DunneNote · Working in DunneNote
Search
Plain and Advanced search, glob patterns, field qualifiers, filters, and results that take you to the exact cell.
Search covers everything in the open notebook from one box: page and group names, text, table cells, column names, captions, alt text, tags and photo metadata. Open it with Search on the app rail.
The search bar has two modes, Plain and Advanced. You can switch between them at any time. To choose which mode the bar opens in, go to Settings ▸ General ▸ Search.
Plain mode#
Type what you're looking for. Plain mode is forgiving:
- Words are matched as full words, and every word must match.
- A word that is also a tag name (or one of its aliases) finds items with that tag.
- Dates are recognised: a year such as
2024, a month and year such asMarch 2024, or2024-03and2024-03-15. - Kinds of thing are recognised, such as "picture" or "calendar".
- Very common small words, like "all" and "from", are ignored. To search for one of those words, put it in quotes or use Advanced mode.
If Plain mode can't make sense of something, it searches for it as text rather than failing.
Advanced mode#
Advanced mode gives you exact control.
| You type | Finds |
|---|---|
invoice paid | Both words (AND is implied) |
invoice OR receipt | Either word |
invoice -draft or invoice NOT draft | "invoice" but not "draft" |
"exact phrase" | The words together, in order |
report* | Words starting with "report" |
(a OR b) c | Grouping with parentheses |
Filters#
| Filter | Example | Limits results to |
|---|---|---|
kind: | kind:picture | One kind of thing: picture, calendar, page, notebook, section, canvas or table |
tag: | tag:texas | Items with that tag (aliases count) |
date: | date:2024-03 | Dated within that year, month or day |
before: | before:2024 | Dated strictly before it |
after: | after:2024-03 | Dated strictly after it, so April 2024 onwards |
section: | section:Clients | One group |
Dates can be written as YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD. Relative dates such as
"last week" aren't recognised.
In Advanced mode, a filter DunneNote can't honour, such as an unknown kind:,
a group name it can't find or a date it can't read, returns nothing, with
a message saying why. It never quietly drops the filter and shows you too many
results.
Glob patterns#
In Advanced mode, you can match by shape as well as by words:
| Pattern | Matches |
|---|---|
? | Exactly one character |
* | Any number of characters |
[0-9] | One character from a set or range |
[^0-9] | One character not in the set |
When you type a pattern, the search builder says so, for example
treating '*inv?ice*' as a pattern.
Patterns ignore case and must match the whole value. report? matches a cell
containing exactly report1, not one containing report1 of 4. Wrap a pattern
in * to match anywhere: *inv?ice* finds "Invoice", "INVOICES" and "Re:
invoice 12".
A single * at the end of a word, as in report*, stays a fast word-prefix
search. Any ? or [, or a * anywhere other than the end, makes it a pattern.
To match a literal *, ? or [, put it in brackets: [*].
Field qualifiers#
Put a qualifier in front of a pattern to search one kind of field:
| Qualifier | Searches |
|---|---|
title: | Titles |
body: | Text in Rich Text canvases |
cell: | Table cells |
column: | Column names, and also page, group and notebook names |
caption: | Captions |
alt: | Picture alt text |
For example, cell:[0-9]* finds cells that start with a digit, and
column:*date* finds columns with "date" in the name.
A word followed by a colon that isn't a known qualifier or filter is searched as ordinary text.
Results take you to the exact spot#
A match inside a table is shown as a cell, with its column heading and row number. Choosing it opens the page, scrolls the row into view, and highlights and focuses that exact cell. This works for ordinary word matches as well as patterns.
Limits#
Patterns can be up to 1,024 characters. Very long or deeply nested queries are trimmed or refused with a message rather than slowing DunneNote down. The pattern matcher is built so that no pattern can make a search hang.
Related#
Something unclear or out of date? Open a support ticket.