diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolBox.test.js b/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolBox.test.js
deleted file mode 100644
index dff0b65a812..00000000000
--- a/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolBox.test.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-import MockAdapter from "axios-mock-adapter";
-import axios from "axios";
-import { filterToolSections, filterTools } from "../utilities";
-
-describe("ToolBox", () => {
-    const toolsMock = [
-        {
-            model_class: "ToolSection",
-            id: "group_1",
-            name: "Group 1",
-            elems: [
-                {
-                    model_class: "Tool1",
-                    id: "tool1",
-                    name: "Tool 1",
-                    link: "/tool_runner?tool_id=tool1",
-                    panel_section_id: "group_1",
-                    panel_section_name: "Group 1",
-                },
-                {
-                    model_class: "Tool2",
-                    id: "tool2",
-                    name: "Tool 2",
-                    link: "/tool_runner?tool_id=tool2",
-                    panel_section_id: "group_1",
-                    panel_section_name: "Group 1",
-                },
-            ],
-        },
-        {
-            model_class: "ToolSection",
-            id: "group_2",
-            name: "Group 2",
-            elems: [
-                {
-                    model_class: "Tool3",
-                    id: "tool3",
-                    name: "Tool 3",
-                    link: "/tool_runner?tool_id=tool3",
-                    panel_section_id: "group_2",
-                    panel_section_name: "Group 2",
-                },
-            ],
-        },
-    ];
-    const resultsMock = ["tool1", "tool3"];
-
-    let axiosMock;
-
-    beforeEach(async () => {
-        axiosMock = new MockAdapter(axios);
-    });
-
-    it("test filter functions correctly matching: (1) Tools store array-of-objects with (2) Results array", async () => {
-        axiosMock
-            .onGet(`/api/tools`)
-            .replyOnce(200, toolsMock)
-            .onGet(/api\/tools?.*/)
-            .replyOnce(200, resultsMock);
-        const toolsResults = filterTools(toolsMock, resultsMock);
-        const toolsResultsSection = filterToolSections(toolsMock, resultsMock);
-        expect(toolsResults.length).toBe(2);
-        expect(toolsResultsSection.length).toBe(2);
-    });
-});
diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolSearch.vue b/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolSearch.vue
index b5cf4b632f2..dd2a5303020 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolSearch.vue
+++ b/client/src/components/Panels/Common/ToolSearch.vue
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
                 size="sm"
                 :placeholder="`any ${sectionLabel}`"
                 list="sectionSelect" />
-            <b-form-datalist id="sectionSelect" :options="sections"></b-form-datalist>
+            <b-form-datalist id="sectionSelect" :options="sectionNames"></b-form-datalist>
             <small class="mt-1">Filter by id:</small>
             <b-form-input v-model="filterSettings['id']" size="sm" placeholder="any id" />
             <small class="mt-1">Filter by help text:</small>
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 <script>
 import { getGalaxyInstance } from "app";
 import DelayedInput from "components/Common/DelayedInput";
-import { searchToolsByKeys } from "../utilities.js";
+import { normalizeTools, searchToolsByKeys } from "../utilities.js";
 
