(Archived) Evernote Saved Search Query

[TdeV 90]

I'd like a saved search which looks in

Notebook:Food

and finds

1) all items not tagged with Shellfish (-tag:Shellfish)

AND

2) any item with one or more of these tags

tag:abalone tag:clam* tag:crab* tag:crayfish tag:lobster tag:mussel tag:octopus tag:oyster* tag:scallop tag:shrimp* tag:snail* tag:squid

 

I'm getting a result of all items not tagged with Shellfish.

 

I didn't find this in the help which I looked up.

 

Thanks in advance.

[gazumped 12,222]

You can't do AND/ OR searches (yet) in Evernote - best option would be to search for tag:clam* etc and sort by the tag column. You'd quickly see the items not tagged 'shellfish'.

[TdeV 90]

Oh, this sucks bigtime!

 

It isn't appropriate to create 10,000 searches.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

 

It isn't appropriate to create 10,000 searches.

Not sure what this is supposed to mean.

[jefito 5,598]

Evernote Advanced Search Functions: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/23245321

Evernote search grammar : http://dev.evernote.com/documentation/cloud/chapters/search_grammar.php

 

I doubt that you can have 10,000 saved searches, and I sure wouldn't want to work with that many in a flat list scheme. There may be a way to accomplish what you want more easily, without that many searches, though. Might involve some retagging, tag renaming, or other organizational tricks.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Evernote Advanced Search Functions: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/23245321

Evernote search grammar : http://dev.evernote.com/documentation/cloud/chapters/search_grammar.php

 

I doubt that you can have 10,000 saved searches, and I sure wouldn't want to work with that many in a flat list scheme. There may be a way to accomplish what you want more easily, without that many searches, though. Might involve some retagging, tag renaming, or other organizational tricks.

 

To the best of my knowledge, you can only have 100 saved searches. And, I sure wouldn't want to work with that many either!

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=169

[TdeV 90]

I was planning ONE search to cover 12 possibilities for Shellfish. And I've got 20+ kinds of fish which I'd like to put in another search, etc.

 

These are queries for maintenance of the database. I get that EN can look up anything which uses the word "clam" in the text, but I'm wanting more general categories, e.g. "I'm thinking of having shellfish, what might be nice?" EN can't answer that question without help; EN doesn't know what shellfish is, so I was going to tag all my shellfish entries with the tag "shellfish".

 

The maintenance query is simply looking for recipes with shellfish which have not been tagged with the tag:shellfish. There are a lot of gross groupings which I would like to perform.

 

So, how to do it?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I was planning ONE search to cover 12 possibilities for Shellfish. And I've got 20+ kinds of fish which I'd like to put in another search, etc.

 

These are queries for maintenance of the database. I get that EN can look up anything which uses the word "clam" in the text, but I'm wanting more general categories, e.g. "I'm thinking of having shellfish, what might be nice?" EN can't answer that question without help; EN doesn't know what shellfish is, so I was going to tag all my shellfish entries with the tag "shellfish".

 

The maintenance query is simply looking for recipes with shellfish which have not been tagged with the tag:shellfish. There are a lot of gross groupings which I would like to perform.

 

So, how to do it?

If you think you forgot to apply that tag to something, you can search for:

 

any: tag:abalone tag:clam* tag:crab* tag:crayfish tag:lobster tag:mussel tag:octopus tag:oyster* tag:scallop tag:shrimp* tag:snail* tag:squid

 

Batch apply the tag by selecting all the results & applying the tag 'shellfish'.  You don't need to isolate the ones that are not already tagged 'shellfish'.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

2) any item with one or more of these tags

tag:abalone tag:clam* tag:crab* tag:crayfish tag:lobster tag:mussel tag:octopus tag:oyster* tag:scallop tag:shrimp* tag:snail* tag:squid

BTW, this wouldn't have worked anyway.  Your search phrase:

 

tag:abalone tag:clam* tag:crab* tag:crayfish tag:lobster tag:mussel tag:octopus tag:oyster* tag:scallop tag:shrimp* tag:snail* tag:squid

 

would probably have zero results b/c it's looking for notes that have all those tags applied.

 

I suggest you check the links Jefito posted so you have a better understanding of the EN search grammar.

[TdeV 90]

In my example I searched for ANY not ALL.

 

What I want to do is find the exceptions, not do and redo the same task a million times over without knowing whether there is any reason to perform the task or not. Which would have been "simple" were I to be able to have had -tag AND (ANY: tag:clam, etc)

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

In my example I searched for ANY not ALL.

