Quick Open is available on iOS now!

[zowiewho]

Hey Beta Testers,

Exciting news for our iOS enthusiasts! The latest 2.1 beta version is now available via TestFlight, bringing the much-awaited Quick Open feature to your iOS devices. Navigate Bear with unprecedented ease using a simple three-finger swipe down or using the shortcut ⌘+O with external keyboard on iPad.

But that’s not all— we’ve also expanded the search capabilities in Quick Open. In addition to searching notes and #tags, you can now seamlessly explore and locate sidebar @sections.

We’re eager to hear your thoughts on these enhancements. Give the latest beta version a spin and let us know how they work for you.

Happy testing!

Bear 2.1 Changelog (updated)

Mac

• New: Quick Open! Press Command + O to quickly search notes, #tags, and @locations. Press Return to open the note and Command + Return to open the result in a new window
• New: Obsidian vault Importer: File > Import From… > Obsidian
• New: Importer for Markdown files with attachments: File > Import From… > Markdown Folder
• Command + Left and Command + Delete now follow system behavior for wrapping text
• Added the ability to end editing on the detached windows via Command + Return and start editing with just Return
• Returned: ‘New note from selection’ right-click menu item
• Note list Search performances improved for large notes and attachments library
• Fixed RTL-aligned wiki links and tags
• ToDos can now be written as * [ ] along with – [ ]
• Improved header text operation for some edge cases
• Improved list indentation when backspacing
• Fixed pasteboard management error concerning Markdown references
• Better handling of non-breaking spaces when pasted inside a code block or imported from HTML
• Fixed Open Tag and Location Shortcuts action for some app states
• Pasting a URL will no longer make it titled if the caret is next to a titled link markup
• Various crash fixes
• Various localization fixes
• Fixed some widget glitches
• Some small theme color fixes

iOS

• New: Quick Open! Press Command + O on iPads with an external keyboard or swipe 3 fingers down anywhere in Bear
• Quick Open can search notes, #tags, and sidebar @locations
• Fixed a layout error causing note images to be misplaced in some particular conditions
• App extension: Involuntary tags present in web pages are now stripped when imported
• Note list Search performances improved for large notes and attachments library
• Fixed RTL-aligned wiki links and tags
• ToDos can now be written as * [ ] along with – [ ]
• Improved header text operation for some edge cases
• Improved list indentation when backspacing
• Fixed pasteboard management error concerning Markdown references
• Better handling of non-breaking spaces when pasted inside a code block or imported from HTML
• Fixed Open Tag and Location Shortcuts action for some app states.
• Pasting a URL will no longer make it titled if the caret is next to a titled link markup
• Various crash fixes
• Various localization fixes
• Fixed some widget glitches
• Some small theme color fixes

Previous 2.1 Beta version: New beta version 2.1 - Quick Open!

[KillerWhale]

You guys are really crushing it. I love your care to design, UX and usability. I’d still like improvements to tabbing and multi window workflows but dang, in a sea of mediocre Electron apps, Bear is such a joy to use!

[bearbear]

Is there a URL scheme to directly send a query to Quick Open?

[domonox]

I like the new feature but I‘m not sure how I feel about the quick open not having also the search capabilities that the main search field has. Meaning that it could also look through text inside of notes.

I guess it‘s more about opening things, rather than searching, hence the name quick open. But I feel like that could be combined into one. I believe that would be better.

You have # for tags and @ for sections. Maybe you can have another symbol for text search inside of the quick open. If you are worried about it being too messy.

[marlonjames]

You guys really are crushing it! The app is fantastic! Thanks for all the great work!

[GenuineSalad]

Agree. Pehaps something like this?

[zowiewho]

Not yet Could you share more about how you’d use it?

[bearbear]

Hi! I’d use a launcher (e.g. Alfred) to start a search and finish it in Bear with quick open. Also I just realized this use case is for Mac

[KillerWhale]

I you have Alfred, there’s a terrific workflow that does that and more already.

[bearbear]

Thanks. For my workflow, it works better inside Bear

[KillerWhale]

Alternatively, you could very easily design a Keyboard Maestro macro that would bring Bear up and open the Quick Open field with a hotkey. I’ve done this with Obsidian for ages

[R2000]

Yeah I’d love to have an URL scheme for accessing the Quick Open, so that I could for example make a shortcut on iOS that takes me straight to Quick Open search view from the Home Screen. There’s one for the normal search, but I just love QO so much that I’d rather use that.

There’s also a widget on iOS (Find Notes) that takes you to Bear and activates search, and it could have a long press option to choose between normal search and Quick Open, but I’d still much prefer the URL scheme as it would occupy only one slot on Home Screen.

And while we’re at it, I’d love to have a Shortcuts action to activate search or Quick Open. I know there’s some Shortcuts actions for search, but I’d much rather just launch Bear UI straight into search/QO and do the typing there.

[Torb]

Three fingers is not a gesture that is possible one handed, so for me it might as well not exist. Quick open needs to be far easier to access on iOS.

It could be a floating button to the left (kinda like OmniFocus does, tho there’s an uneccesary extra tap in their case). Or maybe the pull gesture could be customized.

Regardless: it needs to be something you can access one handed.