Master Shopify Admin Search: Hidden Syntax & Shortcuts

One of the most powerful, yet often overlooked, features in the Shopify Admin is the global search bar. While many merchants and developers use it for basic product lookups, few utilize its full capability to streamline their workflow.

As a Shopify expert, clients often ask me where to find specific settings or items. Instead of memorizing complex navigation paths—like going to Settings > Shipping and Delivery > Manage Rates—there is a much faster, zero-memorization method available right at the top of your dashboard.

In this tutorial, we will cover how to use the standard search features and, more importantly, how to leverage Shopify's Search API syntax to perform granular queries.

The Power of the Global Search Bar

At first glance, it looks like a standard search input. However, this tool effectively indexes your entire Shopify site. It is not limited to just products; you can search for:

• Products & Collections
• Customers
• Apps & Sales Channels
• Discount Codes
• Deep Site Settings

Use Case: Finding Buried Settings

A common scenario is setting up Google Analytics. If you cannot remember where the tracking code input is located, simply type "Google Analytics" into the search bar.

Shopify will return:

1. Resources: Support articles on how to work with Google Analytics.
2. Admin Links: Direct links to Online Store > Preferences where the setting actually lives.

This completely eliminates the need to click through multiple menu layers to find a single input field.

Advanced Techniques: Using Search API Syntax

Here is where the tool becomes invaluable for developers and power users. You can use Shopify's search syntax directly in the admin bar to filter results with logic similar to the Shopify API.

This is particularly useful for order management when you need to isolate specific subsets of data that standard tabs might not display clearly.

Example: Filtering Orders with Boolean Logic

Let’s say you want to view a list of orders that are Unfulfilled but you want to exclude any orders that have already been Partially Refunded.

If you simply search for unfulfilled orders, you will get a mix of paid and partially refunded tickets. To get granular, we can use search filters combined with Boolean operators (AND, NOT).

Step 1: Filter by Fulfillment Status Start by defining the status you are looking for:

fulfillment_status:unfulfilled

Step 2: Exclude Specific Financial Statuses To remove the partially refunded orders from this view, append the AND NOT logic combined with the financial status identifier:

fulfillment_status:unfulfilled AND NOT financial_status:partially_refunded

By executing this query, the search results will strictly display unfulfilled orders that do not match the refunded criteria.

Summary

The sky is the limit regarding what you can query using these identifiers. You can mix and match filters for products, customers, and orders to create highly specific views without exporting data to a spreadsheet.

I highly recommend checking the official Shopify Search Syntax documentation to see the full list of available properties. Play around with different combinations to see how much time you can save in your daily administration tasks.