What is the best way to use Ctrl-Q?

[idoc 400]

Not entirely sure what this actually does.  It seems to summon a search bar and a limited droplist.  Seems like going to  "Notes" and then doing a search of that search term is more helpful.  For example, here is what I get when I use ctrl-Q and do a search of "Evernote".  It gives me  at the very top a way that I can switch to all the notes that are tagged with "Evernote".  Underneath that are 10 notes in various notebooks that have "evernote" in the title.  At the bottom is an option to search all of my notes.  I am trying to figure out why this presentation is useful and under what circumstances this is better than simply going to "Notes" and doing a search of "Evernote" (see the screenshot underneath the first one)

 

Below is what I get when I just go to Notes and search for "evernote".  Pink shows up as the first hit!  Why would I use Ctrl-Q and get such a limited set of results when I could get all of the results doing it the other way?

[PinkElephant 8,174]

It just a quick way of searching for something. It’s sometimes called a note switcher, because it’s intended use is to go very fast to a note you know is there,.

[idoc 400]

Seems very random.  I was looking for a note that is in my "Contacts" notebook which has some details on Evernote.  If I do a Ctrl-Q search it just gives me the first 10 search results (which is not helpful).  If I instead select the first item (which is the tag "evernote") it gives me 37 results.  However, the note that I am looking for is still not there.  If I go to the last item  "search for evernote in Notes" it gives me all 82 items but I can now filter with tags or other things and get to the note that I want.  So still not sure why ctrl-Q is such a popular feature for many of the users here.  Seems rather hit or miss for me.

[Boot17 1,467]

I use "Switch To" (Ctrl-Q on Windows, Cmd-J on Mac) to quickly filter a list of notes by a specific tag or when I want to find a particular note by title. Those are my primary two uses for it. It's just faster for me than the side bar search.

For example, one of my tags is "plan". If I want to quickly filter my notes list by the "plan" tag, I press Cmd-J and then type "plan" and hit enter as the "plan" tag is the first item in the list and is already highlighted.

For that example with the side bar search, I hit Cmd-Control-E, type "plan" and arrow down 10 times where the "plan" tag appears in the "Add Filter" section, or I could move the mouse and click on it.

I have a note called "My Next Macbook / New Mac" that I refer to often. To quickly pull it up I press Cmd-J and then type "next" and hit enter and it pulls the note up.

I'm not sure, but with continued use it seems like the Switch To command learns what notes/tags/notebooks you are likely to select and puts those first in the list.

In addition, since Switch To is my default go-to for finding, I can also just as easily do a full text search by selecting the "Search for WHATEVER in notes" at the bottom of the list.

Also, you can expand your note (hiding the side bar and note list) and Switch To will still work where the side bar search doesn't. I use this less often, but it's kind of nice every once in a while.

I actually hardly ever use the search in the side bar.

[Dave Green 210]

Often, I will say "Evernote Notes" or "Evernote Alternatives" to use your example to specify more of the title of the note I want to bring up.  I probably use ⌘+J (Mac) 20 times more often than I use the general search.  ⌘+J with no entry gives the ten most recent notes I have selected with ⌘+J.

[idoc 400]

Excellent suggestions.  I can see how this could be useful.  I'm intrigued by the suggestion that perhaps it learns what to present by observing what you're searching for.  I experimented with this by conducting a specific search many times and then seeing if that search result appeared higher in the list.  The list of results seemed identical every time ie: even though the term I was searching for was #10 on the list, it remained at that same place no matter how many times I searched for it.  

[Jon/t 1,319]

I use it a lot and have remapped the keyboard shortcut to CTRL + NUMPAD - to make it a little easier for me.

I use it almost as a quick search to get to notes and notebooks quickly. I can get to notes fast and it remembers the last few searches.

I have my sidebar shut all the time so I use it to get to recent notes.

Very useful for me.

[AlbertR 542]

2 hours ago, Jon/t said:

... I can get to notes fast and it remembers the last few searches.
I have my sidebar shut all the time so I use it to get to recent notes.

Oups, in my case, Ctrl-Q simply show an input field (not more)

Only when I type something, some suggestions come up - but not with my last few searches:

After waiting some seconds, the search is executed in background and some (10) suggestions come up (OK) - but not with last searches 😞

My preferred way to search in EN10 is to use the Global Search functionality that I've bound to Ctrl-Numpad-Minus 😉. It's the nearest adaption of what Legacy offered:

• It work even if EN10 is not active (but started an hidden somewhere on my screen)
• a search dialog comes up that offers all you need
  • current (last) search string         [directly editable 👍]
  • last searches                                (*)
  • go to...                                           [notes and some meaningfull notebooks]
  • filters                                             [that might make sense]
  • standard/AI switch                     [🤔]

(*) means: list of last search phrases is completely outdated - unusable 😞

[Jon/t 1,319]

7 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

Oups, in my case, Ctrl-Q simply show an input field (not more)

 

Is it a new install? I noticed when I reinstalled it wiped any history.

This is what I see

[AlbertR 542]

1 hour ago, Jon/t said:

Is it a new install? I noticed when I reinstalled it wiped any history.

No. And if I open a Global Search (with my Ctrl-Numpad-Minus) it shows very old last searches 🤔

But it's not that problem - it funny to see what EN tries to fore-think with this dialog 🙄

And I'm not going to try to reinstall because of little things like that - especially as Legacy is scuttled with every EN10 update. 😤

[Jon/t 1,319]

1 hour ago, AlbertR said:

And if I open a Global Search (with my Ctrl-Numpad-Minus) it shows very old last searches

There was quite a bit of chat about this on a call last week so they know about it. I would expect something working better soon.

