[Feature Suggestion] Better hint when no notes found

Features
1

Currently when there is no notes found given some search terms, it just shows No notes in here. Create one by clicking on "New note"..

However, various factors may lead to this, such as

  • The user used a search filter that's too strict
  • Searching is related to FTS issues (e.g. when Asian characters are involved, see issue 6012)

Is it possible to provide a link to the supported queries section in README.md when there is no result? Or better, if there are results using basic search but not indexed search given the same search function, automatically fall back to basic search? Something like the following:

No results found. (2 results found using basic search, click to apply)

When the user clicks on [X results found using basic search], a slash (/) will be added to the beginning of search terms (to use basic search).

1 Like
2

That looks great.

Not to complain, but I find the default search (F6) to be quite counter intuitive. I would never expect a search to default to whole words only. So I never use that search and instead only use the Goto Anything search instead. Honestly I think it's confusing to have two search functions, one of which is not called search. Again, I'm not criticizing, but I think it's not the best situation.

Perhaps in addition to the text proposed, there could also be a link to use the Goto Anything feature. That would fix it all in my mind.

3

That's a good point! I also mainly uses Go To Anything for search, but it doesn't support the basic search query (/) and is less useful in my use case (involving both English and Chinese). Also, from my observation, the Go To Anything function is not fully utilized, as it is hidden in the menu and is much harder to be discovered by new users if not told.

It would be great if

  • Go To Anything can support basic search query
  • No result found text can add a link to Go To Anything

So here is my second version of the hint text when no results found:

No results found. You can try [basic search] or [Go To Anything].

(As basic search may be slower, it would be better for the user to manually trigger it rather than automatically.)