Ask from your browser’s address bar

Add Inkling to your browser as a search engine and ask straight from the address bar, or link to a question with an ordinary web address.

Before you start#

Asking needs a free account. If you aren’t signed in, Inkling keeps your question in that tab while you sign in or create an account, and asks it once you’re signed in there.

Inkling tells browsers that it offers search, under the name “Inkling”, described as “Ask anything, get a cited answer.” Browsers that support this can add it as a search engine.

Add Inkling as a search engine#

Browsers word these settings differently, so look for the part of your browser’s settings that manages search engines; searching the settings for “search engine” usually finds it.

1. Open Inkling once in the browser, so it can see that Inkling offers search.
2. In the browser’s search engine settings, look for Inkling among the sites it has found. If it is there, turn it on or give it a shortcut.
3. If it isn’t, add a search engine yourself:
   • the name: Inkling
   • the shortcut, which some browsers call a keyword or alias: a short word of your own, such as ink
   • the address: copy the address of Inkling’s home page from the address bar, then add search?q=%s to the end
4. To ask, type the shortcut and a space in the address bar, then your question, and press Enter. If you make Inkling your default search engine, type the question on its own.

Some browsers don’t let you add a search engine of your own. The links below work in any browser, and you can bookmark them.

Link straight to a question#

Put search?q= and your question on the end of the address of Inkling’s home page, and that address opens Inkling and asks the question. Write spaces as + or %20, as in search?q=your+question. For example: ask “How do leap seconds work?”.

To choose a depth, add it to the end:

Write the depth in lower case. Anything Inkling doesn’t recognise is asked at Quick, never at a deeper depth.

What you’ll see#

• Signed in, a new discussion opens and Inkling starts answering, as if you had typed the question into the ask box.
• Signed out, you see “Sign in to ask a question. Your question has been kept.” Sign in in the same tab and the question is asked.
• An address with no question in it opens the home page.

Limits#

Each link is an ordinary question and counts like one:

Good to know#

• Every link opens a new discussion, even for a question you have asked before. Find them under Discussions.
• If a link asks at Pro or Research and you have none left, you get the same choices as when you ask from the box, including answering at Quick instead. See Allowances, resets and refunds.
• Your question is part of the address, so your browser may keep it in its history like any other page you open.