Search options for Win10 vs Mac

[mikecox39 13]

One of the most confusing aspects of  EN, for me,  is the search function, it just doesn't get me the results I expect!  I find myself wasting a lot of time and often end up with irrelevant results or getting too many results, that I then have to search through.  

When I found a  "search"  You-tube Video in the EV Channel that I'm subscribed to it was for Mac users and when Francesco D'Alessio clicked inside the search field he got a raft of drop-down options to select from, options that narrowed his search; including "recent searches". In Windows, I don't get anything at all when I click the empty search field!  The Mac interface seems to display everything I'd need to find what I'm looking for quickly while the Window interface often leaves me with little or no help.

Before posting this I "searched" for a youtube search video for Windows and found one, but it was nowhere near as good as Francesco's and it didn't have anything close to the options he got when he clicked the search field on his Mac.

[DTLow 5,736]

Each platform has differences in the UI, but the search box arguments are a constant

Documentation for the search arguments is available at https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313828

I agree the Mac search builder is useful

[TK0047 422]

22 hours ago, mikecox39 said:

it just doesn't get me the results I expect!  I find myself wasting a lot of time and often end up with irrelevant results or getting too many results

This is why when I do a search in Windows app, I use a lot of tags to narrow down searches. And I use a text expander (Breevy) for windows to expedite the process. For example, typing tglog will give me tag:"Login: or tgch tag:"Cheat Sheet". Otherwise, windows app searches can be really cumbersome especially when you have a lot of notes in notebooks.

I do like the Mac search better for sure and I hope they will bring the Windows search to that standard soon.

[mikecox39 13]

I feel vindicated! 

I can't tell you how helpless, and a little stupid, I"'ve been made to feel by this issue and by my inability to comprehend the convoluted explanations I've gotten for why I find myself at odds with my search results.

I've blamed myself for failing to understand what should be a very simple, intuitive, process. I expected EV to find things easily and quickly, without forcing me to set up complicated search criteria. I really like EV's ability to collect and store data, but I've been really disappointed by how complicated it is to find it once it's been stored.

Frankly, I'm  baffled by their failure recognize this issue and address it.  It makes me wonder how they've achieved such a following. 

In the meantime, I will focus on tags, which I too use a lot of. Thanks for telling me about text expanders, I'm impressed! I just added Breevy to my laptop and "Textpand" onto my cell phone!!

[jefito 5,589]

2 hours ago, TK0047 said:

For example, typing tglog will give me tag:"Login: or tgch tag:"Cheat Sheet". Otherwise, windows app searches can be really cumbersome especially when you have a lot of notes in notebooks.

If you use the tag picker in the search panel, as you select tags, it'll filter the tag list down to those available in the current set of notes.

[mikecox39 13]

Thanks Jeff, I'll keep that in mind when searching.

[CalS 5,280]

On 2/15/2018 at 2:05 PM, mikecox39 said:

One of the most confusing aspects of  EN, for me,  is the search function, it just doesn't get me the results I expect!  I find myself wasting a lot of time and often end up with irrelevant results or getting too many results, that I then have to search through.  

When I found a  "search"  You-tube Video in the EV Channel that I'm subscribed to it was for Mac users and when Francesco D'Alessio clicked inside the search field he got a raft of drop-down options to select from, options that narrowed his search; including "recent searches". In Windows, I don't get anything at all when I click the empty search field!  The Mac interface seems to display everything I'd need to find what I'm looking for quickly while the Window interface often leaves me with little or no help.

Before posting this I "searched" for a youtube search video for Windows and found one, but it was nowhere near as good as Francesco's and it didn't have anything close to the options he got when he clicked the search field on his Mac.

You can try Ctrl-Q in the Windows version. You will see a search bar, recent searches and saved searches.  Start typing and you will see options for notebooks, tags, and recent searches from which to select.  Otherwise it works like the normal search bar should you hit enter.

   

[DTLow 5,736]

On 2018-02-16 at 12:41 PM, mikecox39 said:

In the meantime, I will focus on tags, which I too use a lot of

 

On 2018-02-16 at 2:00 PM, jefito said:

If you use the tag picker in the search panel, as you select tags, it'll filter the tag list down to those available in the current set of notes.

Another vote for tags and tag pickers

The text search feature is supposed to be a big deal, but I have my data organization locked down with tags.

I rarely rely on text searches, and even then I mostly use intitle:; searching content is a guarantee for too many hits