Global Search
The global search function allows you to quickly search through all notes for some particular text and can be found on the "search" tab of the resource panel (F9).
There are 3 search modes available: Normal, Database and Fast. Each is described below.
Normal search mode
You may be suprised at how slow the search is the first time that you run it in normal search mode. This is because RightNote only loads a note when it is needed. This accounts for the quick file loading time when opening an existing RightNote file, even if it is a large file containing many notes.
The down side to this is that when performing a search (in normal mode) all notes need to be loaded, and so therefore the first search will take longer than subsequent searches. You will notice that all subsequent searches are much quicker.
Database search mode
All notes are searched directly from the database. This search will always be as slow as the first search of a normal search. The advantage however is that notes aren't stored in memory (unlike normal search), so this method doesn't affect computer memory usage.
Fast search mode
To use fast search mode you need to have first enabled "Full Text Search" for a given notebook, in the File Properties dialog.
Fast search mode, as the name implies, returns search results very quickly. In this case all notes of the file are not loaded into memory - instead the database itself is queried.
Bear in mind that fast search mode has some disadvantages:
- The file becomes larger in order to store a special index of all text.
- fast search only matches whole words. So if you search for "bookmark" you will for example miss words like "bookmarks". On the other hand, because the search is so fast it doesn't cost too much to try both.
- fast search does not search through tags.
- see the Fast search tips topic for some methods you can use with fast search.
Fast search - tips
Some tips that you can use with search in fast mode:
- ·You can use the "*" wildcard at the beginning or end of a search term, to include matches of any words containing the normal letters. E.g. "tex*" will match words such as "text", "textile" etc.
- To match an entire phrase surround the search terms with inverted commas: E.g.If search term = note type (without inverted commas) the search will return occurrences of "note" or "type". However if search term = "note type" (with inverted commas), then the search will only return occurrences of where both words occur together.
Resource panel
The resource panel gives you access to some useful features for working with RightNote files:
- Global search - allows you to search all notes for a given text or tag
- Note history - keeps track of recently accessed notes, allowing you to see a list of which notes you have recently used, frequently use and have used in this program session.
- Scratch pad - allows you to quickly jot down some notes not connected to any particular file, and may be used to store information in a case where you don't have enough time to decide where to put this information. You probably won't need to use this feature often, and could just as well use a note for this purpose.
Options
RightNote includes a large number of options which allow you to customise and control how the user interface and program works. These options can bring the program to life, as they allow you to customise the program to you own particular needs, desires and circumstances.
It's a good idea to page through the various items on the options tree to see what options are available. |
