[New Evernote] Search in all notes not in last Notebook

[totototo 3]

Hello,

I like the new version of Evernote for Windows desktop, much faster and responsive. I also love the new way of presenting the list of notes ("liste latérale" in french) I just regret one feature, concerning search. I use the keyboard shortcut a lot to search for a note (in my case: Win+W). It allows me to find a note very fast. With the former version, when I used this keyboard shortcut, Evernote searched in ALL my notes.

Today, if I search for something, Evernote searches in the last active Notebook, not in ALL NOTES. I have to select "All Notebooks" if I want to search in all notes. In order to be clear, here are the steps:

1. Open a Notebook, for example "Cook"
2. Close the Evernote Window
3. Open Evernote Search with the configured keyboard shortcut (in my case Win+W)
4. Search for something
5. Evernotes searches in "Cook", and not in all notes

Is there a way to make the "Search in all notes" the search by default?

Thank you!

[kvitekp 292]

You can get the desired behavior by setting registry variable HKCU/Software/Evernote/Evernote/ResetContextOnSearch to 1

[totototo 3]

Thank you @kvitekp ! It works

For the record, Evernote must be turned off before making the modification in the registry. If you modify it while Evernote is running, it will reset it to 0 automatically.

This solution is perfect for me, but would you consider to make it a visible option for a standard user?

Best,

[kvitekp 292]

26 minutes ago, totototo said:

For the record, Evernote must be turned off before making the modification in the registry. If you modify it while Evernote is running, it will reset it to 0 automatically

Yup, sorry for forgetting to mention this.

27 minutes ago, totototo said:

This solution is perfect for me, but would you consider to make it a visible option for a standard user?

Absolutely! We try to be conservative and keep amount of configuration options to a minimum, so options are often added to registry only, then if people ask for them, we expose them in the UI.

[jbenson2 2,099]

41 minutes ago, kvitekp said:

You can get the desired behavior by setting registry variable HKCU/Software/Evernote/Evernote/ResetContextOnSearch to 1

@kvitekp As you can see, this question has been raised several times in the forum since 6.0 was released. Search ALL NOTES worked perfectly well in version 5.9.

6.0 was supposed to improve Search, but the new version actually limits Search. 

Why did Evernote put these handcuffs on Search and then call it an improvement?

Hacking the registry is not something I would consider an improvement.

 

[totototo 3]

@kvitekp Thank you so much for your efficient answer on Sunday!

[CalS 3,806]

Still missing from previous 5.9 version are saved and recent searches appearing in the search window as you type.   

Recent searches are helpful when you are doing some clean up and you leave the search results to fix something and then want to get back. 

 

[JMichaelTX 3,971]

5 hours ago, kvitekp said:

We try to be conservative and keep amount of configuration options to a minimum

May I ask why?

Evernote has far fewer options/preference settings than most apps.  Using a well-designed Options panel, you can keep the settings well organized in sections/tabs so that the user is not overwhelmed with choices, yet has the ability to customize the app according to the user's needs. Some apps even organize the settings into "Basic" and "Advanced" categories.  The best apps even provide a search box in the Options/Preferences panel that allow the user to search for settings.

Changing the Options/Preferences settings is something that the user will rarely need to do.  So Evernote's obsession with "clutter" (which many of us call "useful information") should not be a factor here.

[kvitekp 292]

17 hours ago, JMichaelTX said:

22 hours ago, kvitekp said:

We try to be conservative and keep amount of configuration options to a minimum

May I ask why?

Because 95% of users never change any options and we want the app to be useful for them. We are not against options, we just don't want any design dilemma to turn into an option.

[JMichaelTX 3,971]

3 hours ago, kvitekp said:

Because 95% of users never change any options

Really?  How do you know this?

There are several options that I would expect most users to change at least one of them:

• Launch Evernote at Windows login
• One of several Sync options
• Note Editor font and size
• Always show PDF documents inline
• Five Hot Keys
• And now with the new Tag feature:  "Automatically select child tags"
  • BTW, I think that is poorly worded.
  • Just reading it, I don't know what it means
  • A better label would be something like "Include child tags in searches"

Of course, there could be reasons the current Options panel is so little used:

1. The user is not aware of these choices (maybe Options should be mentioned in the Setup process)
2. You are NOT providing options that the user wants to change

3 hours ago, kvitekp said:

we want the app to be useful for them.

