Fully agree! If a folder is twirtled open in the Effects window, then it should also remain open after doing a search and clearing the search term. For example, if I search for the 'Fill Right' effect, which I don't use often enough to include in my 'Most Used' custom bin of effects, when I clear the 'Fill Right' text from the search field, it would be helpful to have my 'Most Used' bin remain open as it was before I did the search.

I'd love to see Adobe focus on the small optimizations that, although small individually, add up to make a huge difference in productivity!

@TaranVH

I think I saw that in some guy's 4-hour tutorial. I tried AHK twice but it turned into too much programming for me, and I better figure out ways to optimize Premiere without third party software first. This is one of of those ways, and I'm sure you use less commonly effects sometimes too and would like to be able to not have to enter them in the search bar before being able to apply them (and without opening any folders first). So you must have this problem at least once in a while, don't you?

I never have this problem, because I have all my most commonly used effects and presets bound to physical buttons, which applies them instantly to whatever clips I have selected.

The code is free, so you can also do this, but it requires some knowledge of scripting and AHK. https://github.com/TaranVH/2nd-keyboard/blob/664d299023cc2a6d4e213aba5f93b03ef2edf4dd/All%20Premiere%20Functions.ahk#L213

Instead of messing with all that, it'd be better for everyone to just have the feature in Premiere. Vote for this:
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/33844213-keyboard-shortcut-for-effects-presets-pleeeeease

Yes on this I totally agree. Remember my last state!

I think it's generally a good idea for the entire GUI to be sticky, only changing with user intervention.