diff --git a/app/templates/editor/level/add_thangs.jade b/app/templates/editor/level/add_thangs.jade
index 09857d0ad..5b2419072 100644
--- a/app/templates/editor/level/add_thangs.jade
+++ b/app/templates/editor/level/add_thangs.jade
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 h3(data-i18n="editor.level_tab_thangs_add") Add Thangs
-input(type="text", id="thang-search")
+input(type="search", id="thang-search")
 #thangs-list
   for group in groups
     h4= group.name
diff --git a/app/views/editor/level/thangs_tab_view.coffee b/app/views/editor/level/thangs_tab_view.coffee
index 3e61df4f8..72f245a7f 100644
--- a/app/views/editor/level/thangs_tab_view.coffee
+++ b/app/views/editor/level/thangs_tab_view.coffee
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ componentOriginals =
   "physics.Physical"          : "524b75ad7fc0f6d519000001"
 
 class ThangTypeSearchCollection extends CocoCollection
-  url: '/db/thang.type/search?project=true'
+  url: '/db/thang.type/search?project=original,name,version,slug,kind,components'
   model: ThangType
 
 module.exports = class ThangsTabView extends View
diff --git a/server/commons/Handler.coffee b/server/commons/Handler.coffee
index 3435107cb..21249a039 100644
--- a/server/commons/Handler.coffee
+++ b/server/commons/Handler.coffee
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ async = require 'async'
 mongoose = require('mongoose')
 Grid = require 'gridfs-stream'
 errors = require './errors'
+log = require 'winston'
+
 PROJECT = {original:1, name:1, version:1, description: 1, slug:1, kind: 1}
 FETCH_LIMIT = 150
 
@@ -99,6 +101,17 @@ module.exports = class Handler
     filters = [{filter: {index: true}}]
     if @modelClass.schema.uses_coco_permissions and req.user
       filters.push {filter: {index: req.user.get('id')}}
+    projection = null
+    if req.query.project is 'true'
+      projection = PROJECT
+    else if req.query.project
+      if @modelClass.className is 'User'
+        projection = PROJECTION
+        log.warn "Whoa, we haven't yet thought about public properties for User projection yet."
+      else
+        projection = {}
+        for field in req.query.project.split(',')
+          projection[field] = 1
     for filter in filters
       callback = (err, results) =>
         return @sendDatabaseError(res, err) if err
@@ -111,11 +124,11 @@ module.exports = class Handler
           res.send matchedObjects
           res.end()
       if term
-        filter.project = PROJECT if req.query.project
+        filter.project = projection
         @modelClass.textSearch term, filter, callback
       else
         args = [filter.filter]
-        args.push PROJECT if req.query.project
+        args.push projection if projection
         @modelClass.find(args...).limit(FETCH_LIMIT).exec callback
 
   versions: (req, res, id) ->