# Idea: Quick search within notebook

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [3 December 2020 22:17 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854 "2020-12-03T22:17:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![uxamanda](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/uxamanda/32/6786_2.png) [@uxamanda](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/uxamanda)\
**Post date:** [3 December 2020 22:17 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854/1 "2020-12-03T22:17:10Z")

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It would be great to be able to right click a notebook name (e.g. Books) and choose "Search in notebook" from the popup menu. Clicking this would prepopulate the search box to say "notebook:Books " and put your cursor in the box.

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**Author:** ![s4j4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@s4j4](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/s4j4)\
**Post date:** [3 December 2020 23:49 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854/2 "2020-12-03T23:49:18Z")

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good suggestion.

If you want to search the current notebook, but do not include the sub-notebooks, how do you achieve it?

The following is my suggestion. Everyone puts forward more opinions. I hope that developers can implement it. Thank you.

> [@The search results are displayed according to the hierarchical structure of the sidebar notebooks](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/the-search-results-are-displayed-according-to-the-hierarchical-structure-of-the-sidebar-notebooks/12792):
>
> Smart sorting sometimes fails to get the desired results. Finding notes from a large number of search results is a very bad experience. Although you can specify a notebook search, there are some problems: [When searching in Chinese, the search filter did not work](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/when-searching-in-chinese-the-search-filter-did-not-work/12220) The search input is more complicated. If you want to search in multiple notebooks, or need to search for multiple times, you need to input comparison Long text. Suggestion: The search results are displayed according to the hi…

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**Author:** ![SussexDab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@SussexDab](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/SussexDab)\
**Post date:** [29 November 2022 11:38 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854/3 "2022-11-29T11:38:39Z")

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Selecting a notebook and performing a search, searches globally.  
This seems counterintuitive to me.  
Would it be better to select:  
"all notes" in the sidebar to search globally  
"a notebook" in the sidebar to search a folder and its sub-notebooks.  
"a sub-notebook" in the sidebar to search just the sub-notebook.  
"right-click a notebook name and choose search in this notebook only from the popup menu" to search the currently highlighted notebook only.

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**Author:** ![rxliuli](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/rxliuli/32/4083_2.png) [@rxliuli](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/rxliuli)\
**Post date:** [29 November 2022 12:33 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854/4 "2022-11-29T12:33:49Z")

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Good idea, I will try to implement it in vscode plugin

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**Author:** ![rxliuli](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/rxliuli/32/4083_2.png) [@rxliuli](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/rxliuli)\
**Post date:** [29 November 2022 12:56 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854/5 "2022-11-29T12:56:33Z")

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Completed: [Joplin-vscode-plugin roadmap - #64 by rxliuli](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/joplin-vscode-plugin-roadmap/11335/64)

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**Author:** ![humz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@humz](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/humz)\
**Post date:** [11 July 2024 10:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/idea-quick-search-within-notebook/12854/6 "2024-07-11T10:54:03Z")

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Yes search by notebook is a much needed feature.

And no typing notebook:"NotebookName" is not feasible when NotebookName is very long or complex  
At least add a search button to automatically add the notebook: search keyword for current notebook (would be better if it would be invisible in case it is too long)