Recent results from Vo and Wolfe (2012b) suggest that the application of memory to visual search may be task specific: Previous experience searching for an object facilitated later search for that object, but object information acquired during a different task did not appear to transfer to search. The latter inference depended on evidence that a preview task did not improve later search, but Vo and Wolfe used a relatively insensitive, between-subjects design. Here, we replicated the Vo and Wolfe study using a within-subject manipulation of scene preview. A preview session (focused either on object location memory or on the assessment of object semantics) reliably facilitated later search. In addition, information acquired from distractors in a scene-facilitated search when the distractor later became the target. Instead of being strongly constrained by task, visual memory is applied flexibly to guide attention and gaze during visual search. (Contains 1 table, 3 figures and 2 footnotes.)