In the latest release of the Google App that brought search, recently used apps, and a vertical layout to the app drawer of the Google Now Launcher, Google included a handy trick to make searching through your apps easier. With a simple long press on the app drawer button, the app drawer will open and immediately jump to the search bar and launch the keyboard to help you perform a search.
You can see it in action in the GIF below, but you get the idea here.
Something as simple as a 1-second long press gets you quickly into typing out the name of an app rather than having to scroll what could be a couple of hundred apps. Sure, the new app drawer also has quick scrolling by letter, but typing lets you avoid trying to find that and scroll to the proper spot.
Give it a shot.
Via: Android Police