# How to search notes in Bear

> Learn how to use Bear’s search tools including advanced options and filters. Search for specific phrases, exclude keywords, set a time frame, and more.

Source: https://bear.app/faq/how-to-search-notes-in-bear/

![](https://bear.app/faq/images/search_1.jpeg)
You can instantly search all your notes in Bear for text, lists, attachments, and more. With [Bear Pro](https://bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/), you can even search text in photos and PDFs.

* Click (Mac) or tap (iOS) the search icon at the top of the Note List. With a hardware keyboard, Command + F also works
* Type a keyword or phrase into the search box that appears. Bear searches as you type
* Click any note and move between results inside it with Command + G (with a keyboard) or arrow up/down (iOS)
## Quick Open

![](https://bear.app/faq/images/search_2.jpeg)

Whether you are editing note content or browsing note lists, you can quickly open any note, `#tag`, or [Sidebar sections](https://bear.app/faq/about-the-sidebar-in-bear/) in Bear using the Quick Open panel. Here’s how:

### Mac and iPad with keyboard
* Use keyboard shortcut **Command ⌘ + O** to trigger Quick Open panel
* Insert a few keywords of the note’s title, `#tag` or `@location`
* Use arrow key to move up and down
* Select the one you want and press return

### iPhone and iPad
* Swipe down with **three fingers** at any place
* Type in a few keywords, `#tag` or `@location`
* Scroll up and down in the suggestion box
* Tag to select the destination you want to open

### Notes:
* To quickly open Sidebar sections, you can use `@location` search command with the Sidebar section names. For example, you can search `@today` in the Quick Open panel to open the Sidebar section **Today**.
* `#` or `@` sign needs to be included in order to use the `#tag` or `@location` commands. If you only search the keywords without the signs, Quick Open will search note items only.

## Advanced search options

To help you find the right notes when you need them, Bear supports a variety of search commands, operators, and something we call **Special Searches**.

Most of these search commands can be combined to further filter your notes for just what you want. For example, a search like `@untagged @attachments recipes or errands ` will find all notes that are untagged, contain attachments like files or photos, and also contain either `recipes` or `errands` as keywords.

## Search operators
Similar to internet search engines, Bear supports a handful of **search operators** to include or exclude keywords and tags.

### Tags

* You can search for any `#tag`
* You can search for a #tag# excluding its nested tags with `!#tags`
* Exclude a specific tag from search results with `-#tag`
* To search for subtags only search for `#*/tag` 

**Pro Tip**: Search for a tag, then click the new note button to create a note with that tag already applied.

**Please Note**: Double pound sign tags like numbers `#2021#` or dates `#10/04/2021#` also need to be wrapped in pound signs in the search field.

#### Phrases
You can search an exact word sequence by enclosing your sentence with two quote characters `"`. For example:

`"John Appleseed was here"`

#### Multiple keywords

Search for all notes that contain one of two keywords with the `OR` option. For example: a search like `recipe or errands` will find all notes that contain either of those terms. And you can use it with more than two keywords or phrases.

#### Exclusions

To exclude specific words from search result, use the minus symbol `-`. For example, if you want to search for every recipe _without_ broccoli, you can type:

`recipes -broccoli`

The minus operator can be also used with quoted sentences or a **Special Search** (learn more below). For example:

`-"John Appleseed"` or `-@code` 

That will search for notes not containing the exact phrase of `John Appleseed` _or_ code snippets.

## Special Searches
  
![](https://bear.app/faq/images/search_3.jpeg)

Bear supports **Special Search** triggers to filter your notes for _types_ of content and attributes such as lists, photos, creation date, titles, and more. Special Searches, tags, and quoted phrases are highlighted in search results.

* **@tagged**: shows notes that have at least one tag
* **@untagged**: shows notes without tags
* **@today**: show notes modified today
* **@ctoday**: show notes created today
* **@yesterday**: show notes modified the day before today
* **@lastXdays**: show notes modified in the last X days (replace X with any number)
* **@createdXdays**: show notes created the last X day (replace X with any number)
* **@images**: shows notes that contain images
* **@files**: shows the notes that contain files
* **@attachments**: shows notes with files or images
* **@task**: shows notes which include at least one task, either complete or not
* **@todo**: shows only notes with incomplete todos
* **@done**: shows only notes with all todos completed
* **@code**: shows notes which includes at least one code snippet 
* **@title**: Search only in note titles
* **@ocr**: Search only in note attachments ([Bear Pro](https://bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/) required)
* **@locked**: Shows locked notes
* **@pinned**: Shows pinned notes
* **@untitled**: Shows all the notes without a title.
* **@empty**: Shows all the notes without a title, subtitle, and attachments.
* **@readonly**: Shows all the note set read-only.
* **@wikilinks**: Shows the notes containing wikilinks
* **@backlinks**: Shows the notes containing explicit backlinks (no unlinked mentions)
* **@date**: show all the notes modified in a specific date, e.g. `@date(2018-09-05)` , `@date(09-2018)`, `@date(2018)`. Notes modified before or after a specific date can be searched using `@date(<2018-09-05)` or `@date(>2018-09-05)`
* **@cdate**: show all the notes created in a specific date, e.g. `@cdate(2018-09-05)`, `@cdate(09-2018)`, `@cdate(2018)`. Notes created before or after a specific date can be searched using `@cdate(<2018-09-05)` or `@cdate(>2018-09-05)`

These Special Searches can be combined with any search term for more specific results. For example: `@images @todo “bear faq”` will search for all the notes that have images, uncompleted todos, and the exact phrase of `bear faq`.

