iOS Search Modal results slow compared to Backlinks' Unlinked Mentions results

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1

Steps to reproduce

Perform first search after start-up. Initiate second search. Compare how results come in plain Search Modal search and Backlinks’ Unlinked Mentions search. Big difference!

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Yes, I did. I understand Bug Reports are only considered when all potentially troublesome liabilities are eliminated.
I have switched off everything so as not to have this report ineligible.

Expected result

To have search results come in at least as fast as they do for Backlinks.

Actual result

About 3-4 times slower results for core Search Modal.
See video:
youtube dot com/ watch?v=1jdIIv6kyec

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Operating system: ios 15.7.8 (Apple iPad5,1)
Obsidian version: 1.8.7 (190)
API version: v1.8.7
Login status: not logged in

All snippets turned off, restricted mode on. (I copied the debug info after I reverted my original settings.)

Additional information

I understand this device is older and I had resigned myself to having search results come in too slow. But when I tried the Unlinked Mentions kind of workaround for search (I now search in two steps: once with a newly created dummy file to find unlinked mentions and then filtering those results), I realized there must be something else wrong here. It is not my vault or index at fault here…

I have tried reindexing of course in the past. Nothing better. Search is fast with plugins and snippets enabled as well in Backlinks’ Unlinked Mentions, but slow in Search Modal.

As I said, I made sure I had already initiated a first search (which took around 3 mins, as opposed to the roughly one minute it takes in Samurai Search, the iOS app), so in the video I was searching for a second term, and any subsequent searches are still slow but the Backlinks’ Unlinked Mentions results are in comparison much faster.

Thank you!

2

With a quick web search, Apple iPad5,1 was released in 2017. The iPad and iPadOS it is running are fairly old. I’m not sure this can or will be looked into too deeply.

We’ll see what the team thinks.

3

Thanks for the reply!

I would have thought Backlinks’ Unlinked Mentions used the same search mechanism and index (once it’s cached in the vault after the initial search).
What in the world would cause the discrepancy? There’s definitely something there that should be looked into, regardless of how well equipped a device is, I think. :pray:

4

So currently I can search with Backlinks’ Unlinked Mentions with this method:
I create and pin a file with this frontmatter:

---
title: to be used with Backlinks' Unlinked Mentions
aliases:
  - 
---

Then I edit the aliases list with my terms, and open the Backlinks. Search with this method is fast. Let’s say 4 seconds on a few results in a larger vault. It will be many more times this 4 seconds when the same search is initiated through the Search Modal.

5

you are not searching the same thing in both cases and the first search has the disadvantage of having to load the notes from disk to memory.

6

Well, I have already mentioned I was through with loading of notes into memory. If I hadn’t done that, it would have been 3 minutes.
Would you have waited for the entirety of a 5 minute video?

I didn’t search the same thing but that doesn’t matter.
I cannot search the same things anymore, either. With the Backlinks I can search for strings only. I cannot search for just any syntax anymore.

Since the report have been moved to Help, it seems I need help.
Then I need help answering the fact that why is the Unlinked Mentions search considerably faster? Does it use a different cache? It can’t be metadata cache, as these are not properties or headings, and so on.
This search must be relying on the same engine used in Search Modal, which is much slower, at times even 10 times slower.
Then if I think right, then there must be some bug here. Some bug that small-vault people didn’t realize or were not inclined to put up bug reports for.

So in that case, this is bigger than me…I can obviously find my way around the problem, which then is not my problem alone.

I need to discard also mentions of this being an older device, “we cannot support it.” It would be an evasion of the underlying problem. Backlinks Unlinked Mentions search is very fast with a larger vault! But not the Search Modal. The problem started around pre-1.5 or even before, but I cannot be sure…

Thanks for your attention!

7

On second thought, if this is not engine related, I think the team should look into some CSS problems around the Search Modal? Something that slows down the output of results there but not in the Backlinks pane…?

8

I have not noticed any major speed difference when you perform a like for like search. Meaning you search for exact string only on the content of markdown notes.

9

Like for like doesn’t make a difference. If you perform dozens of searches and you know the speed is wrong, what you search for is just a cosmetic difference (what you see as an onlooker), unrelated to the underlying issue.

But this problem I don’t experience on PC and the mobile Backlinks Unlinked Mentions search is fast.

10

With Backlinks’ Unlinked Mentions search, you are forced to search for the basename of the currently open markdown file. So a workaround is needed to put into the aliases property another value you also want to search for.

I just copied all my vault to a Test vault. Removed config folders and some bigger files containing base64 images.
Index of vault took 3 minutes. Pretty fast for a large vault.
I disabled all core plugins except for Search.

I searched for a word I knew it was going to give me 2-3 results only.
The first search before loading the files into memory was not bad at all. The second search… didn’t seem faster. Not much.
Backlinks Unlinked Mentions search much faster.

I cannot say it is vault (index) or device related. I cannot say it’s search engine related. I think it’s Search Modal related. After a fresh vault index, even the second search following a load of notes into the memory is not performant on mobile, but the Backlinks workaround method is very fast.

11

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