The palette works as an address bar too. Type github.com and press Enter, or send a question to your search engine, without reaching for the top of the window.

Go to an address

Type a full address, or just a domain like example.com or github.com/foo. A row that starts with “Open” appears at the top. Enter opens it in this tab, and ⌘ Cmd Enter (Ctrl Enter on Windows and Linux) opens it in a new one. ⌥ Option Enter offers Open in New Tab, Copy URL and Copy as Markdown.

Local addresses work too, like localhost:3000 or 192.168.1.1.

Addresses that use lookalike letters are shown plainly, so a fake version of a site you know is easier to spot.

Vokto won’t mistake a version number like 1.2.3 or a file name like index.html for a website. Some endings double as file types, such as .md or .zip. For those, add a slash, as in brew.sh/, and Vokto opens the site.

Already open? Vokto takes you there

If the page you’re opening is already in a tab, Vokto switches to that tab and its window instead of opening a copy. This works for typed addresses, bookmarks, history, your Reading List and tabs from other devices. Addresses that differ only in the part after a # count as the same page. Private and regular windows are kept apart.

If it’s the page you’re already on, the palette just closes. Want a second copy anyway? Choose Open in New Tab from the ⌥ Option Enter menu.

Search the web

When fewer than three things in Vokto match what you typed, two rows appear below the results: one searches the web, the other searches your history. Anything that does match stays above them, so Enter still picks the real result.

Web searches go to your browser’s default search engine. Vokto doesn’t choose an engine or contact one itself.

You can also search the web from anywhere in the palette, even inside a prefix or a submenu. Press ⌃ Control Enter on a Mac, or Ctrl Enter on Windows and Linux. On Windows and Linux, that same key opens a new tab instead when the highlighted row is an address, a keyword search or a web search.