Expected result after clearing search query?

[elben 2]

Say I'm on a note (Note A) and I do a global search, which brings some set of new notes (Note B and C). Then I choose one of the found notes (say Note C), and clear the search result. What's the expected behavior?

 

1. Stays on note I clicked into (Note C).

2. Jumps to last note I was on (Note A).

3. Jumps to an older note, perhaps not the last one I was on (Note X).

4. Jumps to a seemingly random note (Note X).

 

I've seen all four!

 

According to @evernotehelps, the correct answer is (2) . I don't know if I believe them—this is such a jarring experience. What's the point of search if it doesn't keep you in the note you found?

 

Oh also, here's video evidence of 1, 2, and 3 happening (on the same day):

 

Behavior 1. http://cl.ly/1h0o1U0v0N24/download/stays-on-note.mov

Behavior 2. http://cl.ly/3t2d090h3e0g/download/evernote-search-jumps-from-current-note.mov

Behavior 3. http://cl.ly/aI6Q/download/doesnt-jump-to-last-note.mov

 

Evernote 6.0.7 OS X 10.10.2.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Good point.  Which behavior do you expect/prefer?

[elben 2]

Either Behavior 1, or Behavior 5: When searching, if none of the resulting notes match, and you don't click into any of them, it should return to the previously-opened note when you clear the search query (i.e. "none of these notes match what I'm looking for"). But if you click into one of the resulting notes, it should stay on that note when you clear the search query (i.e. "I found the note I'm looking for, I just want the annoying search query highlighting to go away").

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

I like your preference.  Makes perfect sense.

[annah 133]

Hi there, 

 

After some additional testing, I was able to find several different behaviors on the Mac client, depending on what view you are in. Feel free to confirm this test on your end - I am on 10.10.2, Version 6.0.7 (451372 Direct).

 

When you are in the 'All Notes' view, search for a note. Then clear the search query - it seems it will stay on that same note. 

 

Now, go into a notebook. (Let's call it 'Bills'.) Select 'Card View'. Search for a note that is *not* in the 'Bills' notebook. Clear search query - it seems to bring you back to an older note in the same 'Bills' notebook, sometimes the last note you were on, sometimes an older note than that.

 

Now, switch to 'Snippet View' in that same notebook, let's still call it 'Bills'. Perform the same search, for a note outside of 'Bills'. Clear the search query - it seems to bring you back to the first note in the 'Bills' notebook, whether or not that was the last note you were on. I am getting this same behavior also in the 'List View'. 

 

I still believe the expected behavior when clearing the search query to be 'Behavior 2', or a version of it, but I am not a developer so I can't confirm this 100%, especially given the inconsistent test results. I am going to get in touch with them and see what I can find out. 

 

I'd also like you to open a support ticket here: www.evernote.com/support, so we can file an official bug in our system. (Please let me know the ticket number once you have done so.)

 

Thanks!

[elben 2]

Submitted ticket, #991583.

 

annah, I can confirm the behavioral difference between All Notes and a specific notebook. To add to that, if you are in 'Bills' and search for a note in 'Bills', it will stay on that note when the search result is cleared.

 

Thus, the crux of the bug (or behavior) is when you are searching for notes *outside* of your current notebook, it will jump to that notebook instead of staying in your found note. Note that I am using the "Everything" search context, not a specific notebook.

 

This to me reveals an inconsistency that marks this as a bug instead of a design consideration. Surely a user, when searching in the "Everything" context, doesn't care about what notebook they're in—their goal is to find some note that could be in any notebook. Secondly, a user surely expects consistent behavior across searches. I know it's frustrating for me, especially when the found note is wayyyy down in the sort order (e.g. a really old note), and when I try to stay on it, I am jumped out of that note into some irrelevant note.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

@annah:  Many thanks for jumping in here and being proactive.  We really appreciate that.

 

I'm a little confused on the Behavior #'s, so I'll just pull from elben's quote what I think is both my pref and and elben's:

 

• When searching, if none of the resulting notes match, OR you don't click into any of them, it should return to the previously-opened note when you clear the search query
  • (i.e. "none of these notes match what I'm looking for").
• But if you click into one of the resulting notes, it should stay on that note when you clear the search query, provided that the selected Note meets any Notebook or Tag filter in place.  Otherwise, return to the previously selected/opened Note.
  • (i.e. "I found the note I'm looking for, I just want the annoying search query highlighting to go away").

 

This can get complicated when, PRIOR to the entry in the Search Box, the user has selected a Notebook filter (from the NB list) or and/or a Tag filter (from the Tag Filter list), and then chooses a search context of "Everything" when doing the Search.

 

Either Behavior 1, or Behavior 5: When searching, if none of the resulting notes match, and you don't click into any of them, it should return to the previously-opened note when you clear the search query (i.e. "none of these notes match what I'm looking for"). But if you click into one of the resulting notes, it should stay on that note when you clear the search query (i.e. "I found the note I'm looking for, I just want the annoying search query highlighting to go away").

