Off-line search not working properly in Evernote for Android v8.12.5

[eric99 543]

A search expression with multiple words performs a logical OR in off-line mode and a logical AND in on-line mode

For instance the search expression:  books john 

  in off-line it returns all notes containing 'books' OR 'John' 

  in on-line it returns only notes containing 'books' AND 'John'  simultaneously

[Dave-in-Decatur 1,997]

That's a very interesting observation. I just tested it, using the same search terms as you, and found the same results as you (taking "off-line mode" to mean something like "airplane mode"). The only thing I can think of is that when online the app has access to some different kind of index. With a mobile device, only certain components of the database are stored on the device; the entire notes database is not downloaded. So some differences are to be expected, but this one is a little surprising.

[eric99 543]

1 hour ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

That's a very interesting observation. I just tested it, using the same search terms as you, and found the same results as you (taking "off-line mode" to mean something like "airplane mode"). The only thing I can think of is that when online the app has access to some different kind of index. With a mobile device, only certain components of the database are stored on the device; the entire notes database is not downloaded. So some differences are to be expected, but this one is a little surprising.

And another weird behavior in off-line mode is that it returns deleted notes as well !

 

[John in Michigan USA 91]

It could also be the case that the code that interprets your search string in on-line mode is different than the code that does it in off-line mode. Just a guess, but it might explain at least some of this behavior. Evernote is working towards a more unified code base, so perhaps this issue will be addressed as part of that effort.

[jefito 5,586]

7 minutes ago, John in Michigan USA said:

It could also be the case that the code that interprets your search string in on-line mode is different than the code that does it in off-line mode. Just a guess, but it might explain at least some of this behavior. Evernote is working towards a more unified code base, so perhaps this issue will be addressed as part of that effort.

That'd be my guess as well. It could be that when online, the search is submitted to the Evernote servers, and resulte set returned. But when offline, the Evernote servers are then unavailable, and searches need to be interpreted and performed on the device. Not sure whether the new "Conduit" platform is designed to handle this stuf, but it could be a good opportunity to cement another bit of cross-platform compatibility into place. Flip side is that per @Ian Small, the underlying databases are likely staying the same as now (i.e. different on different platforms), so search may not be part of Conduit's remit.

[Dave-in-Decatur 1,997]

22 hours ago, jefito said:

22 hours ago, John in Michigan USA said:

It could also be the case that the code that interprets your search string in on-line mode is different than the code that does it in off-line mode. Just a guess, but it might explain at least some of this behavior. Evernote is working towards a more unified code base, so perhaps this issue will be addressed as part of that effort.

That'd be my guess as well. It could be that when online, the search is submitted to the Evernote servers, and resulte set returned. But when offline, the Evernote servers are then unavailable, and searches need to be interpreted and performed on the device.

This makes sense to me. When offline, perhaps (just guessing) all that's done is a basic string search for anything in the search terms across all available information (including trash), whereas a search while online can do more sophisticated tasks.

[eric99 543]

11 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

This makes sense to me. When offline, perhaps (just guessing) all that's done is a basic string search for anything in the search terms across all available information (including trash), whereas a search while online can do more sophisticated tasks.

I agree, but then what's the point of this paid feature if you can't find your note in the locally saved database ?

[PinkElephant 5,174]

Locally saved databases are not possible under Android, nor under iOS. You can declare a notebook to be available offline, but this means it will still be saved with a master copy on the server. You can just work on the notes without an Internet connection.

The observation that search flips between OR and AND depending on the search engine is interesting, and up to my knowledge not documented.

I can understand that a search based on a database with a real search index can perform much better than if just based on a keyword file. IMHO this should not end up in altering the basic search logic.

The best solution would be full Boolean search for EN, this would set everything straight.

[DTLow 5,680]

5 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Locally saved databases are not possible under Android, nor under iOS. You can declare a notebook to be available offline, but this means it will still be saved with a master copy on the server. You can just work on the notes without an Internet connection.

Correction; The Evernote client software creates and maintains a local database on Android/IOS devices   
By default, the local database only contains note metadata
Note content data is included for Offline notebooks

The master version of our data is stored on the Evernote servers; the local database is a copy
 

[jefito 5,586]

12 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

The best solution would be full Boolean search for EN, this would set everything straight.

This no guarantee of anything if it's implemented with bugs, which is apparently the case with offline search on Android. Indeed, a full Boolean search is likely to be more complex than the current search language, hence more possibility for bugs. And especially because, as noted before, Evernote isn't currently planning on changing the native Evernote database implementation arrangement, so any search language needs to be tailored to interface with each particular database type. Again, some of this is based on guesswork, some on information posted by Evernote folks, and some based on my own experiences implementing full Boolean search on commercial code bases.