Search Syntax Cheat Sheet

system · January 24, 2021, 12:00am

Search in Agenda is simple and fast, you just type a few search terms and you’ll search instantly across all your notes. The hits present in the currently selected overview or project are shown at the top of the result list, the ones in archived projects or the trash are shown at the end.

However, you can create also much more complex queries, both by clicking/tapping the search tokens in the search field that are created when hitting the space bar or return key, but also through a very similar system as the text actions, in combination with powerful autocompletion.

Search properties are prefixed by a backslash character (\) that invokes an autocompletion menu that shows the available properties to search on and that can be further filtered by typing the first few characters of the action you’d want to use.

Tip: On iPhone and iPad without a hardware keyboard, typing the backslash character can be a bit cumbersome. Instead you can simply tap the loupe icon in the search field. Handy!

Similarly, on some keyboards, like the Chinese or Japanese ones, it’s hard to type a backslash character, therefore wherever a backslash character is shown, you can also use two backticks (``) or two middle-dot characters (··).

Many of these properties can take so called parameters inside parentheses (similar to how you can add value parameters to tags), to further refine the behaviour of these actions. For example, \title(starts-with: yak) searches for the word yak at the start of the title of the note.

Parameters labeled as Default are considered the default parameter if none is provided. For example, \tag(important) is considered the same as \tag(name: important).

To see search actions “in action” have a look at the Agenda 19 update video:

Below you’ll find a complete overview of the Search properties that Agenda currently supports.

Note Properties

`\all`

searches across all fields of a note (Default)
synonyms: everything

`\on-the-agenda`

searches on the On the Agenda status of a note
synonyms: ontheagenda, ota, agenda

`\title`

searches on the Title of a note
synonyms: ti

`\assigned-date`

searches on the Assigned Date of a note
synonyms:
shorthands: \today, \tomorrow, \yesterday, \monday, \tuesday, \wednesday, \thursday, \friday, \saturday, \sunday

`\start-date`

searches on the Start Date of a note
synonyms:

`\end-date`

searches on the End Date of a note
synonyms:

`\linked-event`

searches on the event linked to a note
synonyms:

`\calendar`

searches on the calendar of the event linked to a note
synonyms:

`\due-date`

searches on the due date of reminders present in a note
synonyms:

`\color`

searches on the background color of a note
synonyms:

`\pinned`

searches on the pinned status of a note
synonyms:

`\footnote`

searches on the footnote status of a note
synonyms:

`\done`

searches on the completion status of a note
synonyms:

`\locked`

searches on the locked status of a note
synonyms:

`\shared`

searches on the shared status of a note
synonyms:

`\edited-date`

searches on the edited date of a note
synonyms:

`\creation-date`

searches on the creation date of a note
synonyms:

`\template`

searches on the template used to create a note
synonyms:

Note Content

`\tag`

searches on the tag in the content of a note
synonyms: #

Parameters

name - the name of the tag - Default, Required
color - the name or hex-value of the color of the tag - Premium
value, text, string - an optional text value - Second Default
day, on, after, before, until, from, in - an optional day value
date, at - an optional date value
int, integer, number, level - an optional int value
float, double - an optional float value

Examples

\tag(name: important) - creates the tag #important, equal to \tag(important)
\tag(important, color: blue) - creates the tag #important with a blue color
\tag(important, color: #333) - creates the tag #important with the hex color #333
\tag(priority, value: high) - creates the tag #priority(high), equal to \tag(priority, high)
\tag(due, day: tomorrow) - creates the tag #due(6 April 2022)
\tag(due, in: 3 weeks) - creates the tag #due(26 April 2022)
\tag(deadline, at: 17 oct 2022 13pm) - creates the tag #deadline(17 Oct 2022 at 13.00)
\tag(priority, int: 1, color: red) - creates the tag #priority(1) in red
\tag(version, float: 2.1) - creates the tag #version(2.1)

`\person`

searches on the person in the content of a note
synonyms: @, contact

Parameters

name, alias, nickname - the name of the person - Default, Required

Examples

\person(name: Tom G) - creates the person @(Tom G), equal to \person(Tom G)

`\reminder`

searches on the reminder in the content of a note
synonyms: \remind,

Parameters

none - inserts a placeholder reminder that is not scheduled
due-date - a natural language string representing a date in the future - Default
title - the title of the reminder to schedule
list - the list in the reminders app on to which to schedule the reminder
all-day - schedules the reminder as an all-day reminder

Examples

\reminder - creates an unscheduled reminder and open the edit popover
\reminder(today) - schedules a reminder for today in 30 minutes
\reminder(today at 6pm) - schedules a reminder for today at 6 o’clock
\reminder(tomorrow evening) - schedules a reminder for tomorrow at 6 o’clock
\reminder(in 3 weeks) - schedules a reminder 21 days from now
\reminder(25 dec 2020, at 8pm)` - schedules a reminder on the 25 dec 2020 at 8 o’clock
\reminder(today at 6pm, list: important) - schedules a reminder for today at 6 o’clock on the reminder list “important”
\reminder(all-day: tomorrow) - schedules an all-day reminder for tomorrow

`\table`

searches on the table in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\link`

searches on the link in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\attachment`

searches on the attachment in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\drawing`

searches on the drawing in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\starred`

searches on the star status in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\has-todo`

searches on whether todo items are present in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\has-checklist`

searches on whether a checklist is present in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\has-list`

searches on whether a numbered or ordered list or checklist is present in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\has-code`

searches on whether a code snippet is present in the content of a note
synonyms:

`\has-quote`

searches on whether a quote is present in the content of a note
synonyms:

Projects and Categories

`\category`

searches on the category that contains a note
synonyms:

`\project`

searches on the project that contains a note
synonyms:

`\archived`

searches on whether a quote is part of an archived project
synonyms:

Presets

`\recently-edited`

searches on recently edited notes
synonyms:

`\now`

searches on currently ongoing notes
synonyms:

`\upcoming`

searches on upcoming notes
synonyms:

`\earlier`

searches on notes that have just finished
synonyms:

`\on-this-day`

searches on notes from the past that have been assigned to the same day in a previous year.
synonyms:

`\random`

returns a given number of randomly selected notes
synonyms:

Operators

`AND`

the terms should both be present
synonyms: &&

`OR`

one of the terms should be present
synonyms: ||

`NOT`

the term should not be present
synonyms: !

Literal Matches

() and “”

Grouping

Localization

Note that all actions and parameters should be properly localized according to the language of the app. You can use in that case either the above English variant or the translated variants. Note that although the actions might contain accents and/or capitals, it’s not needed to type these, for example in the French version of Agenda, you can get a numbered list by typing any of the following:

\numérotée
\numerotee
\Numérotée
\numbered

Speaking of Localization: want to help localize Agenda to your favorite language?, for instance to Korean or Japanese, let us know or leave a message at the page for your language…