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      Using a custom search engine to quickly search the Acctivate Knowledge base.

      Did you know that there's a way to quickly search the knowledge base without even having to go to Hub.Acctivate.com? You can setup a custom search engine to be able to search the knowledge base from any website in your web browser!

      If you want to be able to search our knowledge base without having to head to the hub site first, you're able to setup a custom search engine so that all you have to do is type your query in the address bar. We'll include steps for Chrome, Edge and Firefox, as they are the most commonly used browsers. If you've already got the custom search engine setup, you can skip to the end of the article. For specific steps for other browsers, perform a google search on "How to Setup custom search engines."

      Google Chrome

      1. Open the settings in your web browser. To do that, click the "..." button located in the top right corner of the window, directly under the X button that would close the window, and click "Settings." 

      2. Navigate to the "Search Engine" section of settings by clicking on "Search engine" on the left navigation bar and then click "Manage search engines." 

        1. Chrome

      3. You can choose either "Space or Tab" or just "Tab" to be the shortcut. The shortcut is used when you type the keyword in the address bar. For example, if you make the keyword "Hub" (or even just "h") then you'll hit either space or tab depending on your settings to search.

      4. Click on the "Add" button

        1. For Search Engine, enter whatever name you'd like to use to identify the engine. For this, you can just input "KB"

        2. For Keyword, this is what's used to tell the browser to search with the engine. You can just simply type "h" for simplicity.

        3. For URL enter in "https://hub.acctivate.com/articles/kb-search-results?term=%s" (without the quotes.)

        4. Your "Add search engine" window should look like this:

          1. Chrome add

        5. Click "Add" and then you're finished!

      Microsoft Edge

      1. Open the settings in your web browser. To do that, click the "..." button located in the top right corner of the window, directly under the X button that would close the window, and click "Settings." 

      2. Navigate to the "Search Engine" section of settings by going to "Privacy, Search and Services" on the left navigation bar, and then scroll to the bottom and click "Address bar and search." 

        1. Edge

      3. Click on "Manage Search Engines."

      4. Click "Add"

        1. For Search Engine, enter whatever name you'd like to use to identify the engine. For this, you can just input "KB"

        2. For Keyword, this is what's used to tell the browser to search with the engine. You can just simply type "h" for simplicity.

        3. For URL enter in "https://hub.acctivate.com/articles/kb-search-results?term=%s" (without the quotes.)

        4. Your "Add search engine" window should look like this:

          1. edge add

        5. Click "Save" (or it may be "Add") and then you're finished!

      Mozilla Firefox

      1. Navigate to https://hub.acctivate.com/articles
      2. Right click on the search bar and click "Add a keyword for this search."
        1. Keyword firefox

      3. For Name, enter whatever name you'd like to use to identify the engine. For this, you can just input "KB"

      4. For "Location" add it to "Bookmarks Toolbar"

      5. For Keyword, this is what's used to tell the browser to search with the engine. You can just simply type "h" for simplicity.

      6. Your "Add bookmark" window should look like this:

        1. firefox add

      7. Click "Save" and you're finished!

      Using the search engine

      Once you've setup your custom search engine, you can use it to easily search for the article you're looking for from any webpage. 

      1. For Chrome and Edge, simply click into the "address bar" (the top bar next to the home and refresh buttons) and type in the keyword you set followed by a space (or tab if you set that in chrome.) Note: The address bar should be blank before trying to enter your keyword.
        1. The address bar should change and say "Search Hub Articles" (or whatever name you made the engine.)
          1. Search
        2. Enter in your query and hit enter to search as normal.
        3. You should be brought to the search results as if you've searched on the KB itself.
      2. For Firefox, click into the "address bar" and type in your keyword. Note: The address bar should be blank before trying to enter your keyword.
        1. Unlike Chrome and Edge, the address bar will not change to say "hub articles." however, you can still enter your query after the keyword and hit enter to search.
          1. Address firefox

       

      Now you can quickly and efficiently search the knowledge base without even having to be on the website!