I've tried looking this up, in youtube videos I've seen people use a search box at the bottom of the screen to type in the name of an object in order to find it without digging through the entire list. I'm sure I've had this working myself but I cannot recall how? Is there a search key or button?

O (letter) toggles display of the options, next and search box - is it that?

Search box sounds right. I'll try that later after work.

No still no search box

Do you mean this?

I think that's the one, didn't know it appeared outside of create mode.

The other thing I found with NEI is that if the inventory box is unusually tall then the search vanishes off the bottom of the screem if you're running windowed. Making the window taller makes the search box show. (And yes, it appears in all 3 modes, cheat, recipe and utility).

(edit -> cheat, not cheap... d'oh)

It disappears when you play large and on auto

I stretched the window and there it was.

Thanks.