Chrome: Selecting a link by doing search on its text

I'm trying to use my computer using the keyboard exclusively, without touching the mouse. When browsing the web it can get hard. I use Tab to select links, but there are often dozens of links on a webpage. I can use Chrome's text search (Ctrl-F) to home in on a piece of text in no time; But I can't figure out how to use it to click on a link.

For example, let's say there's a link on a webpage with the text "Swedish Furniture". I can easily find it by typing Ctrl-F s w e d, and then Chrome marks the link as found, but is there any way to follow the link after it's found without tabbing through all the links on the page?

Ram Rachum

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 4 261

Answers

To follow a link after it's found in search, press Esc followed by Enter.

Chrome Search Cheat Sheet

Ctrl+F to open the search box.
Ctrl+G or Enter moves through all highlighted results.
Ctrl+Shift+G or Shift+Enter reverse move through all highlighted results.
Esc closes search box, turns off all highlights, selects the focused text/link
Enter to follow a link after highlights are off.

Use Cmd instead of Ctrl on Mac.

No extensions required.

nsolent

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 701

2It's just an incredible amount of extra typing, especially compared to Firefox. – Thanatos – 2017-08-11T21:17:05.113

Another method is Control + Enter (after highlighting in search).

Brian Koser

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 686

2Even better than that the accepted answer! (with less details about Chrome Search shortcuts, though) I'm glad I can upvote both answers and don't have to choose which one to accept. – Niavlys – 2017-06-30T09:54:22.477

Any way to ctrl + enter + something-else and have the link open in a new tab? – chrismarx – 2018-09-24T16:08:03.123

Ctrl + F and search for link 2. Esc - will close search and leave link highlighted 3. Ctrl + Enter

< – Brian Koser – 2018-09-26T02:14:51.943

I have used vimium.
By installing its extension in chrome, you will be able to click any links on the page with shortcut f
For more information, you can refer to https://vimium.github.io/

Yu Huang

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 141

You should include all relevant information in your answer. – Ramhound – 2016-11-28T18:15:29.743

I don't get your point. What do you mean all relevant information? I just suggest to install one extension of Chrome. Once you install the vimium, you will know how to use it. – Yu Huang – 2016-11-29T15:49:30.017

Its possible I was replying to the wrong answer, when I submitted that comment, we expect more out of extension recomendations other then "here use this ... instead ". Question was answered 5 years ago, so new answers after all this time, are held to a higher standard. – Ramhound – 2016-11-29T18:28:12.797

Here's a simple, easy to use chrome extension that solves this exact problem:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grep-click-type-button-te/ciokdkmjfdaidmcjmdmpjedgdflbfhng?hl=en-US&gl=CA

It's basically a control-f enhancement that lets you search for text of clickable elements on the page, cycle through results, and click on things.

Mark Hamilton

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 1

Why not use an extension to solve your problem? Try Keyboard Navigation; it should do what you want without any problems.

alex

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 16 172

A bit slow, but seems to work. – Ram Rachum – 2010-08-02T14:37:01.960

nsolent's answer works for links that have an href attribute, but not for links that don't. The Save button on Delicious's bookmarklet, for example, has no href attribute, and Chrome does not move the focus to it with Cmd+F, s a v e, Esc.

How can I move the focus using Chrome's Find to clickable elements that don't have an href attribute?

Matt McClure

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 283

I have tried Keyboard Navigation but it's pretty bad.

Eventually, I found a plugin that works for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It's quite good. Its also scriptable-- you can add custom selectors to pages you access often.

gleeBox

http://thegleebox.com/manual.html

What works well for links (No plugin, on a Mac running Chrome): Command + F, highlight the text in the page, then hit escape then enter.

Nick Woodhams

Posted 2010-07-31T19:33:54.147

Reputation: 201