(Archived) BUG: Searching for notes BEFORE a date still broken [OUTDATED]

[sschertz 29]

I am starting to wonder when / if Evernote will ever fix this hugely blatant bug in Mac client (which I reported to support back in November).

Open the Attributes area in the left hand column. Expand Created. Expand Before. Click on any of the options (Today, Yesterday, etc.). The results you get back are exactly the opposite of what they should be. Today gives you notes created SINCE today. Yesterday gives you notes created SINCE yesterday. Not before.

I am honestly puzzled as to how something so obviously broken is still there.

I am trying to be polite and civil here, but I was really excited to install today's update, hoping this bug would be fixed. So I'm disappointed. I used to use these searches all the time and it is frustrating that they got broken a few updates ago and are still not fixed.

The search grammar for doing "before date" type searches is also broken. So that is probably the source of the bug.

I just wish there was some feedback from the EN team indicating that they have this on the schedule to fix someday. Someday soon. The support response back in November was pretty lame.

In the meantime, any suggestions for workarounds? How can I find notes that were created LAST WEEK (not this week) if Attributes > Created > Before > Last Week does not work?

[peterfmartin 221]

Ok, now my search is just flat-out not doing anything I want. See here, for example, where the returned results ignore both the searched created date and the searched tag. I'm obviously going to file a support ticket, but I'm curious to know whether other Mac users, mostly 3.0.6 users, have been seeing search results like this recently.

EDIT: Sorry, I now see that the date is correct. But the tag still isn't. Am I the only one experiencing this problem?

[peterfmartin 221]

Might have been an indexing issue, but glad it is fixed

Yep, me too. Can you explain that some? How can there be indexing issues when the data on the web is correct? (All the web searches I tried were always correct, so my data was correct on the Evernote servers, just wrong on my computer, even after many, many syncs.)

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

That is very much a good news / bad news story.

I'm glad that you can confirm this Search bug is fixed.

BUT, it is very disconcerting that a normal update does not work properly to fix the problem.

We already have so many issues with Evernote Search, and now we may not be able to even trust the update process.

[dlu 628]

Might have been an indexing issue, but glad it is fixed

[peterfmartin 221]

I updated to 3.0.7 beta 5, and all the problems kept happening.

I then deleted the program again and this time also deleted my content data before reinstalling 3.0.7 beta 5 and re-syncing all my data from the web. Problem solved. Must have been something wrong with the way my data was saved on my computer?

[dlu 628]

I'm catching up on this thread all at once, so let me know if I missed something. But it seems like 3.0.7 Beta 5 has these issues resolved? (Both negating tags and using before XXX date)

I don't see any problems with them, but I have only done very brief tests on my own account.

We did set aside time to test the majority of our search functionality, so if we missed something I'll try to pencil in time for another around of testing and fixing.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

No, I was just suggesting a simpler case to test with another tag.

As I said, the tag exclusion is working fine for me, regardless of the number of notes.

[peterfmartin 221]

Is that known behavior, that the search becomes unreliable if a tag is applied to a lot of notes?

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

No, since the search is filtering out 1,251 notes tagged with "ToX" and showing me two.

EDIT: Here's further proof that the problem is not related to capitalization.

Excluding a tag is working fine for me in EN Mac 3.0.7 Beta 5.

You might try a different tag which has only a few notes.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

No, since the search is filtering out 1,251 notes tagged with "ToX" and showing me two.

EDIT: Here's further proof that the problem is not related to capitalization.

no help at all. sorry. i did a test and it seems to be working on my ipad. so, it looks like your -tag query is written correctly. a search problem restricted to the mac?

[peterfmartin 221]

No, since the search is filtering out 1,251 notes tagged with "ToX" and showing me two.

EDIT: Here's further proof that the problem is not related to capitalization.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Ok, now my search is just flat-out not doing anything I want. See here, for example, where the returned results ignore both the searched created date and the searched tag. I'm obviously going to file a support ticket, but I'm curious to know whether other Mac users, mostly 3.0.6 users, have been seeing search results like this recently.

EDIT: Sorry, I now see that the date is correct. But the tag still isn't. Am I the only one experiencing this problem?

I am way out of my league here, because I don't use tags or capital letters, but could capitalization be the issue in your screenshot?

[peterfmartin 221]

I'm still using 3.0.6, so can someone using the new beta report on its behavior?

Also, is the normal, non-negative "created:XXXX" search now broken too, or is it only broken for me, or am I misunderstanding something? This wouldn't be happening if the search were functioning correctly, right?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Does anyone know of any workaround for this? I'm trying to manage a project for which I need to be able to find notes created before a certain date, and right now I'm totally crippled. GM's titling system would provide me with a workaround if I had applied it to these notes months ago, but I didn't, so I need something that can access the metadata and accurately search it. Am I totally out of luck on this?

