Search

Last reviewed: 2026-07-06

Plainva offers three ways to search: full-text search across the whole vault, the quick switcher for opening files, and find & replace inside a note.

Full-text search across the vault

The search field at the top of the sidebar searches the entire vault — titles and contents. It is backed by a local full-text index (SQLite FTS5) that is built when the vault opens and kept current on every change; search therefore works offline and without noticeable delay.

Search reacts while you type: word prefixes already match (“Projec” finds “Project plan”) — no Enter needed. The X at the right of the field clears the current search (or press Esc); the sidebar then shows the normal file tree again.

The result list shows the hit count at the top and groups the results: File name hits first (the term appears in the note’s name), then Content hits. Every row shows the document icon, the folder path and — for content hits — a text excerpt with the match highlighted. Clicking a result opens the note and jumps straight to the first occurrence; it is selected there. If nothing matches, the list says No results.

The search field also applies to the other sidebar views: in Tags it filters the tag list, in Bookmarks the bookmarks.

Search operators

"exact phrase" — quotes match the word sequence exactly. This doubles as a whole-word search for a single word: "plan" finds “plan” but not “planning”.
-term — excludes notes containing the term (works with phrases too: -"old version").
path:folder — only files whose path contains the text (e.g. path:Projects; with spaces: path:"My Folder").
tag:name — only notes carrying that tag, including nested tags: tag:project also finds #project/internal. tag:#project works as well.
Operators can be negated (-path:Archive, -tag:done) and combined freely with search terms: plan tag:project -draft.
Multiple terms are combined with AND. Special characters like - ( ) : * inside terms are harmless — Plainva treats the input literally.

Quick switcher

Ctrl+O or Ctrl+K opens the quick switcher: type, navigate with the arrow keys, open with Enter. Without input it shows the Recent Files list — the fastest way to jump between your current notes. Matches can also be opened directly in a new tab (the dialog’s footer shows the keys).

Matching is fuzzy: prjplan also finds “Project Plan” — the letters only have to appear in order, and word starts count extra. And when the note does not exist yet, the list shows Create ’…’: Enter creates it right away (in the vault root) and opens it — type a name, press Enter, start writing.

Below the name hits the switcher also shows a Content group: notes whose text matches your input, with a highlighted excerpt of the match. Opening such a hit jumps straight to the match inside the note — just like the sidebar search.

Find & replace inside a note

Ctrl+F opens the editor’s search bar (in Live Preview and source mode):

Find with Enter/next and previous through the matches; all highlights every occurrence.
Options: match case, by word, regexp.
Replace: replace single matches (replace) or replace all.

Navigating within a note

The Outline in the right sidebar lists all headings of the active note — a click jumps to the spot. For jumping between notes, Backlinks (who links here) and the editor’s Back/Forward buttons help as well.