text search "notes"!

mcsugarfree
it would be so awesome if i could use the "find" feature _within_ the text of my notes. the coolest would be if the text string that i type into the search box up top made any instance of that string in the body of my note (or any other "object" i select, for that matter) to be highlighted (like in Word).

i have lots of _long_ notes that i'm constantly scanning for the text string that i know is in there somewhere...

thanks!
  • ajlyon
    The only way to do this at present is to click on the HTML button to view the note HTML or create a report from the item, then use Firefox's built-in search (Ctrl-F).
  • bdarcus
    +1 on the OP request.
  • gflan
    This is very important to me too, for the same reasons given by mcsugarfree. I've just started using Zotero (coming over with a big Endnote database), but I might have to go back to EN if searching within my notes is too burdensome (EN has a separate command for searching within notes: CTL-J).
  • willfurnass
    Another vote for this feature request. I use Zotero to manage long summaries of journal papers, books and theses and would very much like to be able to search within all of my self-penned summaries for a particular keyword.
  • willfurnass
    edited November 14, 2011
    Zotero uses the 'TinyMCE' editor [1] for editing notes. This editor is written in JavaScript and supports plug-ins. 'TinyMCE Advanced' [2] is a plug-in that provides search and replace capabilities, amongst other things. This was written for use with Wordpress rather than Zotero but it may be possible (for someone with greater knowledge of Javascript and XUL than me) to integrate the plug-in into the latter.

    [1] http://www.tinymce.com
    [2] http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tinymce-advanced/
  • Greg
    agreed! This would be a very useful addition to zotero! I hope willfurnass suggestions leads to something...
  • pgardois
    I also think this is really a key feature, if the notes are to be used to store significant amount of text: is there anything new about this? Thanks
  • Gracile
    @devs: which TinyMCE version zotero is using? Was there a reason for not adding searchreplace plugin ?
  • Gracile
    edited March 27, 2012
    Add the searchreplace plugin is _really really_ easy provided you take the correct version (i.e. TinyMCE 3.3.9.2 which is the one zotero uses). I did it on my zotero installation and there is no issue so far.

    Thus, there must be a good reason for not adding this plugin to zotero.

    The only reason I can imagine is that the searchreplace plugin opens a new window whereas a lighter solution is preferred (ctrl+f in firefox opens a bar at the bottom). But the searchreplace plugin would be better than nothing (or the non-user friendly "HTML button", etc.)

    Any comment from the developpers?
  • breckenr
    I'd also love to see this included, especially in the standalone client.
  • ono2000
    I'd love to see this in the standalone version. +1!
  • Dawnteele
    Agree!!! please do this.
  • rbatzell
    Yes please make this available, this seems like a major weaknesses in Zotero's functionality!
  • adamsmith
    (please no more than one post with the same content. Double--in this case triple--posts just make the forum harder to navigate, especially for those of us who do most support and read every post anyway)
  • zga
    edited July 14, 2015
    This is an absolutely essential feature. Any updates on its implementation or more current workarounds?

    edit: Workaround found, but untested

    Zotero 4.0.27.6 use tinyMCE 3.5.7, which is available for download here (https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce/releases/tag/3.5.7).

    To check what version of tinyMCE you require, follow this guide (https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/8784/howto-enable-additional-tinymce-note-editor-functionality/).

    Other versions of tinyMCE are available for download on the github/tinymce>Releases page.

    I ran into trouble around Step 3 of the guide because I don't know how to 'merge' the code using a GUI system. If anyone could help me do this just using the standard Windows explorer, I'd greatly appreciate it.
  • Gracile
    edited July 15, 2015
    If you add the searchreplace plugin to your TinyMCE intallation (I did that in the past, it's indeed not so complex to do), you'll have to change the code each time Zotero is updated…
    If you really want to do it, just copy the relevant TinyMCE files into the relevant directory of your unzipped zotero.jar (step 3) and edit the relevant files with a text editor (notepad++, for example ; not notepad!). These files are in your unzipped zotero.jar… (step 4).
    But **if you don't understand what you're doing, please don't do that.**

    There's a workaround for Zotero for Firefox : https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/11149/search-function-within-notes/?Focus=53842#Comment_53842

    Unfortunately, this workaround doesn't work in Standalone… (Dan, is it possible to fix that ? that would be great…)
  • JacobSchmidt
    I just want to say it too: i really need this feature!!!
  • Alejandro Paz
    Make that one more vote for this feature! The other reason it is great is if you have "extracted annotations" note from Zotfile, it becomes really easy to click the link and go see the original text.
  • madys46
    +1 vote for this feature in standalone! SO necessary!
  • dragonfly
    It can be done (I have hacked my standalone to use a later version of TinyMCE with search/replace plugin). But as @Gracile wrote above this requires amendments to internals of zotero.jar.

    When this hacking of zotero.jar was raised in other discussions the advice I had was not to hack zotero.jar but instead to rebuild standalone from the github source (after editing the TinyMCE code).

  • Alb
    +1 vote again!
    Would be great to update the TinyMCE and add search/replace feature!
  • Gracile
    edited February 9, 2017
    @Alb : Done in Zotero 5.0 Beta available here: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/59829/zotero-5-0-beta
    https://www.zotero.org/support/5.0_changelog
  • Alb
    edited February 14, 2017
    Cool! Thanks
    I'm already installing the beta

    PS: Unfortunately in the new version they add the "search and replace" function but now is impossible to paste picture inside notes.
  • maxdamage
    Hey! Another very simple workaround for this, if you use the Zotero Firefox addon:

    Just install "searchwp" -addon for Firefox.

    This ingenious little plugin let's you highlight and jump to words that you've entered into the search bar in Firefox (I mean the little bar on top besides the navigation bar that let's you choose from different search engines, so the internal Firefox search function, which is deactivated in the zotero tab, is not needed for this).

    Highlighting in different colors and jumping to words works perfectly within the notes created with Zotero. Even with long notes where scrolling is necessary.
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