Isn't this fixed now? I thought JM or someone mentioned it. I am not on he Mac now, so cannot check. Maybe in the beta?

[peterfmartin 221]

Does anyone know of any workaround for this? I'm trying to manage a project for which I need to be able to find notes created before a certain date, and right now I'm totally crippled. GM's titling system would provide me with a workaround if I had applied it to these notes months ago, but I didn't, so I need something that can access the metadata and accurately search it. Am I totally out of luck on this?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

good points,

1. i often work on the ipad, which (for reasons i do not understand) does not give us access to some of the crucial metadata like created date.

2. i prefer to keep the date in the title, in case i need to export my data out of evernote. i don't plan to do so anytime soon, but i prefer to be well-prepared.

3. it is true that i limit myself with the date in the title, but there are rarely cases when i want to sort alphabetically. i guess my life just isn't organized that way. one exception to my naming rule are sources i drag into evernote (pdfs of books, journal articles, etc.). these go by an author+publication date format, because the note creation date is irrelevant.

4. i haven't used any applescripts yet. i really need to give these things a try.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

i'd put dates in the titles anyways. the created and updated dates are often irrelevant, especially when scanning old documents, and the metadata won't be exported (as i understand it) so i prefer to put everything in the titles.

If you enter the date you put in the Title into the Created Date field then it becomes truly searchable as a date so that you can easily find Note within a given date range.

And, since you are a Mac user, if you use the Veritope AppleScript to import files, you can automaticly set the Note Creation Date to the File Creation Date (or Modified Date as you wish).

When you put a date as a prefix to the real Title, you limit yourself to sort only by date since the descriptive part of the title is after the date.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

i'd put dates in the titles anyways. the created and updated dates are often irrelevant, especially when scanning old documents, and the metadata won't be exported (as i understand it) so i prefer to put everything in the titles.

if searches worked correctly and consistently across platforms, i wouldn't have any complaints. fortunately, the evernote database is accessible to other software, like houdahspot (mac) for searching. one thing i like about houdahspot is that (as CNET put it), "it waits until you've finished forming a query rather than immediately returning results as you type (which can be one of the more frustrating aspects of Spotlight)." i understand why evernote has its "user-friendly" instant search, but speaking as a user, it is really annoying.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

It isn't a highly used feature, so that's affected the priority (but if you do use the feature, I can see how glaringly obvious it is).

dlu, have you guys considered that it is not highly used because it is broken?

Searching on the Note dates is a very powerful and useful feature.

Unforturnately, the grammar syntax is so complex and hard to use, and it seems that none of the date searches work, that it has led many people to embed the date in the Note title so they can search for it.

Any time people are putting meta data in the Title it is a huge clue that the search and sort for that meta data is not working well.

As everyone knows the primary purpose of Evernote is to help us remember everything.

To remember everything, it requires two key functions to work well:

1. Create/Store the memory (data)
   
2. Retrieve the memory.
   

The more memories we put into Evernote, the more important a easy-to-use and effective search is.

It doesn't take long for a full text search to return hits we don't want.

As you noted in another thread, many users are confused by boolean searches (of course EN doesn't support them anyway).

I suspect many are also confused and/or find it too difficult to use any type of search other than text and simple tags/notebook.

What is the point of haing all of the other cool meta data if it is too hard to search for the meta data?

A long term request: Please take a look at how you can significantly improve searching in Evernote

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Edit: and yes, I did submit the ticket, and support acknowledged it then as a bug. I just got impatient due to the new update today; hence the post.

Patience is a virtue. Just because a bug or feature is on their radar doesn't mean it will be implemented in the next release or even the one after that. Just like everyone else, EN must balance priorities with resources.

[sschertz 29]

Dlu - thanks for the reply - just glad to know it is on the radar. I will attempt to re-engage my patience.

GrumpyMonkey - I do use dates in some of my titles, which helps, but I don't do it across the board. I've always just relied on the date stamps within the notes themselves. But I'll think about that idea. Thanks!

Edit: and yes, I did submit the ticket, and support acknowledged it then as a bug. I just got impatient due to the new update today; hence the post.

[dlu 628]

On our radar, but a few things in the last release threw us off a bit so we're behind on, well, let's just say more than one thing that we've been meaning to get to. It isn't a highly used feature, so that's affected the priority (but if you do use the feature, I can see how glaringly obvious it is).

thanks for posting

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

i name my notes yymmdd keyword keyword keyword, so i can just scroll down. i rely on titles a lot, but i still use a lot of advanced searches, and it is too bad the search is broken. did you create a support ticket?