Finding any command with Search in Paint by Zaweba
Press Ctrl+Shift+P in Paint by Zaweba to type the name of any command, filter, adjustment, panel or tool, see its menu path and key, and run it with Enter.
Big editors have hundreds of commands spread across menus, submenus, panels and the toolbox. Even people who use them daily forget where things live. Paint by Zaweba has an answer that takes no memory at all: Edit > Search, on Ctrl+Shift+P, where you type what you want and press Enter.
What it finds
Search covers commands, filters, adjustments, panels and tools. Type a few letters of a name and matching entries appear. You do not need the exact wording; a word from the name is usually enough to bring it up.
That breadth is what makes it useful. You might be after a filter buried two menus deep, an adjustment you saw once, a panel you closed last week, or a tool hiding in a flyout. All of them come up in the same box.
It shows you the way back
Each result shows its menu path and its keyboard shortcut. That turns Search into a teacher. Use it to run a command today, and notice the key printed beside it. After a few times you will just press the key. And if you would rather use the menu, the path tells you exactly where to look.
Press Enter and the chosen result runs, as if you had picked it from its menu. For a tool, the tool is selected. For a panel, the panel opens. For a filter or adjustment, its dialog or effect starts.
Everyday uses
Finding a filter by what it does. If you remember that you want a lens correction but not which menu it is under, type lens.
Opening a panel you closed. Type its name and press Enter instead of hunting through the menus.
Reaching rare commands. Things you use twice a year, such as a particular image rotation, are exactly what Search is for.
Working with panels hidden. If you have pressed Tab to hide everything, or you are in a full screen mode, Search still works, so you can keep the screen clear and still reach any command.
Combined with other features
Search works well with the contextual task bar and a trimmed interface. If you customise menus to hide items you rarely use, Search is the safety net that still finds them. If you remap shortcuts, the shortcut shown in Search reflects how you have set things up, which is a useful check after changing keys.
It also helps when following a tutorial written for another program. Many command names in Paint by Zaweba follow familiar conventions, and typing the name a tutorial uses is often the fastest way to see whether there is an equivalent.
Getting the most from it
Keep queries short. One distinctive word works better than a full phrase. If you get too many results, add a second word. Use the arrow keys to move through the list and Enter to run, so your hands never leave the keyboard.
When it seems not to work
If a command does not appear, try a different word for it; names are not always what you expect, and a synonym often finds it.
Ctrl+Shift+P is one of the few shortcuts worth learning on day one, because it makes every other command in Paint by Zaweba a few keystrokes away.