I'm not sure I understand this.  If the user never opens the Options panel, then there is no clutter, no impact to the user.

[Claudio79 4]

I totally quote this request, search context should be a visible option! I guess most people (like me) would like to search globally as the default option. Asking users to manually edit the Registry is a total shame!!  Please take this seriously. Thanks a lot!! 

[noox 0]

I also have to admit that in 6.0 some features have been added which kept me desperately searching for other solutions.

But this new search function is unusable for me.

Strange thing is: I could not find ResetContextOnSearch in this Registry location. And when I create it (DWORD 32 or DWORD 64) it is removed as soon as I start Evernote. Any suggestions? I'm using the newest Evernote (just checked for updates)

Thanks.

 

[CalS 3,806]

I think ResetContextOnSearch changed to ClearContextOnSearch.  You need to File - Exit or Ctrl-Q to close EN before you make the registry edit.  

[mruseless 15]

On 4/24/2016 at 10:42 AM, kvitekp said:

You can get the desired behavior by setting registry variable HKCU/Software/Evernote/Evernote/ResetContextOnSearch to 1

Is there any other way? Unfortunately I use a work computer which does not allow registry editing.

[Asios 3]

So you really think that developing software that requires users to hack the registry to get functionality users want is smart? I will not challenge if you are good programmers, but you are certainly very poor business people. Takes me back 20+ years to closed systems and proprietary software and the arrogance of one time giants like Digital Equipment. I wish you luck.

 

[Stewartdesign 3]

We are having the same issue as the original poster, and we have the same request: please make it search ALL notes by default, not the last notebook, as that is the most common need. Or at least offer an option so it can be changed without delving into the registry. It's a headache to change this on every computer our account is synched to, and you also have to have admin privileges which adds yet another layer of pain-in-the-assedness.

Thank you!

[JMichaelTX 3,971]

On 5/13/2016 at 7:32 AM, Asios said:

So you really think that developing software that requires users to hack the registry to get functionality users want is smart?

Microsoft cautions against making any kind of Registry change,  unless you are a very knowledable, iT professional:

How to add, modify, or delete registry -- Microsoft.com

Quote

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it.

IMO, Registry changes are for when you need an emergency fix to a serious issue, NOT for changing user prefs.

[printman2000 5]

This change in search behavior is bad. I RARELY want to only search in one notebook. Now it requires more click to do a simple search. Now it seems my only solution is a registry change?? Wow.

[printman2000 5]

On 5/6/2016 at 5:17 PM, noox said:

Strange thing is: I could not find ResetContextOnSearch in this Registry location. And when I create it (DWORD 32 or DWORD 64) it is removed as soon as I start Evernote. Any suggestions? I'm using the newest Evernote (just checked for updates)

Same for me. This hack does not work. I do not have that key and if I add it, it just goes away.

kvitekp, you got any other ideas?

[kvitekp 292]

13 minutes ago, printman2000 said:

 

On 5/6/2016 at 3:17 PM, noox said:

Strange thing is: I could not find ResetContextOnSearch in this Registry location. And when I create it (DWORD 32 or DWORD 64) it is removed as soon as I start Evernote. Any suggestions? I'm using the newest Evernote (just checked for updates)

Same for me. This hack does not work. I do not have that key and if I add it, it just goes away.

kvitekp, you got any other ideas?

ResetContextOnSearch was renamed to ClearContextOnSearch later in the beta cycle.

[dpurcell 0]

My ClearContextOnSearch is set to 1 and my default is still not correct. This is very inconvenient.

[printman2000 5]

4 hours ago, kvitekp said:

ResetContextOnSearch was renamed to ClearContextOnSearch later in the beta cycle.

ClearContextOnSearch was already set to 1. Tried switching to 0 and it did not work.

[CalS 3,806]

5 hours ago, dpurcell said:

My ClearContextOnSearch is set to 1 and my default is still not correct. This is very inconvenient.

 

1 hour ago, printman2000 said:

ClearContextOnSearch was already set to 1. Tried switching to 0 and it did not work.

