Sort quick switcher search results by popularity or date

[Gnopps]

When using Ctrl-O to switch to another file it would be useful if the results could be sorted by something else than by their name.

In my case I have several files with similar titles but one of them is more frequently edited than the others. This means I always have to scroll to the correct file when using the switcher, instead of just typing part of its name and having it as the first suggestion.

I’d like to have an option to always show the file-switcher results by either date (most recent first) or popularity (as in often it has been edited during the last X days).

In the example below I’d like to access a recent daily note but will have to type in a lot of its name unless I want to scroll. This would be avoided with the search options suggested here. (please note this is not about daily notes only)

[wroestorf]

Maybe not exactly the same request, but somewhat similar… I would like option to show the “created on” date or the “changed on” date next to the file name or just beneath it in the search results and in File Explorer. and then, in addition, options to sort the search results (and file explorer) based on “created on” or “changed on”, as well as file name. Sorting based on the suggested “popularity” would be great, but I would imagine would require Obsidian to somehow keep track of file changes since this info would not be stored in the file’s meta data (and so would not be transferable to other application like 1writer on iOS).

[d00b]

FEATURE REQUEST

Search operators: Sorting order by Edited date, Created date

Today: Search Results sort by title, unable to sort by date

Obsidian Search serves search results which are currently sorted by 0-9 then A-Z etc by note titles. It is not able to list Last created and/or edited notes on the top.

Request: Need search operators for date sorter
To have Search Operators support for sorting notes/files by Created date and Edited date in both directions old to new and new to old, for a refined searches while they are save/link/transclude-able.

(PS: performed searching before creating this request)

#creation-date

[d00b]

@ryanjamurphy
You and I missed out or overlooked an related request:

https://forum.obsidian.md/t/sort-by-creation-date/

[ryanjamurphy]

Thanks @d00b! I’ll leave that as a separate thread as it seems to focus exclusively on exposing/using date created. Feel free to argue otherwise!

[d00b]

@ryanjamurphy

leave that as a separate thread

Yes agree. Thanks for looking.

[d00b]

@d00b

Search operators: Sorting order by Edited date, Created date

Sorting order in Global Search implemented in v0.8.10. Not in yet for Ctrl/Cmd O (Quick Switcher) however.
Obsidian Release v0.8.10

Thanks to the makers.

[Gnopps]

Thanks for noting but that is when searching for text using Ctrl-F.

My request is for a default sort to be present when searching for files using Ctrl-O. This is not implemented.

[malecjan]

Related feature requests:

• Sort search results by relevance (and what relevance is)
• Date/number ranges within search/filter
  (filter dates as complement or instead of sort/order)

---

keywords: frequency, rank

[dsteinbock]

+1 to this request. As a note collection grows larger, the ‘Quick Switcher’ gets slower and slower as a workflow. After typing the search term, one has to arrow-down through similarly-named notes — which is common for notes in a shared subject area.

Quick Switcher usability would go up dramatically if the sort algorithm took recency into account (preferably last-edited timestamp). Type the keyword and the most-recent note from the subject area is at the top.

@Gnopps : would you please edit the thread title to show this request refers to the “Quick Switcher”, not “file search”, which is a separate function. e.g. “Sort Quick Switcher results by popularity or date” — there’s also a quick-switcher tag you can add.

[Gnopps]

Good point, title changed!

[dsteinbock]

Posting so this request gets more visibility. It’s valuable. Quick Switcher should take recency into account (last opened or modified date).

Here’s an example:

Currently, when you open the Quick Switcher it lists your most recently opened notes. That’s helpful and acknowledges that you’re likely to want to open them again soon. But if you type a keyword to filter for one of these recent notes, it’s likely to drop further down the list — because recency is not a factor when you search w/ Quick Switcher.

With a big vault, where the same keyword appears in the title of many notes, the ‘quick switcher’ needs this optimization to remain ‘quick.’

[Caffae]

I think the plugin ‘Another Quick Switcher’ does this right now - They have a recent search function