Ability to use logical operators for searching (Queries)

[liberated_potato]

For all sorts of search, Ctrl + F, Ctrl + O and especially for search portals, adding the ability to use logical operators like and, or, not to combine search terms (like text, tags, references) will make search feature really powerful. E.g. create a search portal with rems that are tagged with both task and high priority.

Also, it would be cool if we can use something like parentheses () to control the precedence of these operators just like in typical logical expressions. E.g. task and (high priority or medium priority)

[ognsya]

Agree. This is an essential feature.

(especially paired with the table/spreadsheet one)

[hannesfrank]

Keyword: Query (so it this topic pops up when people search it).

[hannesfrank]

This is totally doable in RemNote as well: Roam Portal (Chrome Browser Extension)

[fdezrobji]

Fully agree, and operators will be also desirable for filtering (not just the default or).

[ognsya]

Really hoping this gets implemented. Anyone has any news about this? Was it mentioned by the devs?

I’d also like to see sorting options for Search Portals. (As well as more sorting options in general, for Rems)

I wonder why these features weren’t implemented from the start. One one expect basic logical operators to just work, especially in an app specifically designed for dealing with unstructured data/knowledge. Maybe there is some kind of technical limitation. Or it’s intentional, and this is being kept for a paid version (hope not!).

[hannesfrank]

According to the 2020 Community Survey Results it seems to me that most people just want stability and better flashcards/queue so I fully understand if this is not a priority until those things are more polished.

[UMNiK]

Of course, since these features were never explicitly mentioned, people couldn’t know to vote for them. By same token, people coming from Notion or Anki wouldn’t know that they are missing some fundamentals like aliases and queries.

[ognsya]

Yeah they’re a small team. Makes sense to focus on whatever benefits most users.

On the other hand, I was glad to see they did shift their focus from “learning app” to “knowledge base app”. This might lead to more new users looking the later, which would lead to more of these broader feature requests (instead of specific to queue/learning ).

[Tim_Webster]

I’d like to add something to this request: the ability of children to inherit custom search portals of a parent.

I added a use case in “feature requests” for ToDos which carry forward: a custom search portal in Daily Docs that searches for and displays past due rem (i.e. rem tagged unfinished AND which contain a date before the current day). This would only be convenient if the Daily Documents folder could be set up so that ALL CHILDREN of the Daily Documents contained this custom search (otherwise I’d have to add it each day).

[dkwik]

hope this gets worked on soon. in my opinion, this is the only way that I can properly make use of evergreen notes by filtering my notes using multiple tags to extract the relevant ideas. anyone aware of a workaround for a zettelkasten system?

[waynelin]

I speculate that is because the Remnote’s most user base are students.
So they are, vs professionals, still learning the computer.

If Remnote proactive introduce the query search to them the students, it will leads to change of user’s demands.
Remnote should reduce unknown unknown for its users and to get the another level of value proposition for user to get.

[April_Kuras]

Couldn’t agree with you more. Would love to be able to use this as not only as a learning tool, but PKM, and productivity tool. I was using Roam for many months, but hopped over to Remnote because I like the community, support, and the passion that they share in helping others. With that said, I’m trying to be patient, but am going a bit stir crazy with some features I miss in moving from Roam

[Karthikk]

@April_Kuras

but hopped over to Remnote because I like the community, support, and the passion that they share in helping others

thank you for your kind words, and we are happy to have you here as well!

@April_Kuras

but am going a bit stir crazy with some features I miss in moving from Roam

Would love to hear more about the lack of which features is making the transition so much harder?

[tkalpha]

My solution with compromise but useful maybe [Wiki] Tricks of search function: simple logical operation and language adaptation

[Octavius]

I am trying to move from Roam too. The biggest barrier is Remnote’s weak search function. So please development team gives this feature request a higher priority. Thanks.

[Karthikk]

Yes, complex queries are one of the highest priorities for us internally as well

[April_Kuras]

Thank you for your reply Vijay! My biggest hurdle with the transition is the queries and logical operators, to be honest.

1. With queries, I was able to easily see all my ToDos remaining tagged to a particular topic - this enabled me to easily search based on the group I was working with. I work in an awesome role in a rather large company that enables me to seek, learn and introduce new things to the company. I am a performance innovation coach that works with teams across the organization (from engineering, HR, IT, Finance, you name it), so not only am I seeking out new ways of doing things, new ways of learning/consuming, but I’m also learning new tools that I can introduce to my many “students”. With my coaching role, I am trying to use RemNote not only as my second brain, but my productivity tool, and creator tool to connect new learnings. I rely heavily on tagging topics, teams, people to keep everything organized. It’s one thing to put things INTO a system, yet another beast to actually FIND what you put into a system…

2. With Logical Operators, I can setup reminders and things I need to do at a future state. Example - date + 7 days. Mimicking set times in which I need to follow-up with something on a regular basis.

Thank you in advance for thinking about this!

[dcoales]

Does this mean that it is actively being worked on just something that is on the future roadmap. The reason I ask is I too am evaluating which tool I want to stick with long term and the one thing holding me back from fully committing to RemNote is the lack of proper search queries.

[hannesfrank]

I am exploring this field semi actively (I get distracted by all the other things that are possible in RemNote too much, sorry). E.g. a super basic AND query prototype is in Smart Rem for 3 month now:

RemNote’s current development focus is a larger design rework. But after that queries are one of the higher priority items for the next milestones/releases – along with the translation of the app including some internationalization improvements and native table support which are also highly requested additions.