You have to close EN, File-Exit, make the registry change, and then open EN for it to work.

[printman2000 5]

2 minutes ago, csihilling said:

 

You have to close EN, File-Exit, make the registry change, and then open EN for it to work.

Did that. Having this set at 1 or 0 makes no difference.

[CalS 3,806]

Don't know what to tell you, but if you fully close EN, File - Exit, not the x in the upper right, and you go to the registry and see the below, EN should be resetting search context each time.  It does for me in any case.  If you see a 0 change it to a 1.

[printman2000 5]

6 minutes ago, csihilling said:

Don't know what to tell you, but if you fully close EN, File - Exit, not the x in the upper right, and you go to the registry and see the below, EN should be resetting search context each time.  It does for me in any case.  If you see a 0 change it to a 1.

Yup. Know how to close EN. Key always shows 1. Search still defaults to folder.

[CalS 3,806]

Got me.  I use Ctrl-F Ctrl-Alt-F as my find hotkey in EN, and whenever I use it I start in all notes context.  

What is happening when you don't get the expected result?

Edited June 4, 2016 by csihilling
Was brain dead when I entered this the first time...

[printman2000 5]

1 minute ago, csihilling said:

Got me.  I use Alt-F as my find hotkey in EN, and whenever I use it I start in all notes context.  

What is happening when you don't get the expected result?

No matching notes found. View all notes (link)

Perhaps I am expecting too much? I assumed this hack would default the search box to All Notes. If I hotkey to find, it does search all notes. What I want is to return the search box to search all notes, not any folder I happen to be in.

[CalS 3,806]

If you just click in the search box the context does not change, whereas i think it pre V6 if you had search all notes vs current context checked.  With V6 everything is current context unless prior to starting your search you click on All Notes, click on the X to reset the search, or use the hotkey with the hack set to 1.  

Since I was always in All Notes context so I used the find hotkey to "jump" the cursor there so to speak, pre V6.  So for me with the new hack it's pretty much the same.  But I can see if you were positioning to the search bar it would be different and a PITA.

[printman2000 5]

Very disappointing that they screwed this up. I NEVER want to search only in one folder. I ALWAYS want to search my whole database.

Now I am stuck with an ADDED step every time I want to search. How is it that someone thinks adding steps is a good idea?

Thanks csihilling for trying to help. Guess I am stuck clicking All Notes EVERY time I want to search. (or using the Find hotkey which is not normal for me)

[CalS 3,806]

You are welcome.  Hope the irritation goes away...

[mruseless 15]

I should also note that apparently when you search on the Apple Watch, it mimics this funtionality making the Apple Watch search function completely worthless.

[mruseless 15]

subscribing

[onatbas 10]

Totototo,  thank you for raising this issue in the forums.  After updating Evernote I truly thought that this was a bug , Until I realized that the search was performed only in the current book , and if you weren't a global search you need to click that x button  to clear search filters or context.

I also didn't like the behavior in the search where you are searching for a tag but if you don't specifically type in the tag search thing it  doesn't look for that key in the tags.  In my honest opinion the previous versions behaviour in search was much more flexible than this.  The previous user interface was there for so long that the users were really used to it so I believe introducing such a new user interface is drastic.  I couldn't even figure out where to save a search in this new user interface because they changedthe way to save a search .  I felt like I had to read a manual about this.  So I hope in the future theyre going to make some enhancements to make the user interface more easy and understandable , and prefarably a bit like the old one. 

[CalS 3,806]

8 hours ago, onatbas said:

I also didn't like the behavior in the search where you are searching for a tag but if you don't specifically type in the tag search thing it  doesn't look for that key in the tags.  

Try the Ctrl-Q search to have tags be presented for selection.  It performs mostly the same as the V5 search box.

[Mher 0]

I've been a user of evernote for a long time and this is SO painful. 

I need to learn how to access and change the registry... only to realise I don't have permission access to the registry in my work computer. 

Thanks Evernote for making it so painful. 

[bobb 1]

Any news on this? Quite infuriating that functionality was reduced in the latest 'upgrade' and even more annoying that EN is trying to justify it. Suppose I can't edit my registry? Suppose I ***** up a registry edit and brick my machine? Does EN cover that?

