Global Search: Find Spotto Pages and Cloud Data
Overview
Global Search helps you move through the Spotto Portal without manually opening navigation menus, filters, or detail pages first.
Press Ctrl+K from the Portal to search across pages, companies, and subscriptions. On supported pages, Global Search can also include resources and recommendations from the current page context. Search understands common terms and aliases, so you can use the words your team naturally uses instead of needing the exact page name, Azure type name, or recommendation label.
Feature overview
Use Global Search when you know what you want to inspect, but not exactly where it lives in the Portal.
It can find:
- Portal pages and feature areas
- Companies you can access
- Subscriptions and subscription details
- Azure resources from supported resource views
- Recommendations from supported recommendation views
- Contextual resources and recommendations related to the page you are currently viewing
Search results are scoped to what you are allowed to access in Spotto. If you cannot access a company, subscription, resource, or recommendation elsewhere in the Portal, Global Search does not expose it.
Why use this? (Jobs, pains, gains)
Jobs to be done
- When I need to jump to a feature, I want to search by page name or common term, so I do not need to remember where it sits in the navigation.
- When I am switching customer context, I want to find the right company or subscription quickly, so I can keep the investigation moving.
- When I am on a supported resource view and know a resource name, ID, tag, service, or location, I want to find the matching resource directly, so I do not need to rebuild the same filters every time.
- When I am already on a page, I want related resources and recommendations surfaced from that context, so I can follow the next useful lead.
Common pains this fixes
- Portal navigation is slower than search when you already know the thing you need.
- Azure resource identifiers, service names, resource groups, and tag values are often easier to remember than the exact screen or filter.
- Different teams use different names for the same concept, such as "VM", "virtual machine", or "compute".
- Recommendation wording changes depending on audience, but users still expect old or alternate labels to work.
What you gain
- Faster page jumps from anywhere in the Portal.
- Quicker customer and subscription switching.
- Direct access to supported current-page resources and recommendations using operational terms you already know.
- Better investigation flow from the current page into related resources and recommendations.
Key capabilities
Search from anywhere with Ctrl+K
Press Ctrl+K to open Global Search. Start typing a page, company, subscription, or supported current-page resource or recommendation term, then select the result you want to open.
Global Search is designed for short, natural queries. You can search for exact names, partial names, IDs, aliases, or common terms.
Find pages by names, aliases, and common terms
You do not need to remember the exact Portal navigation label.
For example, searches can match feature names and common ways people refer to them, such as cost analysis, Cost Tree, recommendations, resources, security, governance, tickets, or cloud accounts.
Search companies and subscriptions
Global Search can find companies and subscriptions that are available in your current Spotto access scope.
Subscription matching can use subscription names, identifiers, and subscription details, which makes it useful when moving between customers, billing scopes, or investigation views.
Search resources with cloud-aware fields
On supported resource views, current-page resource search covers the fields people commonly have at hand during an investigation.
You can search by:
- Resource names and IDs
- Resource types and Azure type aliases
- Service names
- Resource groups
- Locations
- Subscription details
- Azure tags
- Spotto tags
This helps when you are already working in resource context and a ticket, alert, invoice line, or engineer gives you only one fragment of the resource details.
Find recommendations in the right language
On supported recommendation views, recommendation results follow the current Business / Technical Toggle mode when showing labels.
Alternate labels remain searchable. That means a recommendation can still be found even when the visible label has changed for the current audience or when someone searches using a technical, provider-style, or business-friendly name.
Use composed searches
Global Search supports composed searches when you know both the context and the destination.
For example:
- Search for a company name plus a page name to jump into that page in the right company context.
- Search for a subscription plus Cost Tree to open spend analysis for that subscription.
Composed searches are useful when you are moving from a customer conversation, ticket, or internal note directly into the relevant Portal workflow.
Follow current-page context
When you open Global Search from some Portal pages, results can include resources and recommendations related to the page you are already viewing.
This is useful when you are triaging a recommendation, reviewing a resource, or investigating a cost/security view and want to follow nearby evidence without rebuilding the context manually.
Technical reference
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| Shortcut | Press Ctrl+K inside the Spotto Portal. |
| Result types | Pages, companies, subscriptions, and contextual resource or recommendation results from supported current-page views. |
| Matching | Names, partial terms, IDs, aliases, common terms, and, on supported current-page views, resource metadata, tags, Spotto tags, and recommendation alternate labels. |
| Composed searches | Supports queries that combine context and destination, such as company + page or subscription + Cost Tree. |
| Access control | Results are limited to the companies, subscriptions, and supported current-page resources or recommendations your Spotto role can access. |
How it works (high level)
- You press Ctrl+K and enter a query.
- Spotto matches the query against searchable Portal destinations and your authorized cloud operations data.
- Search expands common terms and aliases where they are supported.
- If the current page provides context, Spotto can include relevant resources and recommendations from that context.
- You select a result and Spotto opens the matching page, company, subscription, or supported current-page resource or recommendation.
Troubleshooting
I cannot find a resource I expected
What you're seeing: A resource does not appear in Global Search.
Likely causes:
- You are not on a supported page that contributes resource results to Global Search.
- The resource is outside your current company or subscription access.
- The resource has not synced into Spotto yet.
- The term you searched is not present on the resource name, ID, type, service, resource group, location, subscription details, tags, or Spotto tags. How to fix:
- Confirm you are in the correct company and have access to the subscription.
- Search by another known field, such as resource ID, resource group, service name, location, or tag.
- If the resource still does not appear, confirm the cloud account has synced recently.
A recommendation appears under a different label
What you're seeing: The recommendation result label differs from the term you searched.
Likely cause: Recommendation labels follow the current Business or Technical mode, while alternate labels remain searchable.
How to fix:
- Open the result and use the Business / Technical Toggle if you need the other view.
- Continue searching with either the business-friendly label, technical label, or provider-style wording.
Ctrl+K does not open search
What you're seeing: Pressing Ctrl+K does not open Global Search.
Likely causes:
- Your browser, operating system, or an extension intercepted the shortcut.
- Focus is inside a control that handles keyboard shortcuts differently. How to fix:
- Click into the main Portal window and try Ctrl+K again.
- Check whether another browser extension or system shortcut is using Ctrl+K.
- If the issue persists, use the Portal navigation and contact support with your browser name and a screenshot.
Looking to enhance your cloud setup for cost efficiency, performance, reliability, or security?
Talk to a cloud specialist. Email us or schedule a 30-minute consultation and let's optimize your cloud environment together.
Book a Free Consultation