 export default {
     name: "ToolSearch",
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ export default {
             const Galaxy = getGalaxyInstance();
             return Galaxy.user.getFavorites().tools;
         },
-        sections() {
+        sectionNames() {
             return this.toolbox.map((section) =>
                 section.name !== undefined && section.name !== "Uncategorized" ? section.name : ""
             );
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ export default {
         sectionLabel() {
             return this.currentPanelView === "default" ? "section" : "ontology";
         },
+        toolsList() {
+            return normalizeTools(this.toolbox);
+        },
     },
     methods: {
         checkQuery(q) {
@@ -105,8 +108,9 @@ export default {
                 if (this.favorites.includes(q)) {
                     this.$emit("onResults", this.favoritesResults);
                 } else {
-                    const keys = ["name", "description"];
-                    this.$emit("onResults", searchToolsByKeys(this.toolbox, keys, q));
+                    // keys with sorting order
+                    const keys = { exact: 2, name: 1, description: 0 };
+                    this.$emit("onResults", searchToolsByKeys(this.toolsList, keys, q));
                 }
             } else {
                 this.$emit("onResults", null);
diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/ToolBox.test.js b/client/src/components/Panels/ToolBox.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b23a76e90dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/components/Panels/ToolBox.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+import Vuex from "vuex";
+import { mount } from "@vue/test-utils";
+import { getLocalVue } from "jest/helpers";
+import MockAdapter from "axios-mock-adapter";
+import axios from "axios";
+import { filterToolSections, filterTools } from "./utilities";
+import ToolBox from "./ToolBox";
+import toolsList from "./testToolsList";
+import { userStore } from "store/userStore";
+import { useConfig } from "composables/config";
+
+jest.mock("composables/config");
+useConfig.mockReturnValue({
+    config: {
+        toolbox_auto_sort: true,
+    },
+    isLoaded: true,
+});
+
+const localVue = getLocalVue();
+
+describe("ToolBox", () => {
+    const toolsMock = toolsList;
+    const resultsMock = ["join1", "join_collections", "find1"];
+    let axiosMock;
+
+    const searches = {
+        join: ["join1", "join_collections", "find1"],
+        find: ["find1"],
+        remove: ["remove1", "remove_duplicate"],
+        fi: null,
+    };
+
+    let wrapper;
+    let store;
+    let state;
+
+    beforeEach(async () => {
+        axiosMock = new MockAdapter(axios);
+
+        store = new Vuex.Store({
+            modules: {
+                user: {
+                    state,
+                    actions: {
+                        loadUser: jest.fn(),
+                    },
+                    getters: userStore.getters,
+                    namespaced: true,
+                },
+            },
+        });
+
+        wrapper = mount(ToolBox, {
+            propsData: {
+                toolbox: toolsList,
+                currentPanelView: "default",
+                storedWorkflowMenuEntries: [],
+            },
+            store,
+            localVue,
+            stubs: {
+                icon: { template: "<div></div>" },
+            },
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("test filter functions correctly matching: (1) Tools store array-of-objects with (2) Results array", async () => {
+        axiosMock
+            .onGet(`/api/tools`)
+            .replyOnce(200, toolsMock)
+            .onGet(/api\/tools?.*/)
+            .replyOnce(200, resultsMock);
+        const toolsResults = filterTools(toolsMock, resultsMock);
+        const toolsResultsSection = filterToolSections(toolsMock, resultsMock);
+        expect(toolsResults.length).toBe(3);
+        expect(toolsResultsSection.length).toBe(2);
+    });
+
+    it("test toolbox client search", async () => {
+        for (const [query, results] of Object.entries(searches)) {
+            await wrapper.setData({ query: query });
+            expect(wrapper.vm.results).toEqual(results);
+        }
+    });
+});
diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/testToolsList.json b/client/src/components/Panels/testToolsList.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c5a3f965240
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/components/Panels/testToolsList.json
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+[
+    {
+        "model_class": "ToolSection",
+        "id": "group_1",
+        "name": "Group 1",
+        "elems": [
+            {
+                "model_class": "Tool",
+                "name": "Join",
+                "id": "join1",
+                "description": "two files",
+                "panel_section_id": "group_1",
+                "panel_section_name": "Group 1"
+            },
+            {
+                "model_class": "Tool",
+                "name": "Remove",
+                "id": "remove1",
+                "description": "lines",
+                "panel_section_id": "group_1",
+                "panel_section_name": "Group 1"
+            },
+            {
+                "model_class": "Tool",
+                "name": "Cut",
+                "id": "cut1",
+                "description": "lines",
+                "panel_section_id": "group_1",
+                "panel_section_name": "Group 1"
+            },
+            {
+                "model_class": "Tool",
+                "name": "Find",
+                "id": "find1",
+                "description": "joined dataset",
+                "panel_section_id": "group_1",
+                "panel_section_name": "Group 1"
+            }
+        ]
+    },
+    {
+        "model_class": "ToolSection",
+        "id": "group_2",
+        "name": "Group 2",
+        "elems": [
+            {
+                "model_class": "Tool",
+                "name": "Join Collections",
+                "id": "join_collections",
+                "description": "",
+                "panel_section_id": "group_2",
+                "panel_section_name": "Group 2"
+            },
+            {
+                "model_class": "Tool",
+                "name": "Create Collections",
+                "id": "create_collections",
+                "description": "from datasets",
+                "panel_section_id": "group_2",
+                "panel_section_name": "Group 2"
+            }
+        ]
+    },
+    {
+        "model_class": "Tool",
+        "name": "Remove duplicate",
+        "id": "remove_duplicate",
+        "description": "lines from dataset",
+        "panel_section_id": "remove_duplicate",
+        "panel_section_name": "Remove duplicate"
+    }
+]
diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.js b/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.js
index ccb7c7c7c69..8431e0828c1 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.js
+++ b/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.js
@@ -1,11 +1,21 @@
+/**
+ * Utilities file for Tool Search (panel/client search + advanced/backend search)
+ */
 import { orderBy } from "lodash";
 
 const TOOLS_RESULTS_SORT_LABEL = "apiSort";
 const TOOLS_RESULTS_SECTIONS_HIDE = ["Expression Tools"];
 
