Notes not showing in search

[ENUserinAZ 7]

Hello, I added a note in v10.4.4. It doesn't show up in search using any of the words in the title OR if I search for created:day-0. Installed the legacy version and it shows up. Checked on my iphone and it does not show up.

Added a tag and the note count next to the tag shows (4) on the v10.4.4 but only 3 notes show up in the search results.

So disappointing

I didn't find other posts with a similar issue. Anyone know if this is a known issue?

[ENUserinAZ 7]

The note showed up about six hours later in SOME searches but still doesn't show in v10.4.4 created:day-0 search. Anyone else dealing with long delays in notes showing up in searches?

[Ricky 11]

I'm dealing with an issue now on Windows 10 where one note is not indexed in the search at all. I even copy and paste the note title and it states no search results. That is a really messed up bug. I tried other note apps and I've never had a bug with the search itself!

[PinkElephant 8,105]

A)  Anything special with that note ? Plain text ? Attachments ? Special characters ? Attachments ?

Without being more specific no idea what keeps a certain note from being indexed.

B ) Yet tried support on this ?

[Ricky 11]

It is just a standard text note. If it happenes again next time, I will reach out to support. Hopefully it's just a rare one time thing. Thanks for your help!

[afbm 0]

This happens to me also. Created notes and note revisions does not appear in my searches immediately, however, they do appear usually within the hour after note creation/revision. Hope this is fixed since this bug slows down my workflow.

[Josh B 1]

Just to add my voice to this, I'm having the same issue. Tag a plain text note, search for that tag, 'no notes found'... even though I can find them manually!

 

On 5/30/2021 at 12:50 PM, afbm said:

however, they do appear usually within the hour after note creation/revision. Hope this is fixed since this bug slows down my workflow.

I haven't had the patience to wait for an hour yet, so it may work a bit later, but this 100% slows down my workflow too.

 

See below, I'm searching for notes in my Action Pending notebook, but it's displaying a note from a completely different notebook.

[Mike P 2,641]

47 minutes ago, Josh B said:

Tag a plain text note, search for that tag, 'no notes found'... even though I can find them manually!

It's worth noting that there is now an unhelpful difference between "filtering" and "searching". I don't know whether you are using the term "search" generically or specifically because you added information to the search box or used a saved search.

As an example I just added a tag to a note. Filtering by clicking on the tag in the sidebar or using the filter menu immediately brought up the newly tagged note. Searching (using tag:tag_name) has still not found the note a few minutes after adding the tag. I assume this is because "searching" is done on the server and requires the note to be indexed while filtering is done in a different way, possibly even locally.

Filtering:

 

vs searching:

 

[Josh B 1]

This is actually really helpful to know, thank you

[CalS 5,280]

Amazing that you even have to think about it though.  Has to be one of the weirdest design decisions to knowingly build a lag into an information processing app.  /end.snark.to.Evernote 

[PinkElephant 8,105]

Don’t think it was „build into“ …

This is a side effect of moving everything to the server. In legacy the indexing was done on the local copy. Naturally the processing queue was much shorter there.

One can discuss the ups and downs endlessly.  It is as it is, and usually I am not searching for stuff I just have added.

[Mike P 2,641]

24 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

 It is as it is, and usually I am not searching for stuff I just have added.

Where I am searching for stuff I've just added it is normally some "meta" tag like "action" and the filter works well in this situation

[Alxa 479]

If filtering knows the local changes in tags immediately it could maybe possible to get this information into search results as well? A desktop client should deliver even when offline. Just looking at notes when offline to me is not enough in 2021. If a user is using tags as a part of daily workflow with notes, the huge lag or infinite lag when without internet connection can be a workflow killer. It is what it is, but the forum is to reflect user experience. Maybe someone at Evernote does care about it.

[CalS 5,280]

30 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Don’t think it was „build into“ …

This is a side effect of moving everything to the server. In legacy the indexing was done on the local copy. Naturally the processing queue was much shorter there.

One can discuss the ups and downs endlessly.  It is as it is, and usually I am not searching for stuff I just have added.

Didn't happen by accident, decisions were made.  Someone decided a lag was okay. 

The lag doesn't impact generic searching as much as it does note maintenance.  For example if one uses reminder searches extensively modifying the reminder of a note in a search list causes it to immediately leave the search list.  Or if one is doing maintenance for some reason having notes appear/disappear through the process prevents errors.  The infamous -tag:* search for those who tag all their notes for example.

It's a use case thing for sure.  Coupled with how accustomed one has become to the lightening quickness of 6.25.1 it's just more the irritant.

[PinkElephant 8,105]

@Alxa AFAIK there is no or only little functionality build into the app itself when offline. It probably is focused to handle what is there, and to set up an upload queue for new content.

Pretty similar to how the mobile app treats content when offline, as far as I can see.

