Should the search term get cleared when you zoom into an item? (with option to say "it should be optional")

  • Yes, there should be an option.
  • No, it should always be cleared.
  • No, it should never be cleared.

0 voters

Personally, I dislike that searchers are now cleared. I use a single-document strategy and searchers are how I filter out stuff such as #lowpriority or focus on a single context such as #office. I zoom zoom zoom a lot and clearing the search is just in the way for me. Though since most other people want it, I think it should be an option.

Perhaps what you want is a persistent search filter and a separate dynamic search.

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I like this idea a lot.

Could you explain that a bit more, just to make sure I understand it correctly?

I love that now theyre cleared…
the other day I was like…what ? I didnt need to close the search and I could type right away! (where I wanted)
it was magical

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Persistent search filter: This would a a search field which is used to filter all items. Rule 1: Items matching the filter are shown along with all their sub-items if expanded, regardless of if the sub-items match or not. Rule 2: Items not matching the filter are hidden, along with their sub-items, regardless of if they match the normal ‘dynamic’ search. Rule 1 takes priority over Rule 2. This filter would be a text box at the top of the page which is not cleared during any navigation and could perhaps be saved with the currently open document, thus remembered when switching documents.

‘Dynamic’ search: This is the regular search box.

Example list:

  • Item 1 #important
    • item 1a
    • item 1b
  • Item 2
    • item 2a
    • item 2b #important
      • item 2b_1
      • item 2b_2
        *item 2c
  • Item 3 #important

Set the persistent filter to “#important”. The view after applying the filter would show:

  • Item 1 #important
    • item 1a
    • item 1b
  • Item 2
    • item 2b #important
  • Item 3 #important

A key difference from regular search is that manually expanding and collapsing “Item 2” would never cause “Item 2a” to appear.

Actually I am not quite sure my Rule1/Rule2 quite captures what I put in my example. I’m hoping that the example clears things up though.

Thanks for the detailed explanation – yes the example and the Rule 1/2 explain your idea perfectly (at least I perfectly understood it).

My primary concern is that without the context of knowing this problem (i.e. people disagree on whether search term should be cleared when you zoom in), seeing two search boxes is very confusing. Still so if one says “filter” and the other says “search”. I don’t see all this could be condensed into a few words that would make sense to someone who just want to search (which is 95% of the time). Ideas? Otherwise an option seems more straight-forward.

You could add it under the existing filter ‘eye’ icon that’s at the top right? Enable/disable in advanced features section.

Yeah, that’s what I was suggesting.

That’s a good idea – it means it’s consistent like the checked/note filter and it’s also hidden by default so doesn’t add visual complexity if you don’t open it. Genius!

yes this is workflowy standard would make more sense to navigate this way