Roam Research Docs · Help & user documentation

Better search (Experimental)

A new search engine for Roam, currently opt-in while it's experimental.
It's a personal setting: turning it on changes how search works for you, not for everyone on the graph.

It's faster, especially on large graphs.
Block references are searchable. A block that embeds another block with (( )) now matches searches for the referenced text — the old search only saw the raw reference, not what it says.
Smarter ranking. Results are ordered by how directly they match: exact page titles first, then titles and blocks containing your words as a phrase, then those containing all your words anywhere.
It finds ideas spread across nearby blocks. In an outline, one thought often spans several blocks. When no single block contains all your search words but a small neighborhood of blocks does, that group matches too — so you find the passage even though no block has the full phrase.
It unlocks search filters. With it on, keyword searches in Advanced Search support filters like daily notes and edit time.

Open Settings → User → Experimental: Better search and flip the switch.
Each person on a graph chooses for themselves.
The toggle is temporary — it will go away once the new engine becomes Roam's default search.
Looking for meaning-based search on top of this? See Semantic search (Experimental).