Still bugged by implementation of "search as you type"

[Shannon Wagner 4]

Hi,

I decided to bring up a topic from an old thread again, since the truth is, it still bugs me and I wish the implementation would change. Here's a link to my last post, from October 2010:

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=19679

Part of the reason I am bringing it up again is that I am now using a snazzy new PC running the latest OS - Windows 7, and I am using the latest version of Evernote available. So the fact that typing into the search box clearly hangs the entire user interface at two characters into each word, for a few seconds each time, to me means that this implementation is well-baked into the Evernote product.

It doesn't seem like there are any signs of fixing it.. It doesn't seem like it is flagged as a bug..

:-(

Now, maybe I am among only a few users who are experiencing this issue, for whatever reason. Or maybe others who are experiencing it just aren't bothered by it. But since I can only be bothered by and care about my own personal experience bugs, I will ask for an implementation change which would significantly improve my own personal user experience.

My vote:

Please provide an option to turn off "search as you type", so that I can just do my search when I hit , which is what I end up doing anyway, except now I have to wait through a lot of hesitations at the two-char marks before getting to get to the end of my search phrase to hit .

:-)

[crane 40]

Oh me too, I hate that pause. Kills me. To the point where I prefer to search with enscript.exe instead of the UI.

[kvitekp 298]

I have a large db (8K notes in 2GB) and it works smoothly for me, i.e. each typed character cancels a running search if any... so it must be db specific. Will have a look at it again, thank you for reporting.

iqwirty, you have pretty large db too, correct ?

/Peter

[jbenson2 2,147]

I have a 1.2g db with 9,000 notes.

I used to see the pause, but I gave up manually typing anything into the search field when I ran into the search bug for tags.

http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=22679&p=98260#p98261

All my search inquiries are first typed into notepad, then copied and pasted into the search field.

So I no longer see the pause or the search errors.

Note: I just tested the search field by manually typing a search and the pause is still there.

I can get 2 to 3 characters typed in for INTITLE: before the system pauses.

[JMichaelTest 19]

What is the real benefit of searching as you type, vs just waiting for the user to either TAB or ENTER?

I know Google is doing the same thing, and everyone I know doesn't like the Google behavior.

This has to be a significant hit on the system resources, plus it is just distracting for many people.

Please at least provide a User Preference to turn off this auto-search.

This should apply to ALL platforms.

[Shannon Wagner 4]

I wouldn't call my database large - it's currently about 7GB. Since premium users when I started using Evernote a few years ago could add 500MB per month, you might expect a user to accumulate 7GB in just 14 months. Of course, now premium users get 1GB per month. For the length of time I've been a user, I could have easily accumulated twice what I have. I think I have about 15,000 notes. I feel like this is well within the expected usage of the service.

I think the fact that users on this thread are replying back that they have worked around the issue by doing things like using ENScript.exe and typing their queries into Notepad, then copying them over to the search box, are really big red flags. If Evernote is going to continue growing users and really bring in a mainstream PC audience, the search box is going to have to work like a good search box, for common users, during common use cases. My gut is telling me that's not true right now. Typical users just aren't going to tolerate workarounds in order to get something as basic as search to work well.

Of course, if the users with problems on this thread are not really common users, maybe because it turns out that they have some bug in their database which causes the problem, then I hope further steps can be taken to help identify the bug.

I don't mean that search is simple to implement - not at all. But from a user's point of view it is a simple function in their user experience. It should work easily.

As for Google's instant search - I sometimes appreciate it and sometimes don't care about it. But very importantly, it has *never* caused a delay in my user experience, and I'm sure Google's database is much bigger than my measly 7GB of Evernote data..

:-)

I remember when I first started using Evernote I saw a demo where a guy used the incremental search features of Evernote. It was very snazzy and definitely appealed to me. It's a cool feature. But given that it has consistently not worked without causing the UI to hang, over at least a year's worth of updates in software, spanning both the 3.5 and 4.x versions, and both Windows XP and Windows 7, I think there may be enough reason to add a simple checkbox to the options UI to allow the feature to be turned off. When I first opened a support case about this last year, I was told that the problem would go away once I was on Windows 7 with the rewritten Evernote 4, but that turned out not to be true.