[VincentC 272]

Cntl-q is my primary form of search.  I find it essentially replaces the intitle:[whatever] syntax, but cntl-

[VincentC 272]

Cntl-q (aka cmd-j on a mac) is my primary form of search and I use it a dozen times a day.  Like @Jon/t, it's the primary way I move from one note to another.  I find it essentially replaces the intitle:[whatever] syntax, but cntl-q will find my search word or term in the title wherever the word or term is in the title.   I believe this is different from intitle: which I think will only give results if I get each word in the title exactly correct and in the right order, left to right.  (I could be wrong about that because with cntl-q I never have to use intitle! 😁).  Also, like Jon, I rarely use tags, so I'm unfamiliar with the advantages cntl-q has for finding tags.  

 

[MvdH 422]

11 minutes ago, VincentC said:

Also, like Jon, I rarely use tags, so I'm unfamiliar with the advantages cntl-q has for finding tags.

I use it 90 percent of the time to find notes with a certain tag, and if a tag containing the word I looked for doesn't exist, then I'll use it as a search in the title of a note.

It (also) removes all prior filters, so I can quickly find what I look for. I never use the regular search. Well, maybe les than 0.1 percent of the time. 

[gustavgi 308]

When Ctrl+Q was implemented (Legacy) it was for instantly jumping to a specific notebook, tag or saved search, as there was no delay in search.

If you wanted to search for a note title or note content you used regular search, which could also be accessed through Ctrl+Q similar to today (search for X in notes and list of recent searches). When Ctrl+Q started showing notes as well in v10, the results were limited to just 10+ random results. I guess the search would be too demanding if all related notes were found - and if not I would strongly prefer a scrollable list. I still very much prefer the old way as I use Ctrl+Q for finding tags 90% of the times. Too bad there is no customization in settings..

Also, Alt+F5 would provide you with a similar searchable pop-up list for just your shortcuts in the order of your choice, which was by far the quickest way to get to your most used and/or important notes, tags, notebooks and saved searches.

[Boot17 1,467]

Switch To in Legacy (at least on Mac) would find by note title as well:

https://youtu.be/TtYHs_Ss9So?si=7FodzFnxmg2hZxVb&t=480

[Boot17 1,467]

If you are looking for a note with something common in the title, then add another word that you know might be in the title. For example, I also have a lot of notes with 'Evernote' in the title. Typing "evernote back", brings up the note that I was looking for "Evernote Export Strategy | Backups".

I've named a lot of my notes such that I can find them quickly with the Switch To command.

[MvdH 422]

4 minutes ago, Boot17 said:

I've named a lot of my notes such that I can find them quickly with the Switch To command.

For me this is one of the most important conventions. For posts on forums, for e-mails, for evernote notes... A good, compact descriptive subject. 🙂  For searching by title I do the same, however I group loads of notes by project, person, theme, location, timeline through tags. Ctrl+Q works wonderfully for both approaches. 

[idoc 400]

17 minutes ago, MvdH said:

For me this is one of the most important conventions. For posts on forums, for e-mails, for evernote notes... A good, compact descriptive subject. 🙂  For searching by title I do the same, however I group loads of notes by project, person, theme, location, timeline through tags. Ctrl+Q works wonderfully for both approaches. 

I think this is the critical point.  For example, I have lots of notes that have information about "Hawaii" and "Beaches".  When I do a CtrlQ it brings up only one note ie: "The 30 best Hawaiian beaches".  However, there are dozens of other notes that deal with Hawaii and Beaches but those search terms are buried within the notes and they don't appear unless I do a global search. In fact, I have at least 5 tags with the term "Hawaii" and none of them showed up on the "Hawaii beaches" search.  However, if I do a CtrlQ for "Hawaii" I do get results which include all my Hawaii tags (but not the note with the beaches).  

[AlbertR 542]

11 hours ago, idoc said:

In fact, I have at least 5 tags with the term "Hawaii" and none of them showed up on the "Hawaii beaches" search.

Your tagging scheme might be enhanced 😉

I use special characters at start of tag names to identify the tag type.

• @ means "where" (@hawaii, @ulm, ...)
• = means "what (=beach, =bill, ...)
• < describes "belongs to year" ( <2023, <1999, ...)
• > describes "when to do" (>0-now, >2-next-doctor, >8-wait, ...)
• _ mentions special people (_martin, _lena, _...)
• ~ marks the source of information (~youtube, ~Heise, @EN, ...)
• ... 

So "tag:=beach tag:@hawaii" would lead you directly to what you are looking for.

To simplify typing "tag:" you may use a keyboard accelerator tool like AHK (AutoHotKey) and define a phrase like "t@" to expand to "tag:@" or simply "t" to expand to "tag:".

Works perfect in EN10' global search (after Ctrl-Keypad-Minus in my case or Ctrl-Q per default) and former Legacy versions.

Suggestion to EN developers: Global search should ...

• append every single word to any special character that is used as first character of any tag name 
• and use this tag like the user might have typed "tag:[char][word]"

... to construct a complete search phrase. If this leads to an empty result list, try the normal search without this "AI-driven" word replacements 😉

[MvdH 422]

Maybe for some inspiration, I use a method based on TSW (The Secret Weapon, a variant of GTD). See; 

 

[AlbertR 542]

5 hours ago, MvdH said:

I use a method based on TSW

Whow - read the thread and @jolee61's PDF and felt like I'd known it forever 😉