Searching for What You Need

You may have searched successfully for truth, enlightenment, or just an honest politician in your time; but if you search for a word in those handwritten notes you took last Thursday, good luck.

A seemingly simple yet powerful feature in Journal enables you to search your handwritten notes and find words and phrases instantly. This adds a functionality to note taking that you've never had. Imagine - in twenty pages of notes, you can actually find the one you need! Now you should know that the Find feature finds only writing, not drawings. Other than that, the Find feature has got a lot of settings to help you pinpoint what you seek.

Do this to search your notes:

1. Open the note you want to search.

2. Choose EditðFind.

   The Find panel appears just under the toolbars with the Look For, Look In, Find, Previous, Next, and More options displayed.

3. Tap the More button (at the far right of this panel) to expand it and display advanced search features.

   For example, you can search by Last Modification Date or specify that the search include close matches (as shown in Figure 7-17).

   
   Figure 7-17: Search by specific text or attributes, such as flags or text that is a close match.

4. In the Look For box in the Find panel, enter the word or words you want to find.

5. Select the notes you want to search.

   You can search the currently open note by one of two methods:

   • You can display the Look In list and then choose Current Note.

   • You can select a folder containing other notes from the Look In list to search.

6. Choose the options that are appropriate to your search.

   • Put a check in the Include Close Matches check box to include words that are likely to appear similar to the word you've entered.

      Tip  Given the limitations (even today) of handwriting-recognition technology, this technique is probably a good habit to develop.

   • If you want to find images of documents that have been converted to become Journal files, choose Include Document Image Text.

   • If you want to search for flags, put a check in the Look for Flags check box.

   • If you want to limit the search to documents created in a certain time period, use the Last Modification Date selection boxes. If you select the Specify Date option, use the From and To drop-down fields to choose a specific date (or date range).

   •  Tip  If you want to search not only a folder but also its subfolders, select the Include Subfolders check box in the Find panel.

7. When you've finished making search settings, tap Find to find the next instance of what you're looking for.

   • If an instance of the search word or phrase is found in the currently open document, the word or phrase shows up as selected on the note page (a Selection box appears around it).

   • If you have chosen to search notes in folders, a list of matching notes appears beneath the Find panel; tap one of these notes.

     Journal closes the currently displayed note (after asking you whether to save it if you haven't already done so) and opens the note you selected.

   • To move through matches within a note, use the Previous and Next buttons in the Find panel.

8. After you've finished finding matches, tap the Close button to close the Find panel.