(Archived) Search in Title Only?

[livtar 0]

Is there any way to search for titles of notes only, not all text contained in all notes? Say my note is named "Foods I like". I search "foods" and every note with the word "foods" somewhere in the text comes up. But I only want notes with "foods" in the title.

[engberg 89]

From the search box, you can type:

intitle:foods

to just match notes that have that word in the title. If you want to match a phrase, you'd use quotation marks:

intitle:"foods I like"

[jefito 5,589]

You'll find the "Intitle:" search term, along with other advanced terms, on this page in the Knowledge Base: https://www.evernote.com/about/kb/article/advanced-search?lang=en.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

And if you're on Windows & combine the powerful search syntax along with Activewords, (an app I heard about from forum member jschnur), it's like saved searches, only faster to use b/c you don't have to scroll down the left pane. We have a dog who has to be on a special diet b/c she's in the early stages of kidney failure. I make most of her food & keep the recipes in Evernote. By using Activewords with Evernote, I just press F5 (my find in Evernote hotkey), the letters kdb terminated with F12. That signals Activewords to replace kdb with:

tag:"kidney diet" beef

Which brings up all the notes tagged with kidney diet & that contain the word beef. And I only typed five keystrokes. I have Activewords setup to replace kdc with:

tag:"kidney diet" chicken

to find all the chicken recipes.

[livtar 0]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it. Maybe it could be a choice under search so us non technical types wouldn't need the fancy syntax.

[livtar 0]

P.S. I have looked at that page with all the commands but didn't understand it. Perhaps you guys should show these explanatory pages to your moms or other non techies and see if they get it. Then you'll know it's simple enough for the average user.

P.P.S. I'm not insulting anyone's mom, who might be the head of IT for HP, it's just a figure of speech.

[jbenson2 2,147]

P.S. I have looked at that page with all the commands but didn't understand it. Perhaps you guys should show these explanatory pages to your moms or other non techies and see if they get it. Then you'll know it's simple enough for the average user.

P.P.S. I'm not insulting anyone's mom, who might be the head of IT for HP, it's just a figure of speech.

It took me a while to figure it out. Some of the search grammar is not very intuitive. What I did was concentrate on one type of search example until I got it down pat. And I kept records of successful searches in my Evernote. Just like learning Spanish or a new language. Example:

Looking for pizza and beer? Search for:

• pizza beer

Looking for pizza or beer? Search for:

• any:pizza beer

I've got 5 notes now that cover most of my search needs. I still refer to them on a regular basis.

Search Examples - General Search Grammar

Search Examples - Dates and Time (my biggest note with tons of examples)

Search Examples - Things

Search Examples - Places

Search Examples - People

And this forum is a good spot for asking these types of questions.

[JMichaelTest 19]

It took me a while to figure it out. Some of the search grammar is not very intuitive. . .

Bingo! You hit the nail on the head!

I love Evernote and think it is a great tool!

But Evernote searching is more difficult to learn and use than any other system I can remember. Other than a simple full text search (like you use with Google) it is not intuitive at all. And in many area it is counter-intuitive. I hasten to add that what is, or is not, intuitive to me may, or may not, be for you. :-)

In my opinion, the search syntax provides a lot of room for improvement, maybe even a re-write.

Some points to consider:

1. 
   [*:uia4gp80]I have worked with, and programmed many systems that provide a search facility. So generally when I come across a new system I can pick up the search tool pretty quickly. But not Evernote. In particular, the "Date" search is bizarre and hard to remember.
   [*:uia4gp80]There are a number of search engines that have been around for a while that Evernote could have used to model their search syntax after. Using a well-known search syntax would have made Evernote Search more intuitive for many people.
   But it appears to me that the Evernote syntax is completely home grown. It could just be my ignorance though, so if anyone knows different please enlighten me.
   [*:uia4gp80]In most systems, Saved Searches are the most powerful tool for searching. And, many systems provide you with a Search Editor that helps you build a Saved Search. But not Evernote. Saved Searches in Evernote are difficult to build, and not easy to use if you have more than a handful of searches.
   [*:uia4gp80]Evernote provides us with a number of inteli-search typing aids, like when you start typing a Tag in the Tag field. This is extremely helpful, especially when you have lots of Tags.
   [*:uia4gp80]Providing some type of inteli-search for building the search criteria (not searching the Notes as you type) would be very, very helpful. But for more complicated (longer) search criteria, a separate Search Editor would be very helpful.
   [*:uia4gp80]Going back to that word

"Intuitive". It is very user dependent.
I don't know, but I would hazard a guess that of the 7M Evernote users, the only search the majority have ever done is some type of full text search like Google, Bing, etc. So these users will need more assistance in constructing searches (other than full text).
[*:uia4gp80]Here's a clue: A search of the Evernote Forums (Win 4, Mac, General Discussion) returned 296 threads/topics concerning "Search". Within the last month there have been 22 threads.
[*:uia4gp80]Finally, if jbenson2 finds using Search difficult, then many, many others will also.

• 
  [*:uia4gp80]I consider jbenson2 one of the most knowledgeable Evernote users in these forums.
  [*:uia4gp80]He has clearly devoted much time to studying and testing the Search facility.
  [*:uia4gp80]He has spent far more time than most people will ever spend on this topic.

[di3it 0]

this is a life saver...literally. i think evernote's debilitating search features were actually contributing to my hair loss. i feel like someone pulled a plug at the base of my skull and released all the pressure built up from cursing at evernote every time it would freeze up searching through my thousands of notes when i only want to search titles.

the fickle evernote gods have smiled upon us!

hail intitle: and her consort, -intitle: !!!!!

[helix 10]

livtar,

Assuming that you are using mostly a plain word search, here is a very simple solution that I am sure you can live with and using it freely without the need to learn Evernote search syntax:

Get back to the "Foods I like", and add an underscore (_) right after Foods such that the title is changed into "Foods_ I like". Done.

Press F6 and write the word "foods_" in the search box. I am sure that you will be amazed and delighted from the output of this search.

Evernote recognizes underscore as a searchable character and therefore that "foods_" is different from any other "foods" in your database.

If you prefer to leave the title smooth and intact, just add at the top of your note all the important words of the title (and for that matter any other important keywords related to your note) as single words followed by underscore. Good luck!