### About `@date` and `@cdate` special search
* For `@date` and `@cdate`, there is no space between the command and first parenthesis
* Dates for `@date` and `@cdate` can be expressed in the ISO8601 format `@date(2018-12-23)` or according to your device’s local date format, for example `@date(12/23/2018)` in the U.S.A.

## Localised Special Searches

Special searches also comes with a localised version for people using a Simplified or Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean or cyrillic input system or keyboard.

### 简化字 - Simplified Chinese
* **@tagged**: @有标签
* **@untagged**: @无标签
* **@today**: @今天
* **@ctoday**: @今天创建
* **@yesterday**: @昨天
* **@last10days**: @前十天 
* **@created10days**: @已创建十天
* **@images**: @图片
* **@files**: @文件
* **@attachments**: @附件
* **@task**: @任务
* **@todo**: @待办
* **@done**: @完成
* **@code**: @代码
* **@locked**: @已加密
* **@pinned**: @置顶
* **@title**: @标题
* **@wikilinks**: @维基链接
* **@backlinks**: @反向链接
* **@date(…)**: @日期（20180915）
* **@cdate(…)**: @创建日期（20180915）

### 正體字 - Traditional Chinese
* **@tagged**: @有標籤
* **@untagged**: @無標籤
* **@today**: @今天
* **@ctoday**: @今天創建
* **@yesterday**: @昨天
* **@last10days**: @過去十天
* **@created10days**: @已建立十天
* **@images**: @影像
* **@files**: @檔案
* **@attachments**: @附件
* **@task**: @任務
* **@todo**: @待辦事項
* **@done**: @完成
* **@code**: @程式碼
* **@locked**: @已加密
* **@title**: @標題
* **@pinned**: @已釘選
* **@wikilinks**: @Wiki連結
* **@backlinks**: @反向連結
* **@date(…)**: @日期（20180915）
* **@cdate(…)**: @創建日期（20180915）

### 日本語 - Japanese
* **@tagged**: @タグ付き
* **@untagged**: @タグなし
* **@today**: @今日
* **@ctoday**: @今日作成されました
* **@yesterday**: @昨日
* **@last10days**: @過去10日間
* **@created10days**: @日間10過去
* **@images**: @画像
* **@files**: @ファイル
* **@attachments**: @添付ファイル
* **@task**: @タスク
* **@todo**: @ToDo
* **@done**: @完了
* **@code**: @コード
* **@locked**: @ロック
* **@title**: @タイトル
* **@pinned**: @ピン留めしました
* **@wikilinks**: @Wikiリンク
* **@backlinks**: @バックリンク
* **@date(…)**: @日付（2018-09-15）
* **@cdate(…)**: @作成日（2018-09-15）

### 한국어 - Korean
* **@tagged**: @태그있음
* **@untagged**: @태그없음
* **@today**: @오늘
* **@ctoday**: @오늘생성됨
* **@yesterday**: @어제
* **@last10days**: @과거10일
* **@created10days**: 생성됨10일
* **@images**: @이미지
* **@files**: @파일
* **@attachments**: @첨부파일
* **@task**: @작업
* **@todo**: @해야할일
* **@done**: @완료
* **@code**: @코드
* **@locked**: @잠긴항목
* **@title**: @제목
* **@pinned**: @고정됨
* **@wikilinks**: @읽는시간
* **@backlinks**: @@역방향링크
* **@date(…)**: @날짜(2018-09-15)
* **@cdate(…)**: @생성일(2018-09-15)

### кириллица - Russian
* **@tagged**: @теги
* **@untagged**: @безтегов
* **@today**: @сегодня
* **@ctoday**: @ссегодня
* **@yesterday**: @вчера
* **@last10days**: @посл10дн
* **@created10days**: @дн10дн
* **@images**: @изображения
* **@files**: @файлы
* **@attachments**: @вложения
* **@task**: @задача
* **@todo**: @дело
* **@done**: @сделано
* **@code**: @код
* **@locked**: @Залокировано
* **@title**: @заголовок
* **@pinned**: @прикреплено
* **@date(…)**: дата(2018-09-15)
* **@cdate(…)**: @сдата(2018-09-15)