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Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.5

Sometimes I open up multiple windows of TextEdit and multiple tabs on Chrome and use the Cmd-f to find certain text. In each window, I'm looking for different texts. However, when I switch between the windows, the search text automatically transfers itself to the next window, and I lose my previous search results.

How do I make Cmd-f search text local to the application window, and not transfer itself when I switch between windows?

For example:

  1. In Chrome - tab 1, I searched chickens. 300 results show up. I scrolled to the 150th.
  2. In Chrome - tab 2, I searched eggs
  3. When I switch back to tab 1, the search text automatically switches from chickens to eggs!

I have to enter chickens with Cmd-f all over again, and it might just start again from the 1st result, and I have to press Enter 149 times. So far this behavior has happened when switching between chrome tabs, between Chrome and TextEdit, and between TextEdit windows.

Community
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Elizabeth Chu
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  • I don't think it's possible - search uses the kill-ring, rather than the regular copy/paste buffer - but there's only one of each, so whatever is in it is what you're going to be 'pasting' to the next field, even if you don't consider it related. – Tetsujin Jul 01 '16 at 17:50
  • @Tetsujin Hmm. That is very unfortunate. I don't see why they designed it this way. – Elizabeth Chu Jul 01 '16 at 18:01
  • I think it's legacy... it might be possible to code round it, but as the copy buffers are system-wide, it might not be too easy. – Tetsujin Jul 01 '16 at 19:20
  • Related: [1](https://superuser.com/questions/1249590/macos-find-box-auto-change-across-app), [2](https://superuser.com/questions/1320037/text-typed-into-different-apps-e-g-chrome-sublime-find-functions-cmd-f-ove) – Jess Riedel May 05 '18 at 20:06
  • Sad to see this problem is still active after 2 years (sigh). [2](https://superuser.com/questions/1320037/text-typed-into-different-apps-e-g-chrome-sublime-find-functions-cmd-f-ove) seems to provide more detailed context though. – Elizabeth Chu May 08 '18 at 05:34
  • This is terribly annoying, took me a while to find this thread. Glad I'm not the only one! Will listen for a fix. – pinhead May 07 '19 at 19:59

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