Evernote Descriptive Search

Evernote Descriptive Search

Evernote Descriptive SearchI am a heavy Evernote user, and my primary way to find the note or document that I am looking for is to use the software’s search functionality.

It has always worked very well, but the syntax has always been slightly arcane. If you knew the magic words you could get what you were looking for, but it was just something else you needed to learn.

I was elated and surprised to see the release of Descriptive Search, which for now is only on the Mac platform but I assume will be coming to Windows soon.

The company did a blog post describing it, but even more useful is this knowledge base article which gives some more examples.

If you’re not sure what Descriptive Search is, it is the company’s attempt to translate plain English (for now) searches into Evernote searches.

For example, one of the biggest wins is how easy it is to find notes that contain a PDF. Previously you had to do some pretty wacky search syntax, but now it is as easy as typing notes with pdf.

Evernote Descriptive Search PDF

This is a fantastic addition to Evernote, and I am sure it will get even better over time. If you’ve tried it, how is it working out for you?

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 2 comments

E. Bond Francisco - April 25, 2014 Reply

Good morning, I’ve been following your paperless exploits for some time, and this couldn’t have been timelier. I’m embarking on a 7,500 road trip in about 3 weeks. I’m traveling from Portland, OR to Gloucester, MA, then to St. Augustine, FL then to Las Vegas and home to the SF Bay Area. And I’d like to be as paperless as possible.

Been a Premium Evernote member for at least two years, but always found it difficult to use. But I’ve decided to make it my central collection point for all the “stuff” that happens on the trip, especially things like receipts, business cards, photos, etc. I have just tipped the iceberg of Evernote! But this is a good tip, re searching. Thanks for sharing it! If you’ve got some workflow suggestions for paperless Prius camping, let me know. I’m not traveling with a scanner, so whatever I capture needs to be from a photo from my iPhone and iPad and trusty 2007 Black MacBook.

Thanks for your excellent tips.

~Bond

    Brooks Duncan - April 25, 2014 Reply

    Very cool Bond. Check out Scanner Pro or Genius Scan for scanning on your iPhone or iPad. Those are my two favourite apps for scanning on iOS.

    Let us know how the trip goes!

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