Hi,
the general functionality of the global search in Nextcloud is quite okay, but in my opinion it is rather rudimentary. For example:
- The combination of search terms does not work properly. When searching for „invoice somecompany inc“, the usual intention is not to search for these exact terms, but rather show all files that have these words somewhere in the filename or content. For example, when searching for „2025 invoice“, I also want to find results where the filename has „Invoice XYZ 2025“. Currently, this is not the case. It only shows results where the terms are in this exact order: „2025 invoice“. The macOS searchbar is a good example on how one would expect this to behave.
- There are no timestamps (such as last modified or creation time) in the search results. This makes it harder to distinguish more recent files with similar names from older ones.
- No way to sort the search results in a desired way (e.g. alphabetically or by last modified date).
- For long file names / paths, the results are not useful because you cannot read everything. It is just cut off. A possibility to resize the modal would be great.
- When a file is clicked, the search results are lost. No way to save a search or go back again.
- There is no way to get previews in search results (like in well-known search such as Windows Explorer or MacOS Finder)
I am wondering, how this is actually used in production by people? For small amounts of files I assume it is no problem because you usually can find everything by hand. But once you start getting into numbers of 500+ files and structures multiple folder levels deep, in my opinion a useable search is necessary to use such a system efficiently.
I know about the searchpage app (GitHub - callmemagnus/nextcloud-searchpage: App for Nextcloud providing a proper search page) which improves the experience slightly, but since it uses the same API, it has the same limitations…
Would love to hear the experience of others, and any suggestions on other apps or improvements…
Cheers!