Also, I'd be willing to pay $6 per month, if the service included the ability to turn off the unfortunately not-snazzy incremental search feature.

;-)

[jefito 5,589]

A reasonable request to make this an option, sure. Obviously it doesn't work well for some folks; generally -- and particularly since version 4 came out -- it works fine for me. Granted I have a much smaller database, ~650MB, from about a year's worth of use. But even on my work machine, which is a dog, no problems with incremental searching.

Actually, I like the Google behavior, and I have no problem with Evernote's either. One benefit is that for some searches I get quicker results, because if I can filter to ~8 or so notes, I can usually stop searching and pick the note I am looking for.

BTW, I see no significant hit on system resources, of any kind, at least using Process Explorer. A slight, and temporary CPU rise while typing in the Evernote.exe process (maxed once to %13, but typically much lower), but then again it rises while typing in this forum for the Chrome.exe process, too.

[Shannon Wagner 4]

For what it's worth, I don't think that it is an issue of resources which is causing the hang in the UI. It seems to so reliably hang the whole UI after the second character of every word I type that it really seems to me like there must be a loop in the code which waits for the second character and then starts calling the search code.

Also, clearing the search and then typing the same words is much more responsive, without as much of a noticeable hang.

[amer 19]

No issues with 1 GB database (filled mostly with PDF files) on a 4-year old machine.

[jbenson2 2,147]

The hesitation is frustrating. I have two methods to get around the pauses while typing in a search or a tag.

1.) For searches, I usually type the search parameters into notepad first and then copy it to the Evernote search field.

2.) For tags, I have given up on F3 - I used to be able to type a portion of the tag and Evernote would fill in the rest when I pressed enter. Now, it is creating new partial tags due to the pause (lag). I switched over to Ctrl Alt T to select the correct tags.

I'd love to have the search option set up like it is on the web - after entering the info, you have to press the search key to start up the search.

[akrde 19]

This issue is so ANNOYING, will there ever be a fix to it?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

This issue is so ANNOYING, will there ever be a fix to it?

Hello. If you are a Windows user there is a method suggested by kvitekp (the Evernote employee who commented earlier in this thread) for disabling the instant search. I am afraid that I don't know of any option yet for Mac users.

http://discussion.ev...ns/#entry141919

[crane 40]

This issue is so ANNOYING, will there ever be a fix to it?

Hello. If you are a Windows user there is a method suggested by kvitekp (the Evernote employee who commented earlier in this thread) for disabling the instant search. I am afraid that I don't know of any option yet for Mac users.

http://discussion.ev...ns/#entry141919

My DB is 2.7 GB with almost 20,000 notes, about half of which are local. The lag caused me such grief that when I saw Peter's registry hack, I immediately implemented it. Love it.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

This issue is so ANNOYING, will there ever be a fix to it?

Hello. If you are a Windows user there is a method suggested by kvitekp (the Evernote employee who commented earlier in this thread) for disabling the instant search. I am afraid that I don't know of any option yet for Mac users.

http://discussion.ev...ns/#entry141919

My DB is 2.7 GB with almost 20,000 notes, about half of which are local. The lag caused me such grief that when I saw Peter's registry hack, I immediately implemented it. Love it.

Glad to hear that it worked well for you! Peter often drops into these forums with delightful treats like these

[akrde 19]

Hello. If you are a Windows user there is a method suggested by kvitekp (the Evernote employee who commented earlier in this thread) for disabling the instant search. I am afraid that I don't know of any option yet for Mac users.

http://discussion.ev...ns/#entry141919

Works like a charm, thanks for the tip!!!

[tjeef 3]

Just chiming in that I am also frustrated about this deficiency.

If Evernote is to be the hub for all stuff, it simply doesn't fly with this annoyance on the "entry gate" and most basic function of all: search.

[flatlanderdox 7]

Here's a link to a more complete Step-by-Step walkthrough on how to do this.

 

https://capeably.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/how-to-disable-search-as-you-type-feature-in-evernote-v5-windows-7/

 

Hope this helps!