How Results Are Organized
When you search in 12scribe, results are not displayed as a flat list of matches. Instead, they are grouped by project and organized by type, giving you a clear picture of where your search term appears and in what context. This structure makes it possible to scan dozens of matches quickly and identify the one you need without opening each result individually.
Each result entry shows enough surrounding text and metadata -- timestamps, marker types, project names -- that you can evaluate relevance at a glance. Whether you are searching for a specific quote from a lecture, a marker you placed during a meeting, or a project you recorded weeks ago, the result layout is designed to surface the right match fast.
Result Types
There are three types of results you may see after entering a search term, depending on where the match is found:
- Project name matches -- these appear when your search term is part of a project title. The result shows the full project name with the matching portion highlighted. This is useful when you remember the topic but not the exact recording session. Tapping a project name match opens the project overview, where you can see all its sessions, markers, and transcriptions.
- Marker matches -- these appear when your term is found in a marker title or description. Each marker result shows the marker title, type icon (Flag, Favorite, or Fire), the timestamp, and the project it belongs to. If you added descriptions to your markers, the description text is also searched and shown in the result. Tapping a marker result opens the player at that marker's start time. For more on managing markers, see Filter and Search Markers.
- Transcription matches -- these are the most common and most detailed results. Each transcription match shows a text snippet from the transcribed audio with your search term highlighted. The snippet includes surrounding words for context, the timestamp of the segment, and the project name. This is the result type that turns your audio recordings into a searchable text database.
Context Snippets
Every transcription match includes a context snippet -- a short passage of text surrounding the word or phrase you searched for. The purpose of these snippets is to help you decide whether a particular match is relevant before you tap to listen.
For example, if you search for "hypothesis," you might see a snippet like: "...the hypothesis proposed by the research group suggests that early intervention leads to..." -- showing you enough surrounding text to know whether this is the mention of "hypothesis" you were looking for, or a different one from another recording.
The matched term itself is highlighted within the snippet so your eye can find it immediately. Context snippets typically show 8-12 words before and after the match, providing a natural sentence fragment that makes semantic sense without requiring you to open the full transcript.
Grouped View
Results are grouped under project headings. If your search term appears five times across three different projects, you will see three project groups, each containing its respective matches. Within each group, results are ordered chronologically -- earlier moments in the recording appear first.
This grouping is particularly valuable when you have many projects. Instead of wading through an unsorted list of 30 matches, you can quickly identify which project is most likely to contain the information you need and focus on its results. If you know the match is from a specific project, you can scan the group headers and jump directly to that section.
The number of matches within each project group is shown next to the project name, so you can see at a glance which projects have the most references to your search term. A project with 8 matches for "machine learning" is likely a dedicated lecture on the topic, while a project with 1 match probably just references it in passing.
Tap to Jump
The most important action you can take on any search result is tapping it to jump directly to that moment in the audio. Every result type supports this:
- Tap a project name match to open the project overview with all its sessions and markers
- Tap a marker match to open the player at the marker's timestamp and begin playback from that exact second
- Tap a transcription match to open the player at the timestamp where that text was spoken, with playback starting immediately
After jumping to a result, the player provides full controls -- you can rewind a few seconds to hear more context, pause, or continue listening forward. Use the back button to return to your search results and try another match if needed.
This tap-to-jump behavior is what makes Global Search so powerful. You are not just finding text -- you are navigating directly to the audio moment where that text was spoken. Combined with the search tips and habits described in our dedicated guide, this workflow lets you treat your entire recording library as a searchable, navigable knowledge base.