(Archived) Evernote Forum Search can't find Clearly?

[jbenson2 2,149]

I tried searching for Clearly in the forum - got no hits.

.

[jbenson2 2,149]

But it can find the word Clear.

.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

I got the same results.

I made sure I went to the general search page for ALL forums.

It doesn't even work when I am in the Clearly forum.

[jbenson2 2,149]

The forum search cannot locate Hello, but it can find the place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife.

I thought it might be a trademark restriction, but I can search for Evernote and get results.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

I lost my trust in the forum search a month or two ago.

This just confirms it.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

there is something very wrong with the search. sometimes i find what i want, but sometimes i get nothing, even when i know a thread exists. like jm, i have pretty much given up on it, and use google instead. jbenson, though, gets extra credit for finding the most egregious search problem of all!

ironic, of course, considering how gat the evernote app's search is.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

this is not as bad as the problem pointed out by jbenson, but still seems odd:

"Your search for the term evernote returned 107 results."

[peterfmartin 221]

I lost my trust in the forum search a month or two ago.

This just confirms it.

there is something very wrong with the search. sometimes i find what i want, but sometimes i get nothing, even when i know a thread exists. like jm, i have pretty much given up on it, and use google instead.

Yes. Sigh.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Another perplexing feature of the Evernote Forum Search:

It can find the word Clear in 124 threads, but it cannot find it in this thread.

The problem does not appear to be related to capitalization.

The following upper and lower case versions are easily found and pointed toward this thread.

Afterlife

afterlife

Egregious

egregious

Google

google

[jbenson2 2,149]

Besides the negative search results for Clearly or Hello, the Forum search results offer some unusual results for frequently mentioned words.

Some are found, others are not.

clip - 141

home - 125

ipad - 115

myen - 18

note - 98

past - 130

But:

even - 0

next - 0

soon - 0

what - 0

when - 0

still - 0 (5 letters)

Google seems more accurate.

This forum message came up as the #2 mention in Google using the following search term:

search Clearly Hello

.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Well, this clearly is not about Clearly.

Is anyone at Evernote looking into the problems with forum search?

[Metrodon 2,188]

I'll flag it for Geoff

[gbarry 2,658]

Thanks everyone. It's something I'll be focusing on this week. One possible outcome is we may install a Google Search hook which will enable an optional google search of this forum. Looking into how the hook works with the newest forum software update, which I'm working on scheduling in as well.

[heather 604]

I find this works better (which is why Geoff is trying to install Google site search):

Go to Google.

Type: "site:discussion.evernote.com <search term>"

voila.

[spg SCOTT 736]

I find this works better (which is why Geoff is trying to install Google site search):

Go to Google.

Type: "site:discussion.evernote.com <search term="">"

voila.

Something I have been doing for ages with forums. Always returns much better and more useful results.

Similar Thread:

[jbenson2 2,149]

I find this works better (which is why Geoff is trying to install Google site search):

Go to Google.

Type: "site:discussion.evernote.com <search term>"

voila.

Thanks Heather. The site: prefix helps a lot.

This worked fine. (6th mention from the top)

site:discussion.evernote.com Clearly

However, it seems stumped with

site:discussion.evernote.com Hello

It found 1,940 mentions in the forum, but not this specific forum message.

I could not find this forum mentioned in the first 3 pages of Google results.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[EDIT] Thanks to spg SCOTT. I modified the search to:

site:discussion.evernote.com Hello jbenson2

The result was this message was the 3rd mention in Google.

[spg SCOTT 736]

I'm going to guess that it is down to the title...since clearly is in the title (of the topic, and therefore the link/page) it finds that a lot easier.

Adding another keyword where possible makes it easier to locate (i.e. using Hello and jbenson2 as search terms results in this thread being listed third.

An addition to my previous post....While the google search is easier/better etc the point is still valid and a problem since most users will be using the forum search...so it will crop up

[peterfmartin 221]

I find this works better (which is why Geoff is trying to install Google site search):

Go to Google.

Type: "site:discussion.evernote.com <search term>"

voila.

