Search and filter your library

The library's search and filters find items by their bibliographic details, which means their title, creators, date, publication, identifiers, tags and abstract. They do not look inside your files. To find a passage in the full text of your sources, ask a question in Ask or use find in the reading room. The difference between an item's details and its text is explained in How Pangur reads your sources.

All of the controls described here live in the toolbar above the item list. They apply to the current view, so a search inside a collection finds only items in that collection.

Searching the current viewCopy Anchor Link

The search field above the list reads Search in this view…. The list narrows as you type, and Escape clears the field.

With Any field chosen (the default), Pangur looks for what you typed in each item's title, creators, publication title and abstract, matching part of the text and ignoring capitals. It also looks in the item's tags, again matching part of any tag's text. The DOI, ISBN and year are treated differently: they have to match exactly, because an identifier is either present or not. Hyphens in an ISBN are ignored, and so are capitals in a DOI.

Each word you type has to match, but the words can match in different fields. A search for Milton divorce finds an item by Milton whose title mentions divorce. To search for words together as a phrase, put them in double quotes: "Paradise Lost" Milton looks for the phrase "Paradise Lost" and for Milton.

Searching one fieldCopy Anchor Link

The Search in menu beside the search field limits the search to one field: Title, Creator, Year, DOI, ISBN or Publication. The field's placeholder then names the field (Search Creator…, for example), and a chip such as "Field: Creator" appears under the toolbar.

Title, Creator and Publication match part of the text, so a partial surname finds its author. Year, DOI and ISBN match the whole value exactly, for the reason given above.

Build an advanced searchCopy Anchor Link

Advanced search combines several conditions. Choose Search in and then Advanced search… to open it.

1. Under Show items that match, choose all of these (the default) or any of these.
2. For each condition, choose a field, a test and a value. + Add condition adds another and Remove condition drops one.
3. Choose Search.

The conditions appear as a single chip under the toolbar, headed "All of:" or "Any of:". Clear all in the dialog removes every condition.

The tests behave as you would expect, with a few details worth knowing. contains matches part of the field and ignores capitals. is compares the whole value, also ignoring capitals, and for Tag it means that one of the item's tags is exactly the value. The two negative tests, does not contain and is not, also match items whose field is empty. is before and is after need a four-digit year and leave out items that have no year at all.

Filtering by item type and tagCopy Anchor Link

Filter by item type shows only items of the types you tick, such as Book and Journal article. Ticking several types shows items of any of them. Filter types… narrows a long list of types, and Clear type filter removes the filter.

Filter by tag shows only items that carry one particular tag. Filter tags… narrows the list of tags. When the list is long it shows a count such as "Showing 50 of 212", so type part of a tag's name to reach one that is not shown. Clear tag filter removes the filter.

The tags here are the tags on items, which you set in Edit item. They are distinct from the research tags you put on highlights, which are described in Highlights, notes and assistant marks.

The filters, the search field and an advanced search all apply together, and each active one appears as its own chip that you can remove on its own.

Sorting the listCopy Anchor Link

Sort by changes the order of the list. Choosing the same option a second time reverses its direction.

Recently added in the Collections sidebar is simply All items sorted by date added.

Searching everything from the search barCopy Anchor Link

The search bar at the top of the app, and the field on Home, search your library too, but they also search outside it. When you press Enter there or choose Search everything for your words, the Library opens with the results in two parts: In your library first, then works found elsewhere under Not in your library. A DOI or ISBN is looked up exactly. This is the route for finding and adding new works, described in Find and add a work.

Search on other surfacesCopy Anchor Link

On iPhone and iPad the library's search narrows the list as you type and offers outside lookups when you choose Search (see Pangur for iPhone and iPad). From the command line, pangur search runs the same search of item details as the web's search field, with the same type, tag, collection and sort options (command-line reference). An assistant connected over MCP uses the search and search_items tools (MCP tools).

When a search finds less than you expectCopy Anchor Link

There are usually three explanations. While the Library sync banner is showing, Pangur is still building its copy of the item details, and some items are not yet searchable. A search inside a collection, or with a type or tag filter active, finds only items that also pass those filters, so check the chips under the toolbar. And because the search does not look inside files, a word that appears only in a PDF's text will not find the item.