I hope I'm missing an easy fix for this . . .

Thank you.

[s2sailor 778]

If you are not comfortable editing the registry then definitely don't try it.  

Have you tried the most current version?  I seem to recall this was changed in one of the recent versions.  A global search does default to all notebooks for me but I did make the registry change a while back and am not sure if the program was changed or if my registry change has just been maintained when I installed newer versions.

[CalS 3,806]

1 hour ago, bobb said:

Any news on this? Quite infuriating that functionality was reduced in the latest 'upgrade' and even more annoying that EN is trying to justify it. Suppose I can't edit my registry? Suppose I ***** up a registry edit and brick my machine? Does EN cover that?

I hope I'm missing an easy fix for this . . .

Thank you.

Ctrl-Q will refresh your search context to be all notes.

[bobb 1]

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 4:20 PM, csihilling said:

Ctrl-Q will refresh your search context to be all notes.

I didn't know about Ctrl-Q. This helps quite a bit. Thanks!

I would still prefer an option to have it the other way: by default it searches all notes and perhaps use Ctrl-Q to search the current notebook only. But sounds like Evernote has some convoluted reason as to why they don't want to give us an option without a registry edit.

 

[CalS 3,806]

39 minutes ago, bobb said:

I didn't know about Ctrl-Q. This helps quite a bit. Thanks!

I would still prefer an option to have it the other way: by default it searches all notes and perhaps use Ctrl-Q to search the current notebook only. But sounds like Evernote has some convoluted reason as to why they don't want to give us an option without a registry edit.

 

Your are welcome. 

There is a registry hack to reset the search context each time.  Set HKCU/Software/Evernote/Evernote/ClearContextSearch to 1.  Be sure and File - Exit EN before you set it should you decide to use the hack.  I believe this may be in an updated options menu in the next release (discussed by EN employees in the forum).

[s2sailor 778]

2 hours ago, bobb said:

But sounds like Evernote has some convoluted reason as to why they don't want to give us an option without a registry edit.

Stay tuned, as @csihilling mentioned, EN has indicated the next release will have a UI update to expose many of these registry tweaks.

[rehdwolfe 1]

So I'm paying for the application but I have to hack the search feature myself ? This is bad. Being able to find my notes quickly was the whole point of Evernote for me.  I paid for the subscription based on the pitch being that search would be better.  I appreciate you giving use the regkey hack but this is not better.  You'd be better off sending out a patch where that key gets pushed to make search all as the default and let users use the existing UI to narrow down. 

[mruseless 15]

On 7/2/2016 at 4:51 PM, rehdwolfe said:

So I'm paying for the application but I have to hack the search feature myself ? This is bad. Being able to find my notes quickly was the whole point of Evernote for me.  I paid for the subscription based on the pitch being that search would be better.  I appreciate you giving use the regkey hack but this is not better.  You'd be better off sending out a patch where that key gets pushed to make search all as the default and let users use the existing UI to narrow down. 

@rehdwolfe, download the latest update. You can now type Ctrl-Q and get a "universal" search box. This fixed the problem for me (although I'm not too keen on the shortcut key that was chosen).

[onatbas 10]

On 6/4/2016 at 5:42 PM, csihilling said:

Try the Ctrl-Q search to have tags be presented for selection.  It performs mostly the same as the V5 search box.

That's a great answer. Thank you. I'm wondering though, why this is moved to a shortcut from the default search bar. 

[CalS 3,806]

14 minutes ago, onatbas said:

That's a great answer. Thank you. I'm wondering though, why this is moved to a shortcut from the default search bar. 

You are welcome.

EN would have to give you the direct answer, but my view is they were trying to simplify the search process.  Did not do it for me since now there are two places to go where one worked before.  

Complicated by also forcing current context for search with V6, though they did quickly put in some fixes to enable an all notes default versus the current context for Find.  

[onatbas 10]

19 minutes ago, csihilling said:

You are welcome.

EN would have to give you the direct answer, but my view is they were trying to simplify the search process.  Did not do it for me since now there are two places to go where one worked before.  

Complicated by also forcing current context for search with V6, though they did quickly put in some fixes to enable an all notes default versus the current context for Find.  