It is build to get online „soon“ again, not to use it offline as standard use case. Just like any browser does …

[Alxa 479]

20 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

@Alxa AFAIK there is no or only little functionality build into the app itself when offline. It probably is focused to handle what is there, and to set up an upload queue for new content.

Pretty similar to how the mobile app treats content when offline, as far as I can see.

It is build to get online „soon“ again, not to use it offline as standard use case. Just like any browser does …

It pretty understand the concept of upload queue for new content. But changing just tags or notebook is just meta data. A client should be able to work this out without having to phone home to a server doing even this bit of a job. I understand that with the new concept they can save much more money as they only have to develop GUIs for the client software. Would be nice if any of this would eventually pay off for me as a customer as well. I cannot see that. 

[PinkElephant 8,105]

What you see is what you get - if unhappy, look for alternatives.

v10 moved a lot of functionality to the server. I think they will take some time to get it right. It is easier to fix, doesn’t need a release to roll out, just a fix of the server code.

Personally I can’t complain, which in part is due to the possibility to use legacy as alternative client. But more and more I see myself shifting to v10; for me they got many things right.

[Doug4 1]

Now after 7 months on Version 10, Evernote continues to add lipstick to this pig, but fundamental tasks like a “brisk” saved tag search go unaddressed.  Evernote thinks that altering a note’s tag and creating a delay before it shows up as a change in searched tags is just fine.  How long is the delay?   On my iPhone that thankfully is still at version 8.24, the tag search picks up the change instantly.  On Ver 10.11, the tag search does not see the change after minutes or even a sync.   I have to quit Evernote, remove it from memory, relaunch Evernote and magically the tag search sees the change.  

We’ve lost so much when Evernote thought it totally acceptable to remove these core functions from the device and put it on some non-responsive server on Pluto.  I’ve got ~8000 notes invested in Evernote and they seem to be dancing about playing with colors and opening screens while their database remains after months unusable by any sane person.  Hopefully, clearer heads will prevail sometime before they go totally out of business.  

[CalS 5,280]

I got sidetracked for a couple of days and my Late Reminder search had 24 notes.  I decided to test V10 a bit via changing the dates using the new web version,  As one would expect the notes did not disappear from the search as the reminder dates were changed.  Funny thing was the reminders visible in the search were the updated values.  So everything updated and displayed fine, it just shouldn't have been in the search.  It took the better part of 15 minutes for the search to be accurate. 

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, "... it's all about the indexing,... ".  What a major PITA for anyone trying to accomplish anything in a semblance of real time. 

[Doug4 1]

Sorry, I forgot to mention my iPad has the Evernote ver 10.11.  Thankfully, they still allow Evernote Classic to remain on PCs.  Come to think of it, the IBM card readers in college that had to be modem’ed to another campus had better response time than an Evernote saved tag search.  

 

“Now after 7 months on Version 10, Evernote continues to add lipstick to this pig, but fundamental tasks like a “brisk” saved tag search go unaddressed.  Evernote thinks that altering a note’s tag and creating a delay before it shows up as a change in searched tags is just fine.  How long is the delay?   On my iPhone that thankfully is still at version 8.24, the tag search picks up the change instantly.  On Ver 10.11, the tag search does not see the change after minutes or even a sync.   I have to quit Evernote, remove it from memory, relaunch Evernote and magically the tag search sees the change.  

We’ve lost so much when Evernote thought it totally acceptable to remove these core functions from the device and put it on some non-responsive server on Pluto.  I’ve got ~8000 notes invested in Evernote and they seem to be dancing about playing with colors and opening screens while their database remains after months unusable by any sane person.  Hopefully, clearer heads will prevail sometime before they go totally out of business.”  

[Mike P 2,641]

2 hours ago, Doug4 said:

fundamental tasks like a “brisk” saved tag search go unaddressed.

Searching and filtering are now very different. If your search is at all complex you are stuck with the unacceptable delay of search. If it's a simple search for one tag you can filter on that tag either by clicking the tag in the sidebar or using the filter menu. For me this is updated instantaneously.

[Doug4 1]

I guess “complex” is relative. The one tag search is for two tags and the other uses three tags.  

I had subscribed to a tag-centric use of Evernote and had served me well…until Ian created this beast.  I thought this was a database after all.  
 

So I guess I need to get out while the old version still works on my PC.  

[Mike P 2,641]

 

10 hours ago, Doug4 said:

The one tag search is for two tags and the other uses three tags.  

You can still use the filter menu but as you can't save filters you would need to do it each time which is a pain. On the other hand single tags can be easily found or added to the shortcuts menu.