What I want to do is find the exceptions, not do and redo the same task a million times over without knowing whether there is any reason to perform the task or not. Which would have been "simple" were I to be able to have had -tag AND (ANY: tag:clam, etc)

Um...it's (any) not in the syntax you posted. Only in your description of what you are wanting to do. Since I failed mind reading class, there is no way for me to know you accidentally omitted the 'any' operator from the syntax you posted.

And you can accomplish your goal by doing what I posted. One query. One batch tag. It's very simple.

[TdeV 90]

 

You don't need to isolate the ones that are not already tagged 'shellfish'.

 

I'm looking for a list of exceptions, so I DO need to find the items not already tagged "shellfish".

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

 

You don't need to isolate the ones that are not already tagged 'shellfish'.

 

I'm looking for a list of exceptions, so I DO need to find the items not already tagged "shellfish".

 

Then you really do need to learn to be more accurate because here's what you said you wanted to do...

 

 

I was planning ONE search to cover 12 possibilities for Shellfish. And I've got 20+ kinds of fish which I'd like to put in another search, etc.

 

These are queries for maintenance of the database. I get that EN can look up anything which uses the word "clam" in the text, but I'm wanting more general categories, e.g. "I'm thinking of having shellfish, what might be nice?" EN can't answer that question without help; EN doesn't know what shellfish is, so I was going to tag all my shellfish entries with the tag "shellfish".

 

The maintenance query is simply looking for recipes with shellfish which have not been tagged with the tag:shellfish. There are a lot of gross groupings which I would like to perform.

 

So, how to do it?

 

Based  upon the above, a reasonable person would figure you are looking for the ones not tagged 'shellfish' so you can apply that tag.

 

We're not mind readers.  So we try to answer the question you ask.  Not the one you thought you were asking.

 

Good luck with whatever it is you're trying to do.

 

[jefito 5,598]

These are queries for maintenance of the database. I get that EN can look up anything which uses the word "clam" in the text, but I'm wanting more general categories, e.g. "I'm thinking of having shellfish, what might be nice?" EN can't answer that question without help; EN doesn't know what shellfish is, so I was going to tag all my shellfish entries with the tag "shellfish".

 

The maintenance query is simply looking for recipes with shellfish which have not been tagged with the tag:shellfish. There are a lot of gross groupings which I would like to perform.

As Evernote's search language is not expressive enough to characterize complicated and/or conditions, the only way I can think of how to go about this is a series of queries like "-tag:shellfish clam" (find all containing the word "clam" in note content, title or tag, but not tagged as "shellfish"), and then tagging that collection as appropriate. Lather rinse, repeat. Tedious, I know, but hopefully once you've got your notes all tagged the way that you want, you'll be done the bulk of your work.

[TdeV 90]

So, sorry you didn't understand the question I thought I was asking.

 

Yes Jeff, I'm trying to create a maintenance task which will find notes with shellfish which are not already tagged with shellfish (for all 12 kinds of shellfish) without the lather rinse, repeat (i.e. doing it 10,000 times [which as you say EN wouldn't support it anyway]). Etc. for other categories.

 

Which can't be done. Which sucks bigtime. Didn't we get here already?

 

Thank you for your ideas.

[jefito 5,598]

The only other suggestion I have is that you might try the third-party program BitQwik as your search tool. See http://www.bitqwik.com/.

[TdeV 90]

Thanks. Though I'll pass because I'm trying to reduce the confusion, rather than increase it!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

BTW, there's an easy peasey solution.  Do this search:

 

any: tag:abalone tag:clam* tag:crab* tag:crayfish tag:lobster tag:mussel tag:octopus tag:oyster* tag:scallop tag:shrimp* tag:snail* tag:squid

 

Batch tag all results with a new tag like "tag A"

 

Now search on:

 

tag:"tag A" -tag:shellfish

[TdeV 90]

Thanks B&F, it's an idea.

 

Though it does mean I'll need to use two searches for every maintenance task and be left with the residue (i.e. meaningless "tag a", "tag b", etc. hanging around). I'll have to think about whether simplifying the tag data is worth complicating the tag data, if you know what I mean!

 

BTW, I know this could be solved if tags had parents. Which they don't.

 

How does one add one's support to these issues in the upgrade plans?

I.e. nested tags, complex and/or searches.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Thanks B&N, it's an idea.

 

Though it does mean I'll need to use two searches for every maintenance task and be left with the residue (i.e. meaningless "tag a", "tag b", etc. hanging around). I'll have to think about whether simplifying the tag data is worth complicating the tag data, if you know what I mean!

