Palette
The palette switch, its hotkey and rows, and Actions for This, which you reach by holding the hotkey.
The palette is the search box you open from any app. This area sets its hotkey, what it lists, and Actions for This.
What's here #
Use the Palette: the switch for the whole area. Off, Switchboard stops listening for the palette keys and the palette has no menu item. Your macros and their own hotkeys keep working.
Palette hotkey: the key that opens it. Option Space is the usual one.
Hold the hotkey to act on the selection: a tap searches. A hold, with something selected or a file in Finder, shows the actions for that instead. On by default.
Rows: Also show has one checkbox per kind of built-in row, such as installed apps. Turn a kind off and the palette stops asking for it.
Learn from my picks: the row you choose for a typed word comes first next time. Only the word and your choice are kept, on this Mac.
Fallback searches set what a search does when nothing matches.
Actions for This: shows the macros that fit whatever you are on (selected text, a Finder file, a browser tab, a Mail message, what is under the pointer). Hold the palette hotkey to open it. Extra key is optional: record a key of its own if you want one, and hold Shift with it to use the clipboard when nothing else is found. A new install has no extra key.
Your types: how many types of your own you have, and Show in Library, which opens them in the main window under Thing Types in the sidebar.
Tricks #
If a selection holds several things, Tab steps through them in Actions for This.
A type for a ticket number such as ABC-12 can open its page with Open link.
Press Command-Delete on a learned row to forget that one pick.
After a hold opens the actions, Delete on the empty field goes back to plain search.
How long counts as a hold is set under Settings › Advanced.