Search and info
Press Ctrl+Shift+F to search across the vault.
Results include notes, code and other indexed text, plus labels in diagrams, sources in notebooks and the text of PDFs.
Choose a result to open its file.
Narrow a search
With the search options off and the replace field closed, words match in any order. Put a phrase in double quotes to keep its words together. Use Filter beside the query to insert a qualifier, or type one directly.
| Qualifier | Finds |
|---|---|
#research or tag:research | Notes with that tag or a nested tag |
tag:research,ideas | Notes with either tag |
path:"Project notes" | Files whose vault path contains that text |
kind:pdf | PDFs, with note, diagram, notebook, code, text and image also available |
links:[[Project]] | Notes linking to Project, including links waiting for it to be created |
linked-from:[[Project]] | Files Project links to |
has:highlights | Notes linking to PDF passages and the PDFs they quote |
modified:7d | Files modified in the last seven days, with 12h and 2w also accepted |
modified:2026-11-01 | Files modified on that day, with a..b for a span of days |
Combine words and qualifiers, for example quantum #research kind:pdf,note -path:Archive.
All conditions must match, while comma lists in tag: and kind: accept either value.
A leading - excludes a word or qualifier, such as -draft or -#read.
There is no OR operator or grouping with parentheses.
Qualifiers alone list matching files, newest first.
PDF results
A PDF is listed once for each page that matches, with the page number, such as p. 12.
Choosing it opens the PDF on that page with the match highlighted; press F3 for the next match.
After a vault opens, Accent reads the text of its PDFs in the background and shows its progress in the status bar, where Stop ends it until you open the vault again.
Scanned PDFs without a text layer are not searchable.
Exact search and replacement
The buttons under the query let you match case (Aa), whole words (Word) or a regular expression (.*).
Turning on any of them, or opening the replace field, searches the query as text and disables Filter.
Use All to search ignored folders too.
These extra results appear after the indexed ones, and Replace All does not change them.
For a ranked search, this extra walk needs a single word or phrase with no qualifiers.
To replace across indexed files, open the replace field and review the count on Replace All before confirming.
For a single open document, press Ctrl+F instead.
Type to find, then use Enter and Shift+Enter to move between matches.
Ctrl+H opens replacement in the current document.
The find bar belongs to its pane, so each half of a split can have a different search.
Saved searches
Put a query in a search fence in a note to list its results in the desktop preview.
```search limit=10
#research -#read kind:note,pdf
```
The list updates when the vault changes and leaves the note holding the query out of its results.
Choose a row to open the file, or its matching PDF page.
Without limit=, it shows up to 20 rows, with 100 as the maximum.
Org notes use #+begin_src search and #+end_src around the same query.
Printouts and HTML exports show the query under a Saved search caption.
On Android, Show Results opens the query in Browse.
Info and outline
The Info pane (Ctrl+Shift+B) brings related details together.
Links shows notes that link to the current file, and its arrow button switches a note’s list to the files it links to.
Tags lists tagged notes in the vault.
Open Details there for facts such as a note’s word count or a PDF’s page count.
The Outline pane (Ctrl+Shift+W) lists headings in the open note, so a long page is easier to navigate.
For names of files instead of their contents, use Go to File (Ctrl+E) in the workspace.