This works (better than the forum search), but has downsides. When the forum search works, the list of returned topics shows you which you've read, which you've commented on, and all topics in chronological order. A Google search shows none of these, forcing you to click through to view more topics, or click through more pages of search results.

I still use Google, since it's better than the forum's search, but it's hardly "voila," since there's still a lot lacking with that method. That's why it would be great if the forum search actually worked.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Thanks everyone. It's something I'll be focusing on this week. One possible outcome is we may install a Google Search hook which will enable an optional google search of this forum. Looking into how the hook works with the newest forum software update, which I'm working on scheduling in as well.

Geoff,

As I'm sure you know, Forum Search still has many problems.

Is the issue with the core forum software (IP Board), or is it specific to the Evernote setup?

I've been a member of lots of forums over the years, but this is my first with IP Board.

I must say, it is among the worst I have used.

I can tell you that VBulletin is one of the best I have used.

[gbarry 2,658]

I certainly haven't been happy with search on the forum. It's basically a limitation of MySQL--MySQL indexing will skip common words like "clearly", in addition to ignoring short words. Which of course makes searching for clearly a ball of fun.

Implementing Google Site Search for the forum turned out to not be cost effective--we'd have to start paying by the query (I think it's every 100 queries), which we're just not willing to incur at the moment. Frying a few other things at the moment, but rest assured Search is something I aim to improve over time with the forum. It's just not very user friendly, and at best you can't rely on it 100%.

[gbarry 2,658]

But:

even - 0

next - 0

soon - 0

what - 0

when - 0

still - 0 (5 letters)

I think search not returning any of these sort of proves out that MySQL is totally ignoring common words. Though I don't really view "clearly" as common.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Thanks for keeping us informed.

[gbarry 2,658]

So, we've gotten Google Site Search working--not sure about any limitations, but it's there. Go to the search bar, click "Forum" or "This Topic" or "Members" or whatever the default is (it depends on where in the forum you're located) and select Google Site Search from the drop down and...voila! You can search the forum using Google.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s16/sh/b5860465-02ba-4cb7-a621-1ad543a4d8fe/39a7ffa96a075b2c69936fec9d4dae2e

Again, not sure about query limitations yet but it's there. Have at it.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Is the search bar the one that is in the upper right corner of this forum?

Don't see a drop down for Google.

Also, response from link:

Oops...

Access denied.

You have accessed a location on this server that is not available.

You may need to Sign in to your account to access this page.

[gbarry 2,658]

Weird. It should be shared. Try this one, though it might just be the same one?

https://www.evernote...9936fec9d4dae2e

Yes, you click the little grey box, right to the left of the magnifying glass. Should give a dropdown with a few different options.

[heather 604]

Might have been a cached permissions thing, jbenson2. I just reset it for the full forum.

[gbarry 2,658]

And defaulted it

[jbenson2 2,149]

Weird. It should be shared. Try this one, though it might just be the same one?

https://www.evernote...9936fec9d4dae2e

Yes, you click the little grey box, right to the left of the magnifying glass. Should give a dropdown with a few different options.

I logged off, cleared my cookies and rebooted.

When I click on the link I get this:

http://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh/1d30d06c-ecab-4c40-be98-d7117bb24155/87353d52822d3cec4f1546cd6b805b17

The search bar works now with Google.

http://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh/758201e5-a38d-47cd-9d20-f7bfeb878913/19c467cfa2ae7e62ddc6eaa8e731f459

[jbenson2 2,149]

And the search for clearly works. Thanks

The window is small and requires a lot of extra scrolling.

It would be helpful if the popup could be maximized.

http://www.evernote....43e0ed9447daa25

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

And the search for clearly works. Thanks

The window is small and requires a lot of extra scrolling.

It would be helpful if the popup could be maximized.

http://www.evernote....43e0ed9447daa25

I agree with JB -- the popup with Google search results needs to be larger, and movable.

I often have the Browser window zoomed in to make the text larger

This results in the Google window being partially displayed, and I can't move it up to see the whole screen.

Actually, rather than a popup, I would prefer that the search results be normally displayed in the whole window.

[heather 604]

We'd prefer that too.

As the Google Site Search is an add-on and not part of the forum, there's not much we can do to customize it.