+// - Takes filterSettings = {"name": "Tool Name", "section": "Collection", ...}
+// - Takes panelView (if not 'default', does ontology search at backend)
+// - Takes toolbox (to find ontology id if given ontology name)
+// - Returns parsed Whoosh query
+// e.g. fn call: createWhooshQuery(filterSettings, 'ontology:edam_topics', toolbox)
+// can return:
+//     query = "(name:(skew) name_exact:(skew) description:(skew)) AND (edam_topics:(topic_0797) AND )"
 export function createWhooshQuery(filterSettings, panelView, toolbox) {
     let query = "(";
-    // add description+name_exact fields = name, to do a combined AndGroup at backend
+    // add description+name_exact fields = name, to do a combined OrGroup at backend
     const name = filterSettings["name"];
     if (name) {
         query += "name:(" + name + ") ";
@@ -38,6 +48,7 @@ export function createWhooshQuery(filterSettings, panelView, toolbox) {
     return query;
 }
 
+// Given toolbox and search results, returns filtered tool results
 export function filterTools(tools, results) {
     let toolsResults = [];
     tools = normalizeTools(tools);
@@ -47,6 +58,7 @@ export function filterTools(tools, results) {
     return toolsResults;
 }
 
+// Given toolbox and search results, returns filtered tool results by sections
 export function filterToolSections(tools, results) {
     let toolsResults = [];
     let toolsResultsSection = [];
@@ -71,26 +83,27 @@ export function hasResults(results) {
     return Array.isArray(results) && results.length > 0;
 }
 
+// Given toolbox, keys to sort/search results by and a search query,
+// Returns tool ids sorted by order of keys that are being searched
 export function searchToolsByKeys(tools, keys, query) {
     const returnedTools = [];
-    for (const section of tools) {
-        if (section.elems) {
-            for (const tool of section.elems) {
-                for (const key of keys) {
-                    const actualValue = tool[key];
-                    if (actualValue && actualValue.toLowerCase().match(query.toLowerCase())) {
-                        returnedTools.push({ id: tool.id, key: key });
-                        break;
-                    }
-                }
+    for (const tool of tools) {
+        for (const key of Object.keys(keys)) {
+            const actualValue = tool[key] ? tool[key].toLowerCase() : "";
+            const queryLowerCase = query.toLowerCase();
+            if (actualValue.match(queryLowerCase)) {
+                // do we care for exact matches && is it an exact match ?
+                const order = keys.exact && actualValue === queryLowerCase ? keys.exact : keys[key];
+                returnedTools.push({ id: tool.id, order });
+                break;
             }
         }
     }
-    // sorting results by indexed order of key in keys
-    return orderBy(returnedTools, ["key"], ["desc"]).map((tool) => tool.id);
+    // sorting results by indexed order of keys
+    return orderBy(returnedTools, ["order"], ["desc"]).map((tool) => tool.id);
 }
 
-function normalizeTools(tools) {
+export function normalizeTools(tools) {
     tools = hideToolsSection(tools);
     tools = flattenTools(tools);
     return tools;
diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.test.js b/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.test.js
index 1d0bc6a15fe..eb6fdadad6f 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.test.js
+++ b/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.test.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import toolsList from "components/ToolsView/testData/toolsList";
-import { createWhooshQuery, filterTools, filterToolSections } from "./utilities";
+import { createWhooshQuery, filterTools, filterToolSections, normalizeTools, searchToolsByKeys } from "./utilities";
 
 describe("test helpers in tool searching utilities", () => {
     it("test parsing helper that converts settings to whoosh query", async () => {
@@ -16,6 +16,29 @@ describe("test helpers in tool searching utilities", () => {
         expect(q).toContain("id_exact:(__FILTER_FAILED_DATASETS__) AND help:(downstream)");
     });
 
+    it("test tool search helper that searches for tools given keys", async () => {
+        const q = "collection";
+        let expectedResults = [
+            "__FILTER_FAILED_DATASETS__",
+            "__FILTER_EMPTY_DATASETS__",
+            "__UNZIP_COLLECTION__",
+            "__ZIP_COLLECTION__",
+        ];
+        let keys = { description: 1, name: 0 };
+        let results = searchToolsByKeys(normalizeTools(toolsList), keys, q);
+        expect(results).toEqual(expectedResults);
+
+        expectedResults = [
+            "__UNZIP_COLLECTION__",
+            "__ZIP_COLLECTION__",
+            "__FILTER_FAILED_DATASETS__",
+            "__FILTER_EMPTY_DATASETS__",
+        ];
+        keys = { description: 0, name: 1 };
+        results = searchToolsByKeys(normalizeTools(toolsList), keys, q);
+        expect(results).toEqual(expectedResults);
+    });
+
     it("test tool filtering helpers on toolsList given list of ids", async () => {
         const ids = ["__FILTER_FAILED_DATASETS__", "liftOver1"];
         // check length of first section from imported const toolsList