[Doug4 1]

Ian has said in effect that significant tag usage within Evernote is no longer supported…which had been a positive distinction to other such software.  Tags provide a relative database of sorts which is useful when the database is large (mine is ~ 8,000 notes).  If you only want to make a grocery list or perhaps if you have extensive Notebooks, then Evernote could still be useful.  It seems odd though that Evernote would want to disenfranchise non-Notebook, serious users who would tend to subscribe annually (e.g.  me since 2011).  

I was part of the beta testing for Ver 10 and frankly got tired of submitting feedback time after time that went virtually unheard.  

[PinkElephant 8,105]

EN supports tags - no changes. I had an issue concerning tags in (offline) search. Customer service was attentive, passed it on to the techies, 2 releases later it was solved.

Doesn‘t seem as if Tags are abandoned …

The filters are about doing quick & dirty selections. They are not meant to build complex search queries.

[Doug4 1]

Tags are of no use if they cannot be effectively searched; otherwise, why have them.  Yes, Evernote has abandoned this feature.  
 

My expectations are that I should not have to quit Evernote, remove it from memory, and relaunch Evernote in order for it to update results of a tag search. Complex?  Two tags does not a complex search make.  

[PinkElephant 8,105]

When you are such a know-it-all power user, you are for sure aware of this:

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313828-How-to-use-Evernote-s-advanced-search-syntax

 

https://dev.evernote.com/doc/articles/search_grammar.php

 

[Doug4 1]

Please know I do not intend to be disrespectful of other users.  Thank you for the links describing tags, but I’ve been doing the same searches for years in Evernote, and instantly…until ver 10.  

The sad part is, the searches I’m doing for the most part are extremely simple:  “search for this tag and not this one”.  
 

My test is that I search once and it works  though with a delay, make a change to one note so that it should no longer be selected in the search, repeat the search and the note is still there erroneously.  Wait a few minutes, search and the note is still there.  Sync a couple of times, the note is still in the search.  Finally, quit Evernote, remove it from active memory on iOS device, relaunch Evernote, and now the search works correctly.  

Should this be viewed as an acceptable database?

[PinkElephant 8,105]

EN search is no exact science - v10 added one insecurity, because it builds the search index on the server. So first let us assume we search  fully indexed content, maybe a day old or older.

When I search using the search syntax, I get results. When I do the same search again, I get the same results. When I swap the sequence of the search string, I get again the same results. When I start with just one tag, search, then add another, and search, the first result is narrowed down. This is by using filters, search syntax or a combination of both.

I don’t see where I need to quit EN to get reliable search. I get it by just searching.

Disclaimer: Tried it in the iOS client. Don‘t expect other results on my Mac, but did not try yet.

Observation: EN sometimes shows a tag marked red, as a mistake. The result is correct, but it shows the tag in red, not blue. I have issued a support ticket about this, that was passed on to the devs for fixing. Up to now it is still not fixed. But it works, it just shows a red tag instead of a blue one.

[Doug4 1]

Could be that the ver 10 developers did not account for tags with special character prefixes?   As part of a tag-based Getting Things Done system, some tags have prefixes like ##today, @home, @church (@work is implicit so is not a tag).  

On an iOS device, try building some notes with @home or @church that also contain ##today.   Now, search tag:##today tag:@home -tag:@church (three tags in search).  On one note, delete the tag @home and execute the search again.  On my iPad, the note is still in the search and remains there for a very long time or until I exit and reenter Evernote. 

Again, these tags and saved searches still work flawlessly and immediately on pre-ver 10 Evernote in iOS and the Evernote Classic version of Windows desktop. 

I commented on the red tags also during beta testing.  

[PinkElephant 8,105]

AFAIK the only special character allowed on searches is the _underscore.

[Doug4 1]

Could be a rule change in ver 10 searches for tags with special characters?    

There were quite a few GTD followers and others using Evernote with such tag naming structures.  Displaying tag hierarchy was a principal selling point for iOS ver 10 and I was enthusiastic.  

Wonder why previous Evernote version upgrades over the years had no issues with these tags and searches?

[CalS 5,280]

3 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

AFAIK the only special character allowed on searches is the _underscore.

That only applies to the body of the note.  You can do searches for tag:!* for example.

[CalS 5,280]

3 hours ago, Doug4 said:

Again, these tags and saved searches still work flawlessly and immediately on pre-ver 10 Evernote in iOS and the Evernote Classic version of Windows desktop. 

I commented on the red tags also during beta testing.  

We should remember that EN changed the back end in some ways during this V10 journey, not sure it is the cause though.  IAC, IOS searches post changes that worked quickly pre V10 don't now.  Best of my memory anyway.  Variable lag in indexing seems to be a characteristic of this new development platform.  Other services suffer the same malady.  Interesting trade off - development simplicity with functional excellence

[PinkElephant 8,105]

Just created a few tags, assigned them to notes and searched in v10 Mac 10.15:

Syntax "tag:X", X being the new tags with special characters at the beginning.

