Introducing Block Tools (Search & Inspect Blocks) – A Must-Have Extension for MIT App Inventor Users
Are you tired of scrolling endlessly through hundreds/thousands of blocks trying to find the one you need or any variable which you forgot to delete which is not in use?
We built something to fix that. 
>🧩 WHAT IS BLOCK TOOLS EXTENSION?
Block Tools is a browser extension for MIT App Inventor that adds a
powerful search panel directly inside the Blocks editor.
Just type a keyword — the matching blocks instantly highlight (in default Ctrl+F method does not work for inside blocks) on the canvas and the workspace automatically scrolls and flashes to show you exactly where they are. No more hunting. No more frustration.
>✨ FEATURES
Live search as you type
Search by component name (e.g. Button1, Label2)
Search by event name (e.g. Click, TextChanged)
Search by block type (e.g. if, set, call, math)
Search by variable name
Multi-word search to narrow results
Example: typing "set label text" shows only blocks matching all three words
All matches highlighted in the canvas
Active match highlighted in gold with a bright flash effect
Workspace auto-scrolls to bring the found block into view
Navigate between matches with Next / Previous buttons
Draggable search panel — move it anywhere on screen
Works across all your screens and components
>⌨️ KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Ctrl + Shift + F → Open / Close the search panel
Enter → Jump to next match
Shift + Enter → Jump to previous match
Esc → Close panel and clear highlights
>🌐 SUPPORTED BROWSERS
Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Brave Browser
Opera
Mozilla Firefox (will be available soon)
One single extension file works across all supported browsers.
No separate versions needed!
>📦 HOW TO INSTALL
Step 1 — Download this extension zip file Blocks Editor Tools - Google Drive
Step 2 — Extract (unzip) the folder on your computer.
Step 3 — Open your browser's extensions page:
Chrome / Brave → chrome://extensions
Edge → edge://extensions
Opera → opera://extensions
Firefox → about:debugging → This Firefox
Step 4 — Enable Developer Mode (toggle in the top-right corner).
(Firefox: skip this step)
Step 5 — Click "Load Unpacked" and select the extracted folder.
(Firefox: click "Load Temporary Add-on" and select manifest.json)
Step 6 — Open MIT App Inventor (ai2.appinventor.mit.edu),
go to the Blocks tab, and you're ready to go! 
>🚀 HOW TO USE
- Open your project in MIT App Inventor.
- Switch to the Blocks editor.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + F OR click the " Search Blocks" button
that appears in the top-right corner of the page. - Type your search keyword in the panel.
- All matching blocks will glow blue on the canvas.
- Press Enter to jump to the next match — it flashes gold so you
can't miss it! - Press Esc or click ✕ to close the panel and clear highlights.
SEARCH TIPS:
→ Type "Button1" to find all blocks related to Button1
→ Type "Click" to find all Click event handlers
→ Type "set" to find all setter blocks
→ Type "if" to find all conditional blocks
→ Type "set label" to find setter blocks for any Label component
→ Type "set label text" to narrow down to exactly that block
INSPECTION: With this you can find all the variables not in use for deletion, and other things.
FREE TRIAL
Every user gets a 2-day FREE TRIAL automatically — no sign-up needed.
Just install and start using it right away.
After the trial period, contact the developer to activate your lifetime license
and continue using Block Tools Extension.
PRIVACY POLICY: This extension will take your builder email address for free trial & lifetime licensing purpose.
>Price: $7 INR 500
We'd love to hear your feedback! Drop a reply below and let us know
how Block Tools has helped your App Inventor workflow.
Regards- Bharat Technologies