Can't search within just one notebook anymore.

[juliacraighill 5]

I keep my life on Evernote and am finding the updates to be unstable at best (between my IPhone and PC I've had to reinstalled the app 4 times) and the search function is either terrible or I'm an idiot - not sure which. My main issue if that I select a notebook in which to search, then put in the search term - at which point the search reverts to All Notes.

Suggestions?

[10gallonhat 20]

I just tried it. You can search for a word and create a filter or multiple filters.

For example, in my set up, I need to find the word "beer." I do that and a suggestion to add a filter for the folder "2020" appears (there are notes in the notebook tagged "beer"). I select it. Then I type "beer" into search again and it suggests I add the tag filter "beer."

You can search multiple tags at the same time. I can type "tag:beer tag:2020" it adds two filters. Or I can type "tag:beer", add that filter, then type "2020" to see every note that 2020 appears in.

I think the idea is that I can now save this search for faster use later. I do tons similar searches daily and none of these are efficient or sustainable workarounds in my opinion.

[Mike P 2,635]

1 hour ago, juliacraighill said:

My main issue if that I select a notebook in which to search, then put in the search term - at which point the search reverts to All Notes.

You need to start in the notebook you want to search in as you are  doing. When you  click on the search bar immediately underneath the text input area you will see the name of the notebook (in faint gray) and the words "add filter". Click add filter and then type in your search terms. Here's an example of searching the notebook AllMyNotes for the word evernote

 

[Mike P 2,635]

58 minutes ago, 10gallonhat said:

You can search multiple tags at the same time. I can type "tag:beer tag:2020" it adds two filters. Or I can type "tag:beer", add that filter, then type "2020" to see every note that 2020 appears in.

There is no real need to use the tag: syntax. If you start to type the name of the tag it should come up as a suggestion in the list. You can then select it and then type the next one. The only problen is that for the first tag you only get a maximum of two suggested tags. After that you get a longer list of tags which are relevant.

So I initially search for the tag "maps" and after typing map it is there in the search list

Slecting that tag then gives me a longer list of tags and other items to choose from:

You can do something similar using the filter but you can't save filters.

[10gallonhat 20]

Actually, I get as many tag suggestions as there are unique tags, depending on what I select first. I just filtered 4 tags in one specific folder and still had the option to filter by dates, email addresses and phone numbers.

Search syntax can still be valuable; sometimes I don't want to click that much. YMMV

[Mike P 2,635]

8 hours ago, 10gallonhat said:

Actually, I get as many tag suggestions as there are unique tags, depending on what I select first

I think that's the issue. Once you have selected something (in my example the maps tag) you get more options but intially I only get two filters. Personally  I would prefer more filters at this stage and no wild guesses of where I might like to "go to".

[juliacraighill 5]

Thanks everyone, esp @Mike P. I wasn't even noticing the Notebook in the drop-down menu. Duh! Your step-by-step was most useful!

[RFHatefi 4]

Like Julia said at the beginning of this thread, this simple problem is typical of how Evernote has a nack for making your users feel stupid!

Sorry, but I still don't see how I can filter down to Notebook level during or after a search. Why not just add the damn Notebook list to the Add Filters drop down options? Wouldn't that be logical to have all filters in the same place???

FYI, I'm using your newest Windows 10 version, for which I can't get any tech support other than from other frustrated users on this forum. 

 

[Mike P 2,635]

19 minutes ago, RFHatefi said:

Sorry, but I still don't see how I can filter down to Notebook level during or after a search. Why not just add the damn Notebook list to the Add Filters drop down options? Wouldn't that be logical to have all filters in the same place???

I agree. The designers of the search have a very fixed idea of how people are supposed to search. One of those ideas is that you choose your notebook first. In all other respects a notebook behaves like a filter - so, as you say, why is it not in the filter menu? Once you have added some text the only option is to filter unless you add to the text with some search syntax. notebook: is your friend here but it rather defeats the idea of having a simple, user friendly search system.

 

[juliacraighill 5]

I agree. I have almost 6000 notes, as I mentioned before - pretty much my entire life. Yes, I know I know, I should merge, delete, pare them down. When doing a search I am now met with a long dropdown menu of filters AND suggestions, now that they've really fired-up the machine learning. It was so simple before...

[juliacraighill 5]

If Evernote would just post Mike P.s explanation in their Help section, it would make life so much easier.

