NoteCove NoteCove

Search

NoteCove provides powerful full-text search powered by SQLite FTS5, plus semantic search for finding content by meaning.

Search across all your notes instantly:

  1. Press Cmd+Shift+F / Ctrl+Shift+F
  2. Type search query
  3. Results appear instantly
  4. Click result to open note

Search Results

Each result shows:

  • Note title: Name of the note
  • Match preview: Surrounding context with highlighted match
  • Folder: Location in folder hierarchy

Filtering by Tags

Use the Tag Panel to filter search results:

  • Click tags in the Tag Panel to filter notes
  • Blue (include): Show only notes WITH this tag
  • Red (exclude): Show only notes WITHOUT this tag
  • Multiple tags use AND logic (all include tags must match, all exclude tags must not match)

Filtering by Folder

  • Select a folder in the sidebar to narrow search to that folder
  • Search respects folder selection

Beyond keyword matching, NoteCove supports semantic search powered by advanced ML models. Find content by meaning, not just exact words.

Advanced semantic search

Semantic search can discover:

  • Content similar to what you’re reading — across both notes and tasks
  • Related concepts even when different vocabulary is used
  • Connections you might miss with keyword-only search

Find in Note

Search within the current note:

  1. Press Cmd+F / Ctrl+F
  2. Type search query
  3. Press Enter to jump to next match
  4. Press Esc to close search

Navigation:

  • Cmd+G / Ctrl+G: Next match
  • Cmd+Shift+G / Ctrl+Shift+G: Previous match
  • Match count shown in search box

Options:

  • Highlight matches: All matches highlighted in yellow
  • Case sensitivity: Toggle with button in search box

Full-Text Search (FTS5)

NoteCove uses SQLite FTS5 for blazing-fast search:

Features

Fast:

  • Search thousands of notes instantly
  • Optimized indexing
  • Incremental updates

Smart:

  • Relevance ranking
  • Prefix matching

Query Syntax

Simple queries:

search term          # Find "search" and "term"
"exact phrase"       # Find exact phrase

Automatic Indexing

NoteCove automatically indexes:

  • Note titles
  • Note content
  • Tags
  • Folder names

Incremental updates:

  • Changes indexed in real-time
  • No manual rebuild needed
  • Background processing

Search Best Practices

Writing Searchable Notes

Use descriptive titles:

  • ✅ “Meeting Notes: Project Alpha - 2024-01-15”
  • ❌ “Notes”

Add tags:

  • Tag with relevant keywords
  • Use consistent tag naming

Include context:

  • Write full sentences
  • Use proper terminology
  • Add dates and names

Search Tips

Be specific:

  • Use exact terms when possible
  • Combine multiple keywords
  • Use quotes for phrases

Use filters:

  • Narrow by folder or tag
  • Combine multiple filters

Try variations:

  • Different word forms
  • Synonyms
  • Abbreviations

Troubleshooting

No Results Found

Try:

  • Check spelling
  • Remove filters
  • Try fewer keywords

Wrong Results

Try:

  • Use quotes for exact phrases
  • Add more keywords

For more precise searches, open the Advanced Search dialog:

  • Keyboard shortcut: Cmd+Alt+F / Ctrl+Alt+F
  • Menu: Edit → Advanced Search

Advanced Search dialog showing filter options

Filters

Advanced Search lets you narrow results by:

  • Item type: notes, tasks, or both
  • Date range: created after/before, modified after/before
  • Folder scope: all folders, or specific folders (with optional subfolder inclusion)
  • Tags: filter to notes with specific tags

All conditions combine with AND logic.

Save as Smart Folder

Any Advanced Search can be saved as a Smart Folder — click Save as Smart Folder to name it and have the results update automatically as your notes change.

Semantic Search

Requires setup. Semantic search uses a local embedding model. Enable it in Settings → Advanced and allow time for the initial index build.

Semantic search finds notes that are conceptually related to your query — even if they share no keywords with it.

  1. Open Advanced Search (Cmd+Alt+F / Ctrl+Alt+F)
  2. Click the brain icon (✦) next to the search box to enable semantic mode

Semantic search toggle active in Advanced Search

When active, results are ranked by semantic similarity to your query rather than keyword match frequency.

The notecove CLI exposes two semantic search commands:

notecove search related <noteId>   # Notes related to a specific note
notecove search similar <query>    # Notes related to a free-text query

Checking index status

Open Edit → Semantic Index Status (or search the menu for “semantic”) to see how many notes have been indexed and whether the model is still processing.

Next Steps