diff --git a/ui/app/mixins/list-controller.js b/ui/app/mixins/list-controller.js
index 423b42a12e21..dbe234cf5e13 100644
--- a/ui/app/mixins/list-controller.js
+++ b/ui/app/mixins/list-controller.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { computed } from '@ember/object';
 import Mixin from '@ember/object/mixin';
 import escapeStringRegexp from 'escape-string-regexp';
+import commonPrefix from 'vault/utils/common-prefix';
 
 export default Mixin.create({
   queryParams: {
@@ -16,21 +17,27 @@ export default Mixin.create({
   isLoading: false,
 
   filterMatchesKey: computed('filter', 'model', 'model.[]', function() {
-    var filter = this.get('filter');
-    var content = this.get('model');
+    let { filter, model: content } = this;
     return !!(content.length && content.findBy('id', filter));
   }),
 
   firstPartialMatch: computed('filter', 'model', 'model.[]', 'filterMatchesKey', function() {
-    var filter = this.get('filter');
-    var content = this.get('model');
-    var filterMatchesKey = this.get('filterMatchesKey');
-    var re = new RegExp('^' + escapeStringRegexp(filter));
-    return filterMatchesKey
-      ? null
-      : content.find(function(key) {
-          return re.test(key.get('id'));
-        });
+    let { filter, filterMatchesKey, model: content } = this;
+    let re = new RegExp('^' + escapeStringRegexp(filter));
+    let matchSet = content.filter(key => re.test(key.id));
+    let match = matchSet[0];
+
+    if (filterMatchesKey || !match) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    let sharedPrefix = commonPrefix(content);
+    // if we already are filtering the prefix, then next we want
+    // the exact match
+    if (filter === sharedPrefix || matchSet.length === 1) {
+      return match;
+    }
+    return { id: sharedPrefix };
   }),
 
   actions: {
diff --git a/ui/app/utils/common-prefix.js b/ui/app/utils/common-prefix.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..59d27b8d6318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/app/utils/common-prefix.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+export default function(arr = [], attribute = 'id') {
+  if (!arr.length) {
+    return '';
+  }
+  // this assumes an already sorted array
+  // if the array is sorted, we want to compare the first and last
+  // item in the array - if they share a prefix, all of the items do
+  let firstString = arr[0][attribute];
+  let lastString = arr[arr.length - 1][attribute];
+
+  // the longest the shared prefix could be is the length of the match
+  let targetLength = firstString.length;
+  let prefixLength = 0;
+  // walk the two strings, and if they match at the current length,
+  // increment the prefixLength and try again
+  while (
+    prefixLength < targetLength &&
+    firstString.charAt(prefixLength) === lastString.charAt(prefixLength)
+  ) {
+    prefixLength++;
+  }
+  // slice the prefix from the first item
+  return firstString.substring(0, prefixLength);
+}
diff --git a/ui/lib/.eslintrc.js b/ui/lib/.eslintrc.js
index 548ea343c9f0..02fab21e154c 100644
--- a/ui/lib/.eslintrc.js
+++ b/ui/lib/.eslintrc.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module.exports = {
   env: {
     node: true,
-    browser: false,
+    browser: true,
   },
 };
diff --git a/ui/tests/unit/utils/common-prefix-test.js b/ui/tests/unit/utils/common-prefix-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5b437330c5ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/tests/unit/utils/common-prefix-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import commonPrefix from 'vault/utils/common-prefix';
+import { module, test } from 'qunit';
+
+module('Unit | Util | common prefix', function() {
+  test('it returns empty string if called with no args or an empty array', function(assert) {
+    let returned = commonPrefix();
+    assert.equal(returned, '', 'returns an empty string');
+    returned = commonPrefix([]);
+    assert.equal(returned, '', 'returns an empty string for an empty array');
+  });
+
+  test('it returns empty string if there are no common prefixes', function(assert) {
+    let secrets = ['asecret', 'secret2', 'secret3'].map(s => ({ id: s }));
+    let returned = commonPrefix(secrets);
+    assert.equal(returned, '', 'returns an empty string');
+  });
+
+  test('it returns the longest prefix', function(assert) {
+    let secrets = ['secret1', 'secret2', 'secret3'].map(s => ({ id: s }));
+    let returned = commonPrefix(secrets);
+    assert.equal(returned, 'secret', 'finds secret prefix');
+    let greetings = ['hello-there', 'hello-hi', 'hello-howdy'].map(s => ({ id: s }));
+    returned = commonPrefix(greetings);
+    assert.equal(returned, 'hello-', 'finds hello- prefix');
+  });
+
+  test('it can compare an attribute that is not "id" to calculate the longest prefix', function(assert) {
+    let secrets = ['secret1', 'secret2', 'secret3'].map(s => ({ name: s }));
+    let returned = commonPrefix(secrets, 'name');
+    assert.equal(returned, 'secret', 'finds secret prefix from name attribute');
+  });
+});