 

BTW, I know this could be solved if tags had parents. Which they don't.

 

How does one add one's support to these issues in the upgrade plans?

I.e. nested tags, complex and/or searches.

 

 

What are you going to do with this "maintenance" search results...out of curiosity. IE, once you find all results for shellfish that art not tagged 'shellfish', what are you going to do with them?  Why do you call these extra tags residue/meaningless?  Why would parent tags solve the problem? 

 

BTW, tags can have parents.  But they are for organizational purposes only.

[jefito 5,598]

How does one add one's support to these issues in the upgrade plans?

I.e. nested tags, complex and/or searches.

Evernote staff read all posts, and note feature requests. That being said, feature requests may not ever be implemented (investing the tag hierarchy with meaning in search is one that's been around for awhile), and they generally don't divulge their feature roadmaps/timetables to non-Evernote staff (which includes folks like me and BnF).

[TdeV 90]

I use my En food database in two main ways: one, because I'm looking for something specific (e.g. about scallops) and two, because I'm looking for something to catch my fancy (e.g. this is where I'd be looking for "tag:shellfish tag:cream* ").

 

Scallops are sufficiently discrete from squid that I have 2 separate tags. As it happens I do have the 12 shellfish items nested under the parent "Shellfish" which, if the parent structure worked as a parent structure, would solve my problem.

 

I'm interested in gross categorizations, such as I have one tag for "Stew-Chili-Cassoulet-Ragù" for example because these categorizations aren't very different from one another and I'm not going to remember to execute all 4 searches when I'm looking for something "stew-like" .

 

By "maintenance" I mean keeping the database as updated/corrected as I can. When adding new items to the database, I do not necessarily add all relevant tags. By maintaining/updating the database, I improve the possibility that all relevant items will be selected in my query looking for something to do for dinner. For example, I have a maintenance query for any item in the Food notebook which is not associated with a meal course (dinner, lunch, etc), or a "component" of a dish, or an "info" item. When I run this query, I get ONLY the results which have not been classified correctly. As I'm sure you know, this is called Exception Reporting, and is the best way to do maintenance.

 

That particular search is very long and convoluted. As I add new tags all the time, there is no way to easily discern what's not in the query. This type of maintenance query would be much easier to troubleshoot if I could use gross identifiers like "shellfish".

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I use my En food database in two main ways: one, because I'm looking for something specific (e.g. about scallops) and two, because I'm looking for something to catch my fancy (e.g. this is where I'd be looking for "tag:shellfish tag:cream* ").

Scallops are sufficiently discrete from squid that I have 2 separate tags. As it happens I do have the 12 shellfish items nested under the parent "Shellfish" which, if the parent structure worked as a parent structure, would solve my problem.

I'm interested in gross categorizations, such as I have one tag for "Stew-Chili-Cassoulet-Ragù" for example because these categorizations aren't very different from one another and I'm not going to remember to execute all 4 searches when I'm looking for something "stew-like" .

By "maintenance" I mean keeping the database as updated/corrected as I can. When adding new items to the database, I do not necessarily add all relevant tags. By maintaining/updating the database, I improve the possibility that all relevant items will be selected in my query looking for something to do for dinner. For example, I have a maintenance query for any item in the Food notebook which is not associated with a meal course (dinner, lunch, etc), or a "component" of a dish, or an "info" item. When I run this query, I get ONLY the results which have not been classified correctly. As I'm sure you know, this is called Exception Reporting, and is the best way to do maintenance.

That particular search is very long and convoluted. As I add new tags all the time, there is no way to easily discern what's not in the query. This type of maintenance query would be much easier to troubleshoot if I could use gross identifiers like "shellfish".

So...the purpose of your "maintenance" query is to find all shellfish recipes that are not tagged 'shellfish' so you can tag them 'shellfish'...??? (Which would be the only reason I could think of as to why someone would want to search for all shellfish recipes that are not tagged shellfish & exactly what I thought you were doing from your posts #1 & #7.) If so, then just do what I originally told you back in post #8. No extraneous tags to deal with. And to reiterate, you do NOT need to isolate the results (to batch tag) to only those notes that do not have 'shellfish' already assigned. Assigning a tag to a note that already has that tag makes no change.

 

EDIT: to clarify, assigning a tag to a note that already has a tag makes no change when batch tagging & some of the selected notes do not already have the tag assigned, as in this case.  If all notes have the tag assigned, it does REMOVE the tag from all notes.