@, #, ? and ! were found, no problem. It worked as well with using a "*" as wildcard behind the special character, like "tag:?*" delivered the same as writing the tag.

Have not tried it for more special characters - I assume it works.

 

[Doug4 1]

Try the example I gave with the three tags.  When you change one note to remove the tag so the saved search should no longer find the note, is it still included in the search results?   

[fabricioz 0]

I simply cannot believe that part of the the own userbase is defending Evernote for keeping a feature that simply doens't work.

It doesn't matter if it's filtering or searching. If it's there, is should work. If it doesn't work anymore, they should fix (as it were before) or remove the tags visualization from the menu.

It's not rocket science or like Evernote doesn't have the knowledge, time or money to do this. The fact is that they simply doesn't give a **** about us anymore.

Goodbye Evernote, after 11 years of subscription use. I'm migrating and moving no Notion, never to coming back. And I think all of you should do the same.

[PinkElephant 8,105]

What do you have to say, beside empty EN  and fellow user bashing ?

[Mike P 2,641]

52 minutes ago, fabricioz said:

It doesn't matter if it's filtering or searching. If it's there, is should work.

Works for me. Sadly your post is full of venom but no actual detail of what exactly the problem is. If you provided some details other users would be able to try to reproduce rwg prroblem and we would see whether it was a general issue or specific to you.

[Doug4 1]

Perhaps Fabricioz is still in the early stage of grieving.   It’s also not too productive spending an inordinate amount of time describing the same issue multiple times.  After a period, you realize that folk either have left Evernote or are in damage control.  I tried to reason and expound what I saw as woeful inadequacies of tag-based searches since beta testing for Evernote ver 10 to no avail.  

Being a follower of GTD since 2010, fast based responses is a must to your Next Actions list or any other search needed to support your ground-level task management.  Evernote is no longer able to support these reasonable queries (except for the previous version of Evernote on my iPhone or classic desktop version).  After a year of frustration with this tool, awareness that legacy versions will not be permitted indefinitely, and tremendously ballooned pricing, I’ve transitioned fully my GTD process to ToDoist which is much better tool for this purpose.  

My paid subscription will last until the Spring so I intend to use Evernote occasionally as it remains the repository of past paper-less storage (close to 8000 notes).  Work stuff is transitioning to “company approved” Onenote.  Home and free thinking stuff has transitioned, like Fabricioz, to Notion.  

I bid you well and enjoy the remaining ride on Evernote.  

 

[Mike P 2,641]

9 minutes ago, Doug4 said:

I tried to reason and expound what I saw as woeful inadequacies of tag-based searches since beta testing for Evernote ver 10 to no avail.  

To compare the current incarnation of V10 with the beta (or even the preview before that) is a little disingenuous. For example there were huge delays between tagging and being able to search or filter for that tag. Now, for me, filtering is updated instantaneously and it normally only take a few seconds for search to also update. In addition tag based search or filter results now update automatically if you remove a tag from one of the found notes  but admittedly not as fast as I would like it to. Filters can also now be saved.  I'm personally not seeing any issues with incomplete results. If the tag in the sidebar says it is attached to 200 notes and I click it I get 200 notes.

V10 is still not as fast as legacy and there are still plenty of things that need to be worked on in in the "tag based search" arena. However, enough progress has been made for me to believe that EN will probably still meet my needs going forward.

[PinkElephant 8,105]

Hmmmm - I am still with EN, have just renewed my subscription (same price, better features) and don’t feel myself in anything like „damage control“ - because there is no damage. To tell „folks“ would do this or that to me seems to be more justifying the own action to oneself. Just to make this clear: I am convinced nobody is „married“ to an app, and everybody should feel free to change a setup if the current way is individually not working out any more. But for the same reason it is not very respectful to tell, „everybody“ would be doing the same.

Updates of changes work, be it content or tags. I observed some lag in transporting changes down from the server to other clients until some time in summer, but not any longer since. Currently it may take some seconds or a few minutes until the distributed clients update, but this is IMHO completely acceptable.

Personally I had switched to Things 3 as my GTD hub a while before v10 was even launched. The reason is pretty simple: I feel better to have the „countable“ number of GTD tasks in one tool, and not among (and sometimes burried) under an „incountable“ mass of notes.

Some days I create a lot of notes, clipping content, scanning stuff, the like. My EN Inbox fills, and I am not always able (or motivated) to bring it back to zero fast again. Would my GTD inbox be the same, the actionable stuff would be among it. Having GTD in Things, I can focus on holding this Inbox to zero. Is something in EN actionable, I can pass a link to Things, and reference to the note from the GTD item.

Currently I let the EN Tasks feature mature - missing recurring tasks are one shortcoming. Maybe I will reevaluate my GTD setup once EN „gets it done“.