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(Archived) Feature reguest: Search across notebooks


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Hi,

When you do a search, and the wrong notebook was selected, nothing turns up. I think it would be great if search worked across notebooks, maybe only in a case where nothing is found. Then selecting something from the search results contained in a different notebook from the current active one could switch to the according notebook.

A more easy and already useful feature would be if you do a search, and nothing turns up, that when you select a different notebook the search is re-triggered. Currently selecting a different notebook clears the search, which I find quite annoying personally.

I think it would make organizing things in different notebooks much more practical.

Forgive me if this has been discussed before.

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Yeah of course but that was not my point.

If you have multiple notebooks, then selecting one of them should still not exclude the others from the search I think. Of course the search results have to be clearly marked and probably should be listed after any hits in the currently selected notebook, but I still think this would be very useful. At least make it an option in the preferences or something.

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If you have multiple notebooks, then selecting one of them should still not exclude the others from the search I think.

I think it should exclude other notebooks...which is the point of selecting a single notebook.

Of course the search results have to be clearly marked and probably should be listed after any hits in the currently selected notebook, but I still think this would be very useful. At least make it an option in the preferences or something.

You can select all notebooks & then sort by notebook name.

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  • Level 5
ox80 said:

A more easy and already useful feature would be if you do a search, and nothing turns up, that when you select a different notebook the search is re-triggered. Currently selecting a different notebook clears the search, which I find quite annoying personally.

Sounds rather complicated for a minor issue.

An easier solution, one which can be implemented immediately, and does not require a re-write of the Evernote code is to copy the search characteristics to notepad. If you don't find the results, edit the search, and paste back into Evernote.

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I did say that search results should be marked clearly (probably color) and sorted last in order to indicate that they are found in other notebooks. I don't see any objections to this, and it could be switched on or off in preferences.

Here's what usually happens in my workflow:

- Select a notebook to enter a new note (I have separate ones for personal and work related projects).

- Enter the new note.

- Switch to another app until I need to look something up

- Switch back to Evernote

- Hit search query

- Nothing turns up

- Realize the wrong notebook is selected.

- Select the right notebook or All notebooks

- Enter the search again

This happens to me a LOT, and therefor I find it the most annoying thing so far in Evernote. Maybe its quite personal, but I would love a feature like that.

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An easier solution, one which can be implemented immediately, and does not require a re-write of the Evernote code is to copy the search characteristics to notepad. If you don't find the results, edit the search, and paste back into Evernote.

I don't get it :? What does notepad have to do with searching a database of notes?

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When I'm in another app, I just press the global find in Evernote key (I changed mine to F5, so it's a single keystroke) & it takes you to EN, selects all notebooks & puts the cursor in the search bar. NBD.

Aha! Now that's helpful :) I guess it's all sorted then. 8)

Cheers

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  • Level 5

Yes, the Global Find option (with a change to F5) is just awesome.

It is sort of an Evernote secret.

If it was more obvious, I think people would see even more power in Evernote's capabilities.

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I did say that search results should be marked clearly (probably color) and sorted last in order to indicate that they are found in other notebooks. I don't see any objections to this, and it could be switched on or off in preferences.

Here's what usually happens in my workflow:

- Select a notebook to enter a new note (I have separate ones for personal and work related projects).

- Enter the new note.

- Switch to another app until I need to look something up

- Switch back to Evernote

- Hit search query

- Nothing turns up

- Realize the wrong notebook is selected.

- Select the right notebook or All notebooks

- Enter the search again

This happens to me a LOT, and therefor I find it the most annoying thing so far in Evernote. Maybe its quite personal, but I would love a feature like that.

I can think of a lot of objections to the software ignoring the selected notebook when doing a search. In your scenario, you have the wrong notebook selected. But in the opposite case, when the right notebook is selected, the last thing I want is for it to show me notes from a different notebook. Say I'm searching my "Work" notebook, I certainly don't want notes from my "personal" notebook popping up, regardless of whether there were any matches in "Work".

But anyway, I see what you're saying about having to re-enter the search. And there is actually a way to change the notebook you are searching WITHOUT retyping your search terms. I do this all the time in both the Mac client and the Windows client -- not sure what you are using (I never use the web interface, so this may not apply if that is what you are using).

At the top of the window there is a "search explanation bar" that shows the criteria for the current search. You may need to turn this on via the View menu. The first menu in this bar is the notebook. You can click this and select a different notebook (or all notebooks) without disturbing the rest of your search in any way.

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I didn't realize the search is always performed on the complete database and filtered through the selection at the top. This is very good thanks.

So it turns out that for both my suggestions there is already a (better) working alternative and I officially retract my feature request 8)

Thanks for all the help.

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