Agenda allows you to quickly filter the notes in a project for a term or tag, but you can also search globally across all projects. What’s more, you can restrict searches to a range of dates, and also to notes currently flagged as on the agenda.
Filtering on a Search Term
To search for a given term in the currently selected project…
- Click the magnifying glass button to start the search.
- Type the term you want to search for in the search field.
- To highlight the next match in the text, use the Edit > Find > Find Next menu item.
- To move to the previous match, use Edit > Find > Find Previous.
If you enter multiple terms, only notes containing all will match and be shown.
Filtering on Dates and Date Ranges
To restrict search results to a notes in a given range of dates…
- Click the magnifying glass button to start the search.
- Enter any search terms desired.
- Click on the calendar button next to the search field:
- Click a date in the popover.
- If you want a range of dates, either…
- Click/tap and drag across the dates, or…
- Click the start date, and then click the end date while holding the Shift key on macOS.
Tip: Dates that have a note associated with them will have a yellow dot, making it easy to zoom in on the dates you’re likely looking for.
Filtering on Status
Notes with the yellow dot button selected are the ones you are currently working with. They are on the agenda.
To include only notes that are On the agenda in the search results…
- Search as above.
- Click the round button on the left of the search field, and choose Marked as On the Agenda as the search filter.
Similarly you can also filter on notes marked as Done or not yet marked as Done.
Tip: Command-clicking the round button instantly activates the Marked as On the Agenda filter, while alt/option clicking the button activates the Marked as Done filter without a need to go through the menu.
Searching Across All Projects
To extend an existing project search to cover all projects…
- Setup the search for a single project, as above.
- Click the Search in All Projects item in the menu under the search field.
To directly make a search of all projects…
- Select the Search All overview in the sidebar on the left (source list).
- Enter the search details.
Searching for Tags and People
Terms entered in the search field will match any note text, including tags and people tags. If you want to, you can restrict the search to only match tags or people, rather than all text.
To search for a tag…
- Enter the tag text.
- Click Search for Tags in the menu under the search field.
Note that you can also directly enter the search tag preceded by a hash (#). E.g. #kitchen
To search for a person tag…
- Enter the person tag text.
- Click Search for People in the menu under the search field.
You can also enter the person search tag preceded by an @ symbol. E.g. @Tom
Creating a Smart Overview from a Search
Whenever you perform a search across all projects, you have the option to convert it into a smart overview that will be continually kept up-to-date and become an entry in the source list.
For example, if you search for notes that include the tag #work, and have today’s date, you can save it, perhaps giving it a name like “Work Stuff for Today”. This overview will automatically update as you edit and add notes. You can open the overview to see any notes that contain the #work tag, and include a date range that includes today.
To save a search…
- Make a search across all projects.
- Either…
-
Select Create Smart Overview in the menu under the search field, or…
-
Click the Create Smart Overview from Search text under the title of the project, or…
-
Click the Save button that appears on the Search All item in the sidebar on the left.
-
- Enter a name for the new overview in the sidebar.
- If your search includes a date, you also need to make a selection at the bottom of the popover. This indicates to Agenda how you want your date to be interpreted. (See next section.)
Premium: Saving of searches is a premium feature and requires you to have purchased the premium feature upgrade.
Relative Dates vs Absolute Dates
You may wonder how dates are handled in saved searches. When you save the search, you get the option to have dates interpreted as relative to the current date (e.g. tomorrow), or an absolute date (e.g. 22nd January, 2018).
A relative date moves over time, as the current date changes. Tomorrow will always be the day after the current date.
An absolute date does not change. It is fixed in time, regardless of what date the search is performed.
Open Quickly
To quickly find any note, project, or overview in your Agenda library, you can use the Open Quickly feature.
On macOS, or if you have a hardware keyboard on iPadOS:
- type ⎇ + [spacebar] or ⇧⌘-O to reveal this popover:
You can also simply tap on the category name at the top of the note list (“Work” in the screenshot above).
- start typing to filter down the list of results and use the arrow keys and/or hit enter to select the note, project or overview you wish to jump to.
Tip: See how the quickly open feature works in practice in this video on our YouTube channel.
Premium: The Open Quickly feature is a premium feature only available upon purchase.
On iOS:
- tap and hold the project title at the top of the screen and it will show the quickly open menu:
- start typing to filter down the list of results and tap or hit enter to select the note, project or overview you wish to jump to.
Tip: If you pull down any menu in Agenda for iOS and iPadOS you can reveal a search field to filter the menu. If you continue to pull down the menu the search field will automatically gain focus and the keyboard is shown, saving you an extra tap. This works in any menu.
Besides filtering on title, the Open Quickly panel also supports the following queries:
-
date searches like
today
,yesterday
,last week
,21 march
, etc -
recent
: notes edited in the last 48hrs -
now
: notes going on now -
next
orupcoming
: notes coming up in the next 48hrs\ -
earlier
: notes from earlier today