Two questions about bookmark searches

General discussion related to "Everything".
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eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

First of all, thank you for the amazing app. It's a lifesaver.
I'm experimenting with bookmarks, and I have two questions:

1. Is it possible to search for multiple bookmarks? If I have two macros 'cat' and 'dog' in my bookmarks, I want to sometimes search for files that are in either of the two, or in both of them. I have tried 'cat:|dog:' (OR) and 'cat: dog:' (AND), however in both cases it just shows my 'dog' bookmarks.

2. I can't get date-based sorting to work properly when searching for bookmarks. For my 'cat' bookmark, I have set the Sort field to 'Date modified' descending. It does change the sort order when I open that bookmark, but it's not how it appears in file explorer when sorting by 'Date' or 'Date modified' descending. Also, I have noticed a potential bug where when I search for some bookmark and then open a new tab, only the files from bookmarks are displayed in the list of the new tab even though the search bar is empty. I have to open another tab to search my entire system. I'm not sure if that's intended. Edit: I can reproduce it reliably by searching 'cat:' (a macro for a flter list bookmark), opening a new tab and then closing the new tab, then again opening a new tab. The created tab always has the file list of the first tab.

P.S: I am trying to implement a simple file tagging system that relies on everything. There is a 'Tags' field for some files which can even be searched with everything, but for some reason this field is only available for just a few select file types like jpg. Instead, I have an AHK script where I can press Ctrl+shift+t while any file is selected in explorer (or in everything) that will open a simple input box where I can enter my tags. The script then creates a new .efu file list named after the tag or appends the filename to it if it already exists. It also appends the path of the .efu file list as a new bookmark to Bookmarks-1.5a.csv, unless it is already there. With this I can easily add tags like 'elephant' to any file and search for them in everything, like 'elephant:'. It would be much better if I could use boolean operations.
Last edited by eatdong on Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
void
Developer
Posts: 16734
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by void »

1. Is it possible to search for multiple bookmarks? If I have two macros 'cat' and 'dog' in my bookmarks, I want to sometimes search for files that are in either of the two, or in both of them. I have tried 'cat:|dog:' (OR) and 'cat: dog:' (AND), however in both cases it just shows my 'dog' bookmarks.
You have the correct syntax:

OR = cat:|dog:
AND = cat: dog:

Please make sure you don't have a duplicated cat macro.
Does cat: on its own match the expected results.


2. I can't get date-based sorting to work properly when searching for bookmarks. For my 'cat' bookmark, I have set the Sort field to 'Date modified' descending. It does change the sort order when I open that bookmark, but it's not how it appears in file explorer when sorting by 'Date' or 'Date modified' descending.
Can you give an example? or show a screenshot?

Folders and files are sorted separately in Everything.


Also, I have noticed a potential bug where when I search for some bookmark and then open a new tab, only the files from bookmarks are displayed in the list of the new tab even though the search bar is empty. I have to open another tab to search my entire system. I'm not sure if that's intended.
Is your bookmark setting a filter?
Could you please send a screenshot of your cat and dog bookmarks.
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

Image

The 'dog' bookmark looks the same, but with the appropriate file list and macro. Both macros work fine individually and show the expected images.

With these settings, when I search 'cat:' I get a result list that doesn't seem to be properly sorted by date modified. The first file in the list was last modified ‎on 8 ‎December ‎2023 (this is what the 'Properties' window shows for that file), while the last file in the list was last modified ‎on 22 ‎May ‎2023. Either way, it doesn't make sense as the file list contains files that were last modified in 2024 and files that were last modified in 2021.
void
Developer
Posts: 16734
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by void »

Only one filelist can be loaded at a time.

This would explain why combining the bookmarks is not working.



I am looking into the sorting issue..
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

void wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:22 am Only one filelist can be loaded at a time.
In that case, could I make this into a feature request?
void
Developer
Posts: 16734
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by void »

I will consider support for opening multiple file lists.
Thank you for the suggestion.



The bug where the new tab opens the wrong file list will be fixed in the next alpha update.
Also the bug where changing tabs reopened your file list will be fixed.
These fixes will also fix the issue with sorting.

Thanks again for bringing these issues to my attention.



I recommend indexing both of your file lists under Tools -> Options -> File Lists.
Change your bookmark searches to use:

whole:filelistfilename:cat.efu
whole:filelistfilename:dog.efu

This way, Everything doesn't change your 'index', your file lists are included in your main index.
whole:filelistfilename:cat.efu will only match files inside your cat file list.
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

Thank you!

I have added the new bookmarks for whole:filelistfilename:cat.efu and dog.efu. (I still think it would be nice to be able to use logical operations for bookmark file lists, but not if it would require a long refactoring or something). "cat:|dog:" now works. However, after adding a file to both cat and dog file lists still nothing shows up when I search "cat: dog:". Of course, the file shows up when I search for either cat: or dog:
void
Developer
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Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by void »

Please try the following search:

cat: | dog:
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

As already mentioned, OR (cat: | dog:) works fine. But when I try to do AND (cat: dog:) it does not work.
NotNull
Posts: 5461
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by NotNull »

The function used here is fillistfilename:

The cat: dog: search will try to find filelists that are named cat.efu AND dog.efu at the same time.
There is no such filelist as the name of the filelist is either dog.efu or cat.efu.
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

I see.
In that case, the previously mentioned feature to load multiple file lists and use OR or AND with file list bookmarks would be much appreciated!
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

I can confirm that the wrong file list issue is fixed.

However, the files are still not sorted correctly unfortunately.
void
Developer
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Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by void »

not sorted correctly
Please expand on this.
Is Everything sorting the wrong column?
-or is the correct column sorted, but the order is wrong?
-I am seeing the correct column sorted here.

Are the date values wrong?
-Everything will pull the date values from the file list, not from disk.
eatdong
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:16 am

Re: Two questions about bookmark searches

Post by eatdong »

> Everything will pull the date values from the file list, not from disk.

I see, that explains it. I thought it would take them from the disk. I guess I'll write the date modified values to the .efu list as well, although it's not ideal since some modified times may be updated after I create the .efu file.
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