14 DAY TRIAL // It took 15 years, but it's finally possible, your Google search preferences carry with you from browser to browser, from device to device. Well, actually, they can carry with you, but you have to "enable" the feature. Still, the simple fact that it's available is revolutionary. That it took so many years is baffling.
Until now, search preferences, such as result filtering, Google Instant predictions and so on and so forth, were saved locally in a cooky.
It meant they were available to one browser and one browser only. This made it a hassle to have the same preferences wherever you were, which is why most people didn't even bother.
"You asked, we listened—having the ability to save search settings in a way that provides a more consistent search experience was one of the top requests we heard from our users," Google wrote on Google+.
"Now you can save your search settings, such as your language preference or having Google Instant on or off, to your Google Account, enabling you to search with your preferences wherever you're logged in, even if you're searching across different browsers or computers," it announced.
Obviously, the feature only works when you are logged in, the data needs to be saved in the cloud and needs to be associated with an account. But that's not going to be a problem in most cases, unless you're skittish about entering your credentials on a computer you don't know.
In any case, if you are logged in and access the Search Settings page, the preferences will be saved in the cloud rather than locally. The preferences will then be synced to all of the browsers you use. Of course, there are people who want to have different settings on different devices, but it seems the only option in this case is to stay logged out.