Maintaining a plurality of search contexts and selecting one of the search contexts based on graphical properties of a user interface. Each of the search contexts is provided by and corresponds to one of a plurality of executing application programs. Responsive to an event, one of the search contexts is selected. In some embodiments, the search context provided by the application program having a window displayed in the foreground of the user interface is selected. Search results based on the selected search context are obtained and provided to the user.