItemProvider] attribute.

Shortcuts Manager

Customize editor keyboard inputs via Edit -> Shortcuts:

• The Shortcuts window displays a visual layout of all bindings grouped by editor tools.
• You can create, import, and export custom Shortcut Profiles to sync preferences across team workstations.

TL;DR

• Open Unity Search with Ctrl + K (Cmd + K on macOS).
• Use search provider prefixes like h: or p: to restrict search queries.
• Query operators allow building visual or text filters.
• Use Edit -> Shortcuts to configure custom keyboard profiles.