11 - Search & Discovery Guide

🔍 Find Anything Instantly
⏱️ Time Estimate: 5 minutes
📋 What You’ll Learn: How to use global search to find decisions, actions, concepts, and transcripts

What is Global Search?

Global search (Feature F020) lets you search across all your projects and transcripts from anywhere in the app. Just start typing to find decisions, actions, concepts, and transcript names.

What You Can Search

🎯 Decisions - Find key decisions made in meetings
➡️ Actions - Locate action items and tasks
💡 Concepts - Discover important topics and themes
📄 Transcripts - Search by transcript name

Quick Facts

Minimum query: 2 characters
Search delay: 300ms (reduces server load)
Results: Real-time as you type
Scope: All projects and transcripts

How to Search

Opening Search

Click the search bar at the top of the page:

[🔍 Search decisions, actions, concepts...]

[Screenshot placeholder: Search bar in header with search icon]

Keyboard Shortcut

Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux)
Cmd+K (macOS)

💡 Pro Tip: Use Ctrl+K / Cmd+K from anywhere in the app to quickly access search.

Using Search

Step 1: Type Your Query

Start typing at least 2 characters:

Example: "budget"

[Screenshot placeholder: Search input with “budget” typed, showing dropdown appearing]

Step 2: View Results

Results appear instantly below the search bar, showing:

Type icon - Visual indicator (🎯 decision, ➡️ action, 💡 concept, 📄 transcript)
Matched text - Your search term highlighted in yellow
Transcript name - Where this item is from
Project name - Which project it belongs to

[Screenshot placeholder: Search results dropdown showing multiple results with highlighted matches]

Step 3: Click to Navigate

Click any result to:

Switch to the project (if different)
Open the transcript in the sidebar
Navigate to the content (decision, action, or concept)

[Screenshot placeholder: After clicking result, showing navigation to transcript with highlighted content]

Understanding Search Results

Result Format

Each search result displays:

[Icon] Type • Transcript Name
Matched text with highlighted terms
in Project Name

Example:

🎯 Decision • Q4 Planning Meeting
Approve marketing budget for Q4 campaign
in Planning Project

Highlighting

Your search terms are highlighted in yellow so you can quickly see the match:

Approve marketing budget
        ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
        Highlighted matches

[Screenshot placeholder: Close-up of highlighted search terms in results]

Priority Indicators

Action items show color-coded priority:

🔴 High priority - Red arrow icon
🟠 Medium priority - Orange arrow icon
🔵 Low priority - Blue arrow icon

Search Tips

Be Specific

The more specific your query, the better the results:

✅ Good:

"Q4 budget"
"product launch"
"customer feedback"

❌ Too Generic:

"the"
"a"
"meeting"

Search Multiple Words

Search for multiple words to narrow results:

"marketing budget"     → Finds items with both words
"John deadline"        → Finds John's deadlines
"launch approval"      → Finds launch approvals

Finding People

Search by name to find their contributions:

"Sarah"    → All decisions, actions, concepts involving Sarah
"John"     → John's action items and mentions

Finding Topics

Search by topic to discover patterns:

"machine learning"   → All ML discussions
"customer feedback"  → Feedback mentions across transcripts
"pricing"            → Pricing-related decisions

Clearing Search

Clear Button

Click the X button on the right side of the search bar to clear your query.

[Screenshot placeholder: Search bar with X button highlighted]

Close Results

Click outside the search results dropdown or press Esc to close it.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Find Your Action Items

Goal: Find all actions assigned to you

Type your name: "John Smith"
    ↓
See all actions where you're mentioned

[Screenshot placeholder: Search results showing action items for a person]

Scenario 2: Track a Decision

Goal: Find when a specific decision was made

Type decision keywords: "approve budget"
    ↓
See all budget approval decisions across projects

Scenario 3: Research a Topic

Goal: Understand what was discussed about a topic

Type topic: "customer retention"
    ↓
See decisions, actions, and concepts about retention

Scenario 4: Find a Transcript

Goal: Locate a specific meeting

Type meeting name: "Q4 planning"
    ↓
See matching transcripts

Troubleshooting

No Results Found

Check:

✅ Typed at least 2 characters
✅ Spelling is correct
✅ Content exists in your transcripts

Try:

✅ Different keywords
✅ Broader search terms
✅ Part of a word instead of full word

Results Don’t Match

Possible causes:

Query too short (less than 2 characters)
Content not yet processed
Search index needs refresh

Solutions:

Wait for processing to complete
Refresh the page
Try different search terms

Search is Slow

Why:

Large database with many transcripts
Server processing time

Tips:

Be more specific in your search
Wait for results to load (300ms delay is normal)

Next Steps

Now that you know how to search:

🔍 Try it now - Search for a recent decision
⌨️ Use the shortcut - Practice Ctrl+K / Cmd+K
📊 Explore patterns - Search for recurring topics
🎯 Track action items - Search by your name

🔍 Search makes finding insights effortless.