When pressing the down arrow in the search bar, select the first item

[fiso64]

Small QOL improvement: When pressing 'down' while the search bar is active, the first item in the main view should be selected. In many applications (such as browsers) when searching, the results are displayed as a dropdown and can be selected using the down arrow immediately after typing. Musicbee doesn't display a dropdown of the results when searching like a browser does, but something similar can be achieved by always selecting the first or highlighted entry in the first element of the main panel (this will usually be the 'files' element).

Examples:
- In my library view I have configured it to display album thumbnails. When I search for something with the search bar and press down, the first album should be selected among the results.
- The playlist view allows searching for playlists in the sidebar. If you type a few letters a search bar will pop up and a matching playlist will be highlighted. When pressing down, the currently highlighted playlist should be selected.
- In the music explorer view, after finding an artist with the search bar and pressing down, it should select the first album.

It's already possible to select the first item in the main panel by cycling through the panels using tab/shift-tab, however this will depend on the layout, often requiring pressing tab multiple times. Because of this it's not always predictable, which is why I rarely use it.

[Zak]

You can press Tab or Shift+Tab to move focus forward or backwards through screen elements respectively, including the track list.

The order will depend on which screen elements you have displayed.
I have to press Shift+Tab twice because it will move focus via the Playing Tracks list first.

[fiso64]

You can press Tab or Shift+Tab to move focus forward or backwards through screen elements respectively, including the track list.

I have already addressed this in my post. Like you say, the number of times you have to press it will depend on the layout, and that's precisely the problem that makes it slow to use. I have multiple tabs with different layouts, so sometimes I have to press it once, sometimes twice or thrice. When you want to quickly search for and play a track using the keyboard that's not ideal.

[fiso64]

Perhaps it would be even better to add it as a configurable hotkey named "Focus main panel"

[Zak]

You can press Tab or Shift+Tab to move focus forward or backwards through screen elements respectively, including the track list.

I have already addressed this in my post.

So you did.  
I think I read your post on a small browser window and didn't see that at the bottom.

Perhaps it would be even better to add it as a configurable hotkey named "Focus main panel"

This would be a good general solution that could benefit other use cases besides searching.

Alternatively, there is already a hotkey for General: Goto Text Search Box which does nothing if the search box already has focus. Perhaps that shortcut could be updated to toggle between focusing the text box and the track list.

[Steven]

I have implemented Zak's suggestion for the next v3.6 update

[fiso64]

Thank you!

[fiso64]

I have updated to the latest build. It works in some places, but not in others. In "Now Playing", pressing the Goto Text Search Box hotkey while the search bar is focused focuses the navigator in my left sidebar. And in music explorer, I don't know what is focused, but it's not the main panel.