To be honest, I don't see any simplification. And it occured to me that quick search also uses the smae rules that are now implemented in the recent search process, so the problem continues .

I truly sometimes switch to my mobile device to find a note I'm searching because there are times,with desktop version, I can't find my notes for minutes!

[gustavgi 295]

2 hours ago, onatbas said:

That's a great answer. Thank you. I'm wondering though, why this is moved to a shortcut from the default search bar. 

There are probably several reasons.

But many people experienced lag in v5, and that Evernote would temporarily hang (for up to 30 sec) everytime you performed a search. This lag seems related to Evernote having a problem doing incremental search for both tags/notebooks/saved searches, at the same time as in-note search through all your notes.

By splitting these two up, you have minimized the lag/hang in v6. That's likely why Ctrl+Q doesn't give you real time search for notes. You have to press Enter to run in-note search after the tags/notebooks/saved searches search has been performed.

You could of course have moved this behaviour to the regular search bar, but that would have removed incremental search for notes, which means that you wouldn't be allowed to filter in-note search results as you type.

[CalS 3,806]

7 hours ago, onatbas said:

To be honest, I don't see any simplification. And it occured to me that quick search also uses the smae rules that are now implemented in the recent search process, so the problem continues .

I truly sometimes switch to my mobile device to find a note I'm searching because there are times,with desktop version, I can't find my notes for minutes!

I wouldn't give up a hope. it took me a bit to get used to it, but search still mostly works the same.  I created to a couple of PhraseExpress hot keys to emulate my use case re how search used to work (mostly context stuff) in conjunction with Ctrl-Q.  That and setting the Clear context on search in Options per the below.

[ejsexton82 0]

On 5/18/2016 at 11:08 PM, printman2000 said:

Yup. Know how to close EN. Key always shows 1. Search still defaults to folder.

My ClearContextOnSearch is set to 1, too, but the context does not seem to reset itself. I would like to see this resolved.

However, using Ctrl-Alt-F may be an acceptable workaround as opposed to clicking in the Search Box.

[CalS 3,806]

4 hours ago, ejsexton82 said:

My ClearContextOnSearch is set to 1, too, but the context does not seem to reset itself. I would like to see this resolved.

However, using Ctrl-Alt-F may be an acceptable workaround as opposed to clicking in the Search Box.

Or Ctrl-Q if you want to see recent searches or jump to a specific tag or notebook.

[noox 0]

On 13.7.2016 at 2:54 PM, csihilling said:

I wouldn't give up a hope. it took me a bit to get used to it, but search still mostly works the same.  I created to a couple of PhraseExpress hot keys to emulate my use case re how search used to work (mostly context stuff) in conjunction with Ctrl-Q.  That and setting the Clear context on search in Options per the below.

How should this work? The checkbox "Clear context on search" is set. The registry key is also set to 1. But when I use the search box and a notebook was previously selected the context is not reset and it only searches in the current notebook. It should always search in all notebooks by default!

[CalS 3,806]

15 hours ago, noox said:

How should this work? The checkbox "Clear context on search" is set. The registry key is also set to 1. But when I use the search box and a notebook was previously selected the context is not reset and it only searches in the current notebook. It should always search in all notebooks by default!

The context gets reset when you hit your Find in Evernote short cut key or you use Ctrl-Q search.  The shortcut can be set in Tools - Options - Shortcut Keys, or you can use the default, Win-Shift-F I think. 

If you position to the search box during a search whatever you enter is cumulative.

[jefito 5,337]

47 minutes ago, csihilling said:

The context gets reset when you hit your Find in Evernote short cut key or you use Ctrl-Q search.

Context also gets reset to "All Notebooks" using the F6 new search shortcut key, if the "Clear context on search" option is enabled; otherwise, it just returns focus to the search control and lets you edit the current search.

[CalS 3,806]

3 minutes ago, jefito said:

Context also gets reset to "All Notebooks" using the F6 new search shortcut key, if the "Clear context on search" option is enabled; otherwise, it just returns focus to the search control and lets you edit the current search.

Yeah, thanks for that.  I forgot that.  Seems F6 used to be the old default for the options shortcut key in previous versions.  The mind is a terrible thing to waste.