Getting Joplin search to work without tags

If you have thousands of notes getting Joplin search to work is tricky.

Here are a few things which are “tag-like” and optimise the Joplin search. They are workarounds and not elegant but finding things is everything. There is no point in saving it if you cannot find it easily again.

  • Code words: choose a code word for new projects e.g. “BlueWhale”. Writing things together to make a meaningful code is one way.
  • Spelling substitutions: Dictionary words are OK as long as they are written differently or spelt unusually. Example: substitute the number “3” for the letter “E”
  • Insert the last access date: Joplin has a button that inserts the current date and time. Insert the date/time stamp when a note is found and it is moved to the top of the list even without a search. This is the equivalent of “a recently opened” file that is supported by some OS.