Searching the Store from anywhere in iTunes
This week’s tip may be simple, but if you’re frequently searching the iTunes Store for new music, movies, books, and apps, it can be a big time saver. Normally, you need to click on the iTunes Store in your sidebar to search the Store—but this isn’t the only way to do it. Simply hold down option when you hit return after typing something in iTunes’ built-in search field and it will automatically route your query to the iTunes Store instead of searching locally.
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1
Any idea how to do this in a Windows version?
Posted by Jam on August 16, 2011 at 5:41 AM (PST)
2
Try holding down ALT. Basically, the OPT key on the Mac is equivalent the ALT key in Windows. Haven’t tried it in the most recent versions, but should still work.
Posted by Jesse Hollington in Toronto on August 16, 2011 at 6:23 AM (PST)
3
ALT doesn’t seem to work in Windows
Posted by jOHN on August 16, 2011 at 8:04 AM (PST)
4
Alt wouldn’t be it anyway since in most Windows applications the Alt key (along with a particular letter) will bring focus to a command on the menu bar. From what I can tell, there are no keystrokes that let you search the store directly from the Search field in Windows iTunes.
However, on the menu bar if you select Store/Search… that will take you directly to a “Power Search” page for the iTunes Store. Windows users can also use Alt-S-S (no jokes please) to get there, but it is not the same as searching directly from your Library search field.
Posted by rockmyplimsoul on August 16, 2011 at 9:53 AM (PST)
5
This works in Windows if you press Shift-Enter.
Posted by Martin on August 16, 2011 at 11:19 AM (PST)
6
@5: Thanks for that, didn’t think to even try that combination!
Posted by rockmyplimsoul on August 16, 2011 at 12:23 PM (PST)
7
@5: You the man!, thanks a lot!
Posted by Jean-Claude Landau on August 16, 2011 at 1:20 PM (PST)
8
A lot of the OPT-key sequences in iTunes used to use the SHIFT key instead (the classic hold-down-OPT/SHIFT to avoid syncing when you connect an iOS device is one example), so that makes some sense. With more recent versions, Apple has been moving toward remapping them to the ALT key for consistency (many now support the use of either key), but I guess that hasn’t been done with all of the shortcuts.
Posted by Jesse Hollington in Toronto on August 18, 2011 at 5:42 AM (PST)