Type to search when in graph view

Use case or problem

When opening the graph view, I usually filter the files to more easily find what I need. To do this, I need to click the cog wheel, select Filters, and type the search term.

Proposed solution

When in graph view, immediately initiate a filter when the user starts typing. For example, the graph view is open on screen, and the user types the word “metal”. The graph instantly filters the files with this term. This does not require any other key strokes or mouse clicks.

Current workaround (optional)

Using the cog wheel, which requires mouse input.

15 Likes

I like the idea about typing in the graph view to search for notes. But as for the filtering part, I would suggest something a bit different: Do not filter anything away from the current graph view, but instead highlight all nodes that match what you have typed, and if some nodes are not visible, pan and zoom the view so that it includes all the highlighted nodes.

I’d like to quickly search notes in the graph, but I don’t want to filter other notes out, because I still want to see all the relations and “the big picture”. I just need this kind of feature to see where a specific note(s) is located in the graph. And this is just temporary searching.

I use the current filtering system for a different thing: to define permanent filters to exclude notes that I’m not interested to see in the graph ever. I only rarely go to edit this filter. That’s why I’d like to have a separate “temporary quick search” feature in the graph view.

Would there be a way to implement both my suggestion and @Block6791’s suggestion? Perhaps a setting that defines how the “quick search” thing should work?

9 Likes

I would love to see this feature. When I search the graph view I often find myself wishing I could just highlight results rather than disappearing everything that doesn’t fit my search terms.

2 Likes

I guess this is related to the general ability to navigate obsidian via keyboard only, will love this feature too

Totally agree! It’s useful to filter out nodes, for sure.

But it’s a different (and important) use case to be able to search for specific files within the bigger picture. This feels like a very basic usability feature, given that when I open my graph, I see 100s of nodes and don’t really have much bearings at all.

Would love to see this feature, or even help implement it (I’m a software engineer)

2 Likes

Like to see this feature too

+1. The ability to highlight notes from a global view (“top-down” approach) is more important than the local graph view (“bottom-up”) sometimes.

I would love to see this feature too. It would be great to see all nodes that match what you have typed highlighted.