[Cyril LM 3]

I fully agree this is a very poor change

Moreover if you want to search within a group of notebooks, I dont see how you can do this (it was trivial previously) - Now the group of notebook does not even appear int he search box filter options (and I cant find a doc anywhere re this)

Overall, I am very disappointed by this release

[Mike P 2,635]

On 12/5/2020 at 7:07 PM, RFHatefi said:

Sorry, but I still don't see how I can filter down to Notebook level during or after a search. Why not just add the damn Notebook list to the Add Filters drop down options?

This is now in the latest windows version 10.5.5.

[MrIllustrator 165]

One step forward and two steps back upgrade. How very disappointing. 

[Mike P 2,635]

1 hour ago, MrIllustrator said:

One step forward and two steps back upgrade. How very disappointing. 

What were the two steps back in 10.5.5 compared with 10.4 or are you talking about V10 in generel? If it was generally, I'd say you were being rather generous - one step forward and 500 steps backwards!

[MKEN 1]

There should be a simple search within the notebook without adding any filter all the time.

I am working on a notebook and each time I have to do the search,  I have to add the filter and that is time consuming.

[Turings Ghost 0]

The inability to easily search one notebook without using Boolean logic or filters is extremely disconcerting.  I am an avid Evernote user since the start and have over 6,000 notes.  The "new" look is trying to apply artificial intelligence in a very comical way.  Note: I have an MS in AI.

Somehow, Evernote made a simple, easy to use, cross platform, great content management tool into what appears to be a beta version of school project in machine learning ten years ago. 

I am moving to OneNote, which is now available cross platform and easily searchable.  Not my choice at this point.

Wish me luck.

[dbvirago 501]

IMO, "extremely disconcerting" is a bit much. Or maybe I have a higher tolerance. To search a single notebook, I used to have to click on the notebook, click on the search box and start typing. Now I have to click on the notebook, click on the search box, then click on the link that says, "add filter," which automatically adds the notebook to the search criteria. 3 clicks instead of 2 clicks. Took a minute to get used to, but I use it all the time now. 

[Mike P 2,635]

15 minutes ago, Turings Ghost said:

The inability to easily search one notebook without using Boolean logic or filters is extremely disconcerting.

I personally don't see that it is very difficult. If I start in a notebook and click into the search bar all I have to do is to click the "add filter" that appears directly below.

[Mike P 2,635]

1 minute ago, dbvirago said:

IMO, "extremely disconcerting" is a bit much. Or maybe I have a higher tolerance. To search a single notebook, I used to have to click on the notebook, click on the search box and start typing. Now I have to click on the notebook, click on the search box, then click on the link that says, "add filter," which automatically adds the notebook to the search criteria. 3 clicks instead of 2 clicks. Took a minute to get used to, but I use it all the time now. 

You beat me by one minute!

[PinkElephant 8,088]

Actually the filters are not bad, and getting better - especially now with the added CONTAINS filter.

It is now very easy to - say - select a notebook (or a tag) and restrict the search only to clipped web content, or pdf, or tasks, or whatever the CONTAINS allows. Heavy users may rely on the search syntax, but for occasional use this is really an important extension for search.

Available on all accounts, even the Free version !

[mgpmul 5]

On 12/5/2020 at 8:07 PM, RFHatefi said:

Why not just add the damn Notebook list to the Add Filters drop down options? Wouldn't that be logical to have all filters in the same place???

 

On 12/16/2020 at 10:36 AM, Mike P said:

This is now in the latest windows version 10.5.5.

I just upgraded to 10.19.2. (Halas, I did not make a note what my previous version was, because I would like to go back there, because it offered MUCH better search options).

Yes, I see  there's a 'Located In' filter to filter on a notebook, but the filter shows me ALL my notebooks, not just the ones that contain the found notes.

Now I need to guess a notebook in which I think my note is likely in.

It was possible in earlier versions to do this: it showed the list of notebooks in which the notes were found and then I could select one to get focus on that notebook.

Can this feature be added again?

Another help would be to add the Notebook title to the card or snippet in the list of found notes. That has the same great value as tags have. Why is it possible to see a tag on a card or snippet, but not a Notebook? I organized my notes around notebooks as a primary key. Tags are secondary (for me).

[PinkElephant 8,088]

Feature requests can be posted here, or better send directly to EN using the feedback function build into the clients.