I like being able to search my transactions in Emma. However, the current search features feel a bit disjointed and (perhaps simply because they are disjointed) somewhat limited to me. Here is some feedback:
There seem to be two separate search facilities
Tag and merchant search (accessed from “what did I spend” card on the Feed). Unfortunately this only provides a subset of merchants rather than a complete list (and its not clear what makes the cut), and I assume also only a subset of tags (but not sure about this). However on the plus side you can limit the search to specific periods in time.
A keyword search accessed from the Accounts tab. However, this does not allow limiting search to time periods of interest.
Perhaps it would be better if you unify to a single search facility which combines the features of your two existing search options, even if there are multiple entry points to the same facility. I would also add I don’t find the entry point to the keyword search particularly intuitive (accounts tab). Until recently, I have forgotten it’s there on at least a couple of occasions.
The long term plan is to remove What Did I Spend and do a 5-10x improvement on Search in Accounts. At this point, the main issue we are having with the latter is that people don’t notice it.
I think more people would notice search if it was always there, no matter which screen you’re on. Search is useful in a variety of situations, so you could be on any screen and need it.
As a new user, I’m not sure I’d think to have to go to the accounts tab to find search. There’s no clear logical connection between search and accounts, anymore than analytics and search, or the what did I spend card (which has the word search in it, but isn’t search?!?).
I think it’s just confusing. There’s room to put it at the top left of every tab, except the more tab.
At first we also wanted to do a bit of language processing to like “Give me all the transactions in December for Groceries”. This is doable too and we’ll make it done; we just need to prioritise a few things.
I think a really well fleshed out search is more useful than you think. If you think about the analytics tab is basically a search of transactions across that payday period, with some summary figures and calculations added to the mix.
If you could include these summaries & calculations in a search result, you effectively have a custom analytics mode, where you can filter by a range of different fields. Add in saved searches, and you can have easy access to a review of your finances over the last 3 months, year, or whatever you choose.
Commonly used searches could be provided as examples, e.g. search all transactions above x value, would highlight your biggest spends. This could help people see the benefit of searches and understand why it’s useful.
My main feedback remains the same as opening post.
But on top of this I’ve just noticed the current search does not search your details field - which seems to be where you put bank transfer references. This field should be included in what is searched.
It’s not intuitively obvious to me what some of the modifier/filter icons (I assume that’s what they are) above the keyboard represent, but maybe it becomes obvious upon first use.
