Smart search not working

[willkaiser]

I am having trouble with smart search. Usually can upload text/pdfs and set it to the highest level of relevancy and typically, there will be lots of cards. However, now when i do this, it know says the following: UH OH! WE COULDN’T FIND ANY FLASHCARDS THAT FIT YOUR SEARCH . Please try a different search or broaden the focus filter. Tip: Try broadening your search terms to find more flashcards.

This is how it has been the last week or so for any content I have tried to smart search. Please let me know if there is a way around this.

[AnkiHub_AI_bot]

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Thanks for the detailed description – that helps narrow things down.

Based on what you’re describing, this doesn’t sound like normal behavior for Smart Search, especially if:

• It used to return plenty of cards for similar PDFs/text, and
• Now it consistently shows “UH OH! WE COULDN’T FIND ANY FLASHCARDS THAT FIT YOUR SEARCH” for anything you try, even with Highest relevancy.

Since I don’t see an existing forum report that exactly matches this, it may be:

• A temporary backend issue, or
• Something specific to your account / browser / add-on setup.

To help the team troubleshoot, could you please try the following and report back in that topic?

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1. Basic checks

1. Different browser or device

   • Try Smart Search in another browser (e.g., Chrome → Firefox) or on another computer if possible.
   • This helps tell if it’s a browser-specific issue.

2. Incognito / private window

   • Open an incognito/private window.
   • Log into AnkiHub and test Smart Search again with a simple, common PDF or text (e.g., something with very basic medical or language content).
   • This rules out extensions/cached data.

3. Try lowering the relevance filter

   • Instead of “Highest,” try:
     • “High”
     • Or remove/toggle the focus/relevancy filter if possible.
   • See if any cards show up then.

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2. Details that would really help support

When you reply in the topic, please include:

1. How you’re using Smart Search

   • Web only? Or also with the AnkiHub add-on inside Anki?
   • Does the issue happen in both places, or only on the web?

2. Examples of content

   • Roughly what kind of files/text are you using? (e.g., USMLE-style PDF chapter, lecture slides saved as PDF, textbook pages, etc.)
   • Does the error occur even with:
     • Very short, simple copy-pasted text?
     • Very generic queries (e.g., “heart failure”, “nephron”, “photosynthesis”)?

3. Technical info

   • Browser + version (e.g., Chrome 121 on Windows 11 / MacOS).
   • Whether you’ve tried:
     • Clearing browser cache
     • Disabling ad-blockers/privacy extensions.

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3. Next steps

Because this has been ongoing for about a week and affects any content you try, this likely needs to be checked on the AnkiHub backend.

After you:

• Try another browser/incognito and
• Test with simpler text and lower relevancy

please reply in your topic with:

• What you tried
• Whether Smart Search still shows no results in all cases

That will give the AnkiHub team enough information to either:

• Reproduce and fix a server-side issue, or
• Identify an account- or environment-specific problem.

If you’re comfortable sharing, you can also add a short sample of the text you’re feeding into Smart Search (with any personal info removed) so others can test the same snippet.

Once you’ve posted those details, if you want, I can help you draft how to summarize them clearly for the support team.

[Brian_BH]

Hello,

I would be happy to help.

I can’t say I’ve heard of any similar reports from other users, and the feature has been working fine on my end the last few weeks without issue. Just to make sure, though, let’s take a closer look for you:

The more details you can share the easier it may be to be of help; screenshots, in particular, are helpful just so we can see what you see

[andrewsanchez]

Can you share search terms or documents that you are getting this message with? A screen recording would be really helpful.

[willkaiser]

Sure. This is basically how it presents no matter the file, browser I use, etc… It used to let me do 99 or 100% search and would have sometimes 30 cards, sometimes around 80, etc… I did not used to have this problem, so was just wondering.

[andrewsanchez]

@willkaiser can you share that PDF here in a DM?

So it looks like you are getting search results, but they disappear when you crank the slider up to 99%, is that right? That is to be expected. The default slider position is 75%. Sliding to the left will result in more false positives. Moving the slider to the right will decrease the false positives at the expense of filtering out many relevant notes.

The changes you noticed recently are due to a new implementation of smart search, which should be far more accurate. Again, increasing the relevancy will filter out many notes that are likely very relevant. We are planning to remove the slider entirely due to the confusion it causes. Instead, will categorize search results into more meaningful groups and enable better filters.

@Brian_BH @Ahmed7 feel free to clarify or add anything.