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netbeansnetbeans-8

Disable QuickSearch input in Netbeans

Is there a way/property/setting do completely remove QuickSearch input from the right upper corner of Netbeans, the one activated by Ctrl+I?

I use tiling window manager and have 2 document groups on 2 separate monitors. Sometimes during switch the focus goes to Quick search and there is no easy way to put it on editor with just a keyboard. There is Ctrl+0 shortcut to activate the Editor but when I press it, the Editor from another monitor gets focused. Veeeery annoying! I never use QuickSearch feature anyway so I just want to get rid of it.

Solution

  • Removing the Quick Search feature is not obvious, but it is fairly straightforward, and also simple to revert:

    • Start NetBeans. From the Help menu select About and locate the line specifying your User Directory.
    • Open that specified user directory in a file manager (e.g. Windows Explorer on Windows).
    • Open the sub-directory named config.
    • Create a directory named Menu, and within that directory create an empty file named org-netbeans-modules-quicksearch-QuickSearchAction.shadow_hidden
    • You should end up with a file named {user dir}/config/Menu/org-netbeans-modules-quicksearch-QuickSearchAction.shadow_hidden
    • Restart NetBeans and Quick Search is gone:

    removeQuickSearch

    • [UPDATE] Based on a user comment below, you do not need to restart NetBeans for the change to be effective with NetBeans 19. (A restart may or may not be necessary for NetBeans releases between 9 and 18 for the change to be effective.)
    • To reinstate Quick Search delete file org-netbeans-modules-quicksearch-QuickSearchAction.shadow_hidden and restart NetBeans.

    I verified that this works using NetBeans 8.2 on Windows 10.

    See NetBeans bug report Bug 199487 - I18N: RFE: provide option to disable quicksearch text field on menubar for further details.