Docs
Docs /Tabs & Organization /Command palette
Tabs & OrganizationNavigation

Command palette

One search box for tabs, tables, and app actions. Open it with ⌘K, type a few letters, press Enter. Use it to jump to a tab you can't see, or to reach a table without expanding the tree.

⌘K
Search Search tables, datasets, tabs, and actions...
Empty query: the five primary actions and every open tab. Type to search everything else.

Opening it

K (CtrlK on Windows and Linux) works anywhere in the app. Inside the SQL editor F1 opens the same palette — it replaces the editor’s built-in command list. The magnifier icon in the top bar opens it too, and so does the sidebar search box while the schema tree is hidden.

KeyAction
Move through results
EnterRun the action, switch to the tab, or open a table’s action list
EscClose — or step back from a table’s action list to the search

What it searches

Results are grouped into three sections. Matching is fuzzy.

  • Actions lists app commands (see Every action it offers). It is always shown; the empty query shows the five primary ones.
  • Workspace lists open tabs by name. Split groups appear as one entry. Always shown.
  • Database lists tables, views, datasets and routines from the schema tree, as project.dataset.table, with the friendly name and description underneath. It shows the first 20 matches and appears once you type.

Workspace and Database search covers what is loaded — a project whose datasets you never expanded won’t have its tables in the list yet.

Every action it offers

ActionShortcut
New queryE
New SQL notebookE
Duplicate current query
Rename query
Close tabW
Query historyH
Usage statistics
Import data
CompareC
Format SQLF
Copy results as image
Open settings
Manage shared queries
Toggle left sidebar
Toggle results panel
Open documentation
Report an issue
Generate queries
Open Google Sheet
Create New Google Sheet

Actions that need something to act on — Duplicate current query, Format SQL, Copy results as image — do nothing when the active tab isn’t a query tab or has no results. Keywords also match: csv and upload find Import data, screenshot finds Copy results as image.

Acting on a table result

Choosing a Database result doesn’t open the table straight away. The palette switches to a short list of things to do with it:

⌘K → dim_vehicle → Enter
  • Open Details — the entity tab with schema, preview and storage. See Table information.
  • Copy ID — the fully qualified name to the clipboard.
  • SELECT * — a new query tab with SELECT * FROM `project.dataset.table` . Tables and views only.
  • Refresh — for a dataset or project result, reload its children from BigQuery.

Esc returns to the search with your query intact.