search only goes through top level items
When searching for requests, it only checks the items at root level. If you have a few collections at root level with some requests inside of them, the search will only show name matches of the collections, but not the requests/collection items within those root level collections.
Just checked the search code and I was wrong in my assumptions: The search function just looks for collections at root level. It does not look for requests at all.
Being able to search for both, requests and collections would be the best IMO.
Since the SIdebar is built very hierarchical, rendering collections, which in turn render requests, it's not possible to include requests in the current search approach.
The easiest solution (with the least refactoring) would be to add a search results component. When something is entered in the search field, the current collections component is hidden and the search results component is rendered. And vice versa.
Another way of improving this is to add a "expand all collections" functionality in the explorer. If everything is expanded one can simply use the browsers search functionality. I'll tackle this if I find time for it.
I think the search through all collections is better than expanding all. Search should open the collections that have a hit.