Search overview

Evernote’s powerful search makes it easy to quickly locate whatever you’re looking for. Some notable features include:

PDF and Document Search. Instantly find text inside PDFs, Microsoft Office files, images, presentations, and scanned documents. The current limit for PDF file size processed for search is 52 MB per file (not per note). Bigger files cannot be processed for search.
Audio and Video Transcript Search. Search the transcripts of audio recordings and video attachments in your notes. When a search term matches spoken content, the note appears in your results and the matching moment is highlighted on the audio waveform, so you can jump straight to that point in the recording. Transcripts generated for recordings you made earlier are also searchable.
Handwriting Search. When you snap a photo or attach an image to a note, Evernote can find and identify text — including handwritten text — inside that image.
Semantic Search. A newer search option that helps you find notes by meaning, not just exact keywords. When enabled, it can surface related notes and, for some question-like queries, show a brief AI-generated answer. Learn more in this article.
Highlighted matches and Find in Note. When you run a search and open a result, the note opens at the first match with Find in Note already open, so you can jump straight to the next match. Matches inside images, PDFs, and audio or video recordings are highlighted as well, both inside the note and in the note list preview.

Search Modal

The search experience is presented through a centered modal that appears when you click the Search button in the sidebar or use the relevant keyboard shortcut.

After initiating a search, an input field appears at the top of the note list, allowing you to refine your query while viewing results. You can:

Use the Tab key to navigate through the modal’s sections and suggestions.
Use keyboard shortcuts to open notes in a new window or copy their links right from the search modal. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.

When you open a note from your results, Evernote takes you directly to the first match inside that note, with Find in Note already open and carrying your search term — so you can move between matches in that note without retyping it. Learn more in Find in Note.

Default state

Before you begin typing, the search modal displays a well-structured view consisting of:

Recent searches
Saved searches
Recent notes, grouped by:
- Today
- Yesterday
- Past 7 days
- Past 30 days
- Older
Filters, available at the bottom of the modal, to help narrow your results

Saved Searches

To create a saved search:

Perform a search
Click the More actions menu (three dots) at the top of the note list
Select Save search…

To edit or delete:

Run the saved search
Open the same More actions menu
Choose Edit saved search… or Delete saved search

Learn more about saved searches.

Search suggestions

Once you begin typing, a “Go to…” section appears with suggestions for matching notes, notebooks, stacks, spaces, and tags. Selecting one of these will directly open that particular element, helping you get to where you need faster. Title matches are prioritized over content matches. Only title matches are considered for non-note entities (notebooks, stacks, spaces, and tags).

Note: Advanced search syntax is not supported in the suggestions that appear as you type in the search modal. However, once you press Enter/Return to perform the search, your syntax will be applied correctly and you’ll see the filtered results.

Search results and Find in Note

When you press Enter/Return to run a search, the note list shows the line where your keyword actually matched, not just the first line of each note. Opening a result takes you to the first match inside the note, with Find in Note already open so you can cycle through the remaining matches.

Highlighted matches are not limited to plain text. Evernote also highlights matches found in:

text inside images (including handwriting, via OCR)
text inside PDFs and attached documents
text inside audio and video transcripts (for example a meeting recording)
inline tags used in the note body

Note: this behaviour applies when you actually execute the search by pressing Enter/Return. If you open a note directly from a suggestion in the search modal (“Go to…”), the note opens without highlighting and without Find in Note.

Search filters

Filters help refine your search based on the content of your notes. These can include:

Tags
Created date
Updated date
Located in (specific notebooks, stacks, or spaces)
Reminders

You can:

Apply filters directly in the search modal
Or use the filter icon above the search results

Learn more about filtering your notes list.

Semantic search

Evernote also offers semantic search, an advanced search option that understands the meaning behind your query instead of only looking for exact word matches. When enabled, it can surface related notes that discuss the same concepts as your query, even if they don’t contain the exact words you typed. For question-like searches, semantic search may also provide a Quick answer, a short AI-generated response drawn from your most relevant notes. For more details on how this feature works and what you can expect, see the dedicated article.

Advanced search syntax and Boolean search

Advanced search syntax gives you the ability to search your notes using special search commands, like by the date they were created, a specific tag, or the type of content they contain (audio, images, etc.)

Evernote also supports Boolean search. Boolean search is a type of search where you can combine keywords with operators (or modifiers). You can search in Evernote using AND, OR, NOT, and ( ).

To learn more, visit Use advanced search syntax and Use Boolean search for targeted search results.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does text search work?

When you search without using any special search operators, Evernote looks for exact word or phrase matches in your notes’ content, titles, and tags. Each word you type is treated separately. Evernote looks for notes that contain all the words you typed, in any order, unless you use quotes.

Evernote internally breaks both your query and the note content into lists of words, ignoring punctuation, symbols, and formatting. The search matches if it finds the right sequence of words.

For example, if you search for City! SPATULA For Bargains..., Evernote processes it as ["spatula", "city", "for", "bargains"]. And a note which contains “Come down to Spatula City for bargains on spatulas!” gets processed into ["come", "down", "to", "spatula", "city", "for", "bargains", "on", "spatulas"].

Since all your searched words appear in the note’s text, the search matches, even though there was punctuation and other words in between.

Can I search inside audio or video recordings?

Yes. If a recording in your note has a transcript, the words spoken in it are searchable. Search for the word or phrase as you normally would — notes containing a transcript match appear in your results, and the matching point is marked on the recording's waveform preview so you can jump to it. This covers audio recordings, voice notes, meeting recordings, and video attachments. If a recording has no transcript yet, generate one with AI Transcribe and it becomes searchable.

How does the search handle partial matches?

Currently, the search function only finds words or numbers that start with the search term. Partial matches are supported from the beginning of a word or number, but matches in the middle or at the end will not be included in the results.

For example, searching for ball will find ballmachine (prefix match), but not softball (suffix match). Similarly, searching for 012 will find 012-3456789, but searching for 4567 or 789 will not return a match.

How does punctuation affect search results?

Evernote ignores punctuation and other symbols when matching search results. That means:

You can’t search for punctuation characters or other symbols themselves (like #, !, ?, or ...).
If you search for !hello, Evernote treats it the same as hello, because the exclamation mark is removed before matching.
So !hello, hello!, and hello will all match the same notes, based on the word hello.

Asterisks (*) act as wildcards, but only at the end of a word. For example, run* matches running, runner, and runway, but won’t match overrun.

Enclosing a phrase in double quotes (””) searches for that exact sequence of words. For example, "project plan" finds notes containing that exact phrase, and won’t match Project business plan.

Also, multiple spaces will compare as if they were a single space.

Is Evernote search case-sensitive?

No, search terms are case-insensitive. This means that upper and lower case are ignored. For example, Note and note return the same results.

How do I use filters to narrow my search results?

To use filters, first perform a search by typing your query into the search modal. Once results appear, click the filter icon above the note list (on desktop), or tap the three-dot menu > Filter notes (on mobile). You’ll then be able to refine your results using filters such as tags, attachments, checkboxes, dates, and more.

Alternatively, you can apply filters by using advanced search syntax directly in your query.

How do I view the search history?

There’s no direct view of search history, but recent searches appear in the default search modal state.

Can I search my notes without opening Evernote?

On iPhone and iPad, yes. Your note titles are indexed by iOS, so you can search for a note from Spotlight on the Home Screen and tap the result to open it directly in Evernote. See Find Evernote notes from iOS Spotlight search .

Updated August 31, 2026 14:19