 

[elben 2]

@JMichael the prior Notebook or Tag filter should not affect the search behavior, at least in my opinion. This is why Everything is named Everything, and why you can add quickly add the current notebook into the search context. To combine the two increases complexity by 2x ({no filter, filter} X {Everything, not Everything} = set of size 4).

 

 

 

 

@annah:  Many thanks for jumping in here and being proactive.  We really appreciate that.

 

I'm a little confused on the Behavior #'s, so I'll just pull from elben's quote what I think is both my pref and and elben's:

 

• When searching, if none of the resulting notes match, OR you don't click into any of them, it should return to the previously-opened note when you clear the search query
  • (i.e. "none of these notes match what I'm looking for").
• But if you click into one of the resulting notes, it should stay on that note when you clear the search query, provided that the selected Note meets any Notebook or Tag filter in place.  Otherwise, return to the previously selected/opened Note.
  • (i.e. "I found the note I'm looking for, I just want the annoying search query highlighting to go away").

 

This can get complicated when, PRIOR to the entry in the Search Box, the user has selected a Notebook filter (from the NB list) or and/or a Tag filter (from the Tag Filter list), and then chooses a search context of "Everything" when doing the Search.

 

Either Behavior 1, or Behavior 5: When searching, if none of the resulting notes match, and you don't click into any of them, it should return to the previously-opened note when you clear the search query (i.e. "none of these notes match what I'm looking for"). But if you click into one of the resulting notes, it should stay on that note when you clear the search query (i.e. "I found the note I'm looking for, I just want the annoying search query highlighting to go away").

 

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

@elben:  I probably didn't explain myself very well.

 

Here a use case that I often use:

• I have set a Notebook filter as I am working on a specific client or project
• I only want to see Notes for that NB
• But I get a  phone call or email, and need to find another Note I know is NOT the current NB.
• So, a quick search with a context of "Everything" gets the Note I want
• I may click in this Note, edit, etc.
• When I am done with that interruption, I want to return to the task at hand with the above NB
• So, when I clear the Search now, I'd like it to return to the Note I that was active BEFORE the search.
• Since I had clicked on the Note above, which is NOT in my NB, it wouldn't make sense to me to still have that Note active AFTER I cleared the Search (and thus returned to my NB filter)

Does this make sense to you?

[elben 2]

Yes, that use case makes sense. For that example, it seems that search acts as a temporary context, and so the mental model can be described as:

 

Working context ==[search]==> Temporary context ==[clear search]==> Want to be in Working context

 

Where as for me, I often use search to get to my working context. That is, I want search to jump me into a new working context:

 

Temporary context ==[search]==> Working context ==[clear search]==> Want to be in Working context

 

Your suggestion works great for the first model, but not the second because switching contexts could indeed require switching notebooks. This is obviously a design/workflow decision that Evernote must make—I don't see a simple way of supporting both methods without some kind of configurable option. But a quick glance at the Preferences menu reveals EN's preference for fewer configurable options.

 

At the very least, jumping to any note other than the last note seems like a bug.

 

BTW, the forum has declared this to be my last post until tomorrow (can a mod remove this restriction?). I'll try edit this post if clarifications are needed.

[annah 133]

Sorry, we can't remove the 5 post maximum - it is a hard filter to prevent spammers, and I can't manually remove it. (It's only for the first 24 hours of posting on the forums.)

 

This is a great discussion, thank you both for laying your ideas out so clearly.

 

I agree that it would probably be difficult to support both use cases, so that is a decision the developers will need to make.

 

I was able to get in touch with the main developer. I will file a bug for this and he will take a closer look at all parameters to see what exactly needs to be corrected. I can keep you posted with any information I am able to share. (@Elban Someone will likely keep you updated on this via your support ticket, but feel free to continue the discussion here as well if you like.)

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Yes, that use case makes sense. For that example, it seems that search acts as a temporary context, and so the mental model can be described as:

 

Working context ==[search]==> Temporary context ==[clear search]==> Want to be in Working context

 

Where as for me, I often use search to get to my working context. That is, I want search to jump me into a new working context:

 

Temporary context ==[search]==> Working context ==[clear search]==> Want to be in Working context

 

 

If I understand you correctly, I think the same model could work for both of us, provided that BEFORE you do your search, you chose "All Notes" (could use CMD-SHIFT-A).  Then, after your search what ever Note you had activated would still be activated AFTER you cleared the Search.

 

So, thinking out loud, I think your process could be:

1. CMD-SHIFT-A   to choose all notes
2. <Shortcut for EN Global Search> to go to Search box
3. Enter your search terms
4. Select the Note of interest
5. CMD-SHIFT-A  to clear search highlights and leave Note selected.

Just tested this using EN Mac 6.0.6 on Mavericks with Snippet view, seems to work.  What do you think?