Want a way to search for the page, document, or answer you need? Want a way to search across all your online activity and recently used documents? Simply type in a keyword or phrase within the search bar. Continue reading for everything you need to know about using Epic Search. 🔍

How does Epic Search work?

Epic Search will search across a number of sources and return results based on:

• Browsing history

• Bookmarks

• Recently opened online documents (such as online PDFs, Docs, Sheets, etc. from browser history)

• Search results (via DuckDuckGo)

• Google search suggestions

To get the most out of Epic Search, we highly recommend keeping all your browsing and working on documents within Shift as much as possible! To help with that, make sure the open links in Shift setting is turned on by going to Options (lower left) > Settings > You and Shift > Toggle ON Open links in Shift.

How to start a new Epic Search

1. Click on the Search Bar at the top of Shift and type what you want to search

2. Click on a matching search result or instant answer at the bottom

3. If there is no match, pressing enter will default to a Google search

Privacy & Security of Epic Search

Epic Search queries and results are not indexed or stored on Shift's servers in any way. Shift's servers, its employees, and its data partners DO NOT have any insight into what you search for or your search results. The only data that is tracked in this regard is how you interact with and use Epic Search (for instance, how many times you searched for something, but not what you actually searched for, or the search results).

When you click on the filter for Google Drive or OneDrive, Epic Search queries Google & Microsoft's API on your behalf. The information returned by the API is never shared with Shift’s servers. Any search originates from your computer and goes directly to Google or Microsoft. Shift does not get in the way of this at all. 

What's next?

Have a question? Get in touch with Support.