Search Help

[Davis M 0]

I need some help with the search feature.  I did review the forum posts to see if this issue has been addressed but could not find it. 

Here is my issue.  When I do a search, it will show the note where the word is located but it does not auto goto the "location" of the word in the note.  For example, I have a note with over 3,000 works and it is about 5 pages long.  When I do a search, it indicate the word is in the note but does not auto goto the location.  I end up having to scroll through the note and hope I see the "highlighted" word.  Very time consuming and frustrating.  I remember about a year ago, it used to do this.

I have gotten to where I have moved these type of notes over to "pages" as it has a search feature like Evernote used to.

Here are two attached examples, one from Evernote and the other from Pages showing what I mean.

What am I missing, certainly Evernote is capable of this and I must not be doing something correctly

[Ninafel 9]

There is a separate search feature once you open each note. In other words, you need to start your search again within the note. (I find this frustrating, too!) Look for another magnifying glass once you are in the note. I’m not on my PC right now so I don’t remember where it is, but on my iPad I can click on the three dots up top and find “Search Note.”

[DTLow 5,736]

On 7/23/2018 at 7:23 AM, Davis M said:

When I do a search, it will show the note where the word is located but it does not auto goto the "location" of the word in the note.

As per @Ninafel, switch to Find Within Note view from Find Notes view
The screenshot is from my Mac

[Davis M 0]

Thank you both so much.  I knew there was an answer.

[RobertJSawyer 167]

This really needs to be improved.  I use a 1988-vintage MS-DOS search tool called ProFinder, which came bundled with WordStar for DOS; it's still my key tool for organizing research notes on my hard drive for the novels I write.  It does all the things Evernote SHOULD do in terms of search queries, including going to and highlighting the hits within notes as @Davis M is asking for here and doing the Boolean searches that @TdeV was asking for a few days ago.  Evernote needs a decent editor -- not people constantly saying, yeah, well, it never was really meant for, y'know, creating notes, but hey, lookie, you can attach any file type you want, even if you can't search its contents -- and a decent search function, at least as good as what MS-DOS tools were providing THIRTY YEARS AGO.  Having to find workarounds or having to do something twice just to get basic functionality is not nearly good enough.  I mean, really. 

[DTLow 5,736]

3 hours ago, RobertJSawyer said:

This really needs to be improved. 

There are various requests posted for improving the search feature, and the editor.  
Feel free to indicate your support using the voting buttons in these discussions.

>>people constantly saying, yeah, well, it never was really meant for, y'know, creating notes

I believe the Evernote editor's purpose is creating and editing notes.  This is what I use it for.

There may be an issue with your understanding of the word "note" edited: or my understanding?

>>hey, lookie, you can attach any file type you want, even if you can't search its contents

I think note attachments is one of Evernote's best features.
I attach images, PDFs, word processing documents, spreadsheets; any file for storing

Evernote's search feature indexes images, PDFs, and office documents

[RobertJSawyer 167]

Or with yours, @DTLow .  Seriously, one can agree or disagree, without being condescending.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,935]

45 minutes ago, RobertJSawyer said:

Evernote needs a decent editor -- not people constantly saying, yeah, well, it never was really meant for, y'know, creating notes

All right, so, not being condescending but just a little annoyed at this wide (but surely not condescending) swipe: can you please post links to, say, 3 people in these forums saying Evernote was not meant for creating notes? Even that wouldn't be "constantly," but I'd settle for 3.

[RobertJSawyer 167]

And you know as well, as I do, @DTLow, that these are mostly user fora rather than feedback tools for the Evernote corporation, and the upvote/downvote tallies correlate in no way with Evernote's focusing of its development efforts. Case in point? The requests for a dark theme. 

As for the ability to attach note types that CANNOT be searched -- which is what you've applauded in the quote of mine you used (Me, verbatim as quoted by you: "you can attach any file type you want, even if you can't search its contents" / You: "I think this is one of Evernote's best features"), perhaps it's your understanding of the word "best" that's actually questionable, old boy.  A good implementation of this feature would search for text strings in files of any type, not a handful of types.  Perhaps some wider experience with search and document-filing tools (old standbys like ZtreeWin, PaperPort, and PowerDesk from the Windows world immediately leap to mind) that can search in many dozens of file formats and encoding schemes would broaden your horizons.

Sheesh.
 

[RobertJSawyer 167]

@DTLOW says it constantly when a discussion comes up of deficiencies in the Evernote editor.  Go search his posts, @Dave-in-Decatur (aka Mr. "not updating till they get the Windows program working well!," which is a swipe of your own, right there in your signature).  You'll find way more than three (although he seems to think a "note" is mostly just a container for a file created by some non-Evernote third-party tool).  We can quibble semantics, but how about I challenge you:  show me, say, three posts in this forums -- three out of countless thousands -- that say Evernote has the BEST note creation abilities they've ever encountered.  There's oodles of room for improvement (headings, anyone?,  to name just one thing that any editor should support).  Anyway, bowing out.  I've got work to do.

[DTLow 5,736]

17 hours ago, RobertJSawyer said:

@DTLOW says it constantly (it never was really meant for, y'know, creating notes)

although he seems to think a "note" is mostly just a container for a file created by some non-Evernote third-party tool)

I have never said the Evernote editor "never was really meant for, y'know, creating notes"
To the contrary; I believe Evernote is an excellent tool for creating/editing notes.  I use it constantly.
I have said the editor is not my tool choice for word processing or spreadsheets.  I use Word/pages and Excel/Numbers.

The dictionary definition of note is

1. a brief record of facts, topics, or thoughts, written down as an aid to memory.

   "I'll make a note in my diary"

   synonyms:

   record, entry, item, notation, jotting, memorandum, reminder, aide-mémoire; More

2. a short informal letter or written message.

   "I left her a note explaining where I was going"

   synonyms:

   message, communication, letter, line; More

In Evernote, the note is a container for files;
including content.enml which stores the editor note contents.
Here's a sample note folder from my Mac

 

 

[CalS 5,277]

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,935]

19 hours ago, RobertJSawyer said:

@DTLOW says it constantly when a discussion comes up of deficiencies in the Evernote editor.  Go search his posts, @Dave-in-Decatur (aka Mr. "not updating till they get the Windows program working well!," which is a swipe of your own, right there in your signature).  You'll find way more than three (although he seems to think a "note" is mostly just a container for a file created by some non-Evernote third-party tool).  We can quibble semantics, but how about I challenge you:  show me, say, three posts in this forums -- three out of countless thousands -- that say Evernote has the BEST note creation abilities they've ever encountered.  There's oodles of room for improvement (headings, anyone?,  to name just one thing that any editor should support).  Anyway, bowing out.  I've got work to do.

Sorry for replying after you've bowed out, and I will try not to be all I've-got-the-last-word-so-HA! I'll also let @DTLow speak for himself, as he has. These forums, like most forums supporting software and services, mostly feature complaints, gripes, wish-lists, etc., so looking here for people saying how great Evernote is would be pretty pointless.

I agree 100% that there is room for improvement, as with anything (even my fashion sense, my wife says). I make very little use of Evernote for file storage. I mainly use it to record research material, quotes, ideas, books to look for, etc., related to specific projects, which I ultimately (or at least aspirationally) transfer to the projects' working areas on my computer. (I also use EN for some household information that it's handy to be able to access on my phone.) For purposes that go beyond EN's current note-taking capabilities (including way better search features), I've got Scrivener and Nota Bene. Bowing out too.