Search and Ask

Bindle can find a link by the words in it, by what it is about, and from Spotlight. It can also answer questions from the articles you saved, with sources you can open. Everything here runs on your own devices.

Books are not part of search or Ask yet, so this book is not either. To find something in it, use Contents.

Search Your Links

Search looks through every link's title, note, highlights, and address, and the full text of its offline copy. It runs on each device, from that device's own index, so it works with no network at all.

Start a Search

iPhone and iPad: Tap the search line at the top of the list ("Search links"), and type.
Mac: Click the search line at the top of the list ("Search links"), or choose Library > Search from the menu bar. Press Esc to clear what you typed, and Esc again to leave the search.
With a keyboard, press Command-F, or press / while the list has focus.

Search looks within the list you are viewing. In All Links it covers everything; in Unread, Starred, or a collection it finds matches inside that list.

How Matching Works

Every word you type must match. Words match whole or by their start, so "garden" finds "gardening". A piece from the middle of a word does not match.
The last word matches as you type: "photosyn" already finds "photosynthesis". End with a space to make it a whole word.
Put words in quotation marks to find them as a phrase, such as "tide pools".
Accents are ignored, so "cafe" finds "café".
Words like AND and NEAR, and symbols like * and -, are treated as ordinary words, not as search commands.

Results

While you search, results are grouped by why they matched: In the title, In the text (the note or the article), Close in meaning (found by meaning), and Other matches (the address). Each group is in best-match order. A match in the title counts most, then the note, then the address, then the article. When two results tie, the one saved more recently comes first. The grid view groups its cards the same way.

When a note or an offline copy matched, the row shows the passage under its title in italic, with the matched words in bold. A title or address match shows no passage. The grid view shows no passages.

If nothing matches, the list says "No matches".

Search by Meaning

Search by meaning also finds links about what you typed, even when none of the words appear. Search "seaside critters" and an article about tide pools can come up.

It uses a small language model, all-MiniLM-L6-v2, that runs on your devices. Nothing you type or save leaves them. Results from meaning are blended into the same list as word matches, and a word match comes first when the two are equally good. A link found only by meaning shows the passage it matched, which VoiceOver reads as "Related passage".

Turn It On or Off

Go to Settings > Search & AI > Search and use "Search by meaning". It is on unless you turn it off. With it off, search goes by words alone.

The first time, Bindle downloads the model once (about 23 MB) under the offline download rules: on Wi-Fi, or on cellular when "Also download on cellular" is on, and never in Low Data Mode. While it works, Settings shows its progress under the toggle:

What you see	What it means
Downloading model	The model is downloading, with a percentage.
Model not downloaded	The download failed. The reason is shown, with Try Again.
Indexing for meaning	Links are being indexed, shown as a count, such as "120 of 3,400".
From your other devices	How many links' index came from another of your devices instead of being worked out here.
Indexing for meaning: When plugged in	Links are waiting for this device to be on power.

When Indexing Happens

Indexing takes real work, so by default it waits until the device is plugged in. On battery, search still works with what is already indexed, and new links are found by their words until the next charge. A plugged-in device of yours nearby can do the work and hand it over, so a phone on battery near a plugged-in Mac can still get a full index. You can change when it runs in Settings > Device & Circle > Battery (see Offline Copies, Snapshots, and Storage).

Read Text in Images

"Read text in images" (Settings > Search & AI > Search, on by default) finds words in the pictures of your offline copies, such as charts, slides, and screenshots, so a search can find them. The pictures are read on this device, or on a nearby device of yours that hands the text over. Turning it off stops reading and sharing image text.

It reads your saved PDFs and pictures too (see PDFs and Images). A PDF's own text is searchable as soon as it's saved, on any power. A scanned page, or a picture, is read when your Battery setting for text in images allows it, or by a nearby device of yours that already read it. Search shows the words it matched, and the file's row shows its first line.

Page snapshots and site preview images are not read.

Spotlight

With "Show links in Spotlight" on (Settings > Search & AI > Search, on by default), the system search on this device can find your links by title, note, site, and tag. Archived links are included. The article text is not added to Spotlight.

Choosing a result opens the link's details in Bindle. Turning the setting off removes Bindle's links from Spotlight on this device.

The Search Bindle Shortcut

Search Bindle is a Shortcuts action and a Siri phrase. It finds links the same way the search field does, best match first, and returns up to 20 by default. See Shortcuts, Widgets, and Focus.

Ask Your Library

Ask Your Library answers questions from the articles you saved. The answer is written by Apple Intelligence on your device, from passages in your offline copies, and each answer lists its sources by number. Nothing goes to a server.

Where to Find It

iPhone: The Ask tab.
iPad: Mac: Ask in the sidebar.

The Ask screen lists your conversations, pinned ones first, then the most recently active.

Ask a Question

Choose New Question. From its menu you can ask About the Library, or About a Collection to keep the answer to one collection's links.
Type your question in the field at the bottom ("Ask a question").
Tap the Ask button (the arrow), or press Command-Return.

While Bindle works, it shows "Reading your library…". The answer appears under your question. To keep going, type a follow-up in the same field ("Ask a follow-up"). Bindle uses your last two questions and answers as context, so a follow-up can say "it" or "that one".

The first question gives the conversation its title.

Sources

Each question is set as a heading, with its answer under it. Under an answer, its sources are listed as numbered footnotes: the number, the article's title, its site, and the passage it used. The numbers match the small raised numbers in the answer.

Tap a source to open the reader at that passage. Bindle scrolls to it and flashes it. For a few seconds the reader offers Save as Highlight, which turns that passage into a yellow highlight.

If the article's copy on this device no longer has the passage, the reader says so.

What an Answer Can Say

An answer with sources. Bindle found passages that answer the question.
"Nothing in your library covers this." No saved article answers it. Bindle never answers from outside your library.
Still indexing. If the library is still being indexed and nothing was found, Ask says so, with a count, instead of saying nothing was found.
Waiting. "Waiting for a device that can answer." See below.
No answer. The model could not answer, with the reason.

Answers come only from offline copies. A link with no offline copy on any of your devices cannot be used as a source.

Devices Without Apple Intelligence

Conversations sync to all your devices. A device without Apple Intelligence can still ask: its question is saved as waiting, and a device of yours that has it, such as your Mac, answers when they sync. The answer then shows on both.

On a device that has Apple Intelligence, a question that is still waiting shows Answer on This Device, to answer it there and then.

A question you ask on a device with the model is answered right away, even on battery, since you are waiting for it. Questions from your other devices are answered under the "Answering other devices' questions" rule in Settings > Device & Circle > Battery, which is Only while charging by default.

Ask About This Article

To ask about one article, choose Ask About This Article from the reader's More menu, or from the link's details. The conversation is kept to that article, and the same article always comes back to the same conversation.

Manage Conversations

Pin or Unpin: swipe right on a conversation, use its context menu, or choose More inside it. Pinned conversations stay at the top.
Rename…: in the conversation's context menu, gives it a new title.
Delete…: swipe left, use the context menu, or choose More inside the conversation. After you confirm, the conversation and all its questions are deleted on every device.

Turn Ask On or Off

Settings > Search & AI > Ask has the "Ask Your Library" toggle, on unless you turn it off. The note under it says whether this device answers questions itself or leaves them for a device with Apple Intelligence.

Summaries and Tag Ideas

On a device with Apple Intelligence, Bindle can write a short summary of each link and suggest tags for it.

Turn Them On

Go to Settings > Search & AI > Summaries and turn on "Summarize links and suggest tags". It is off until you turn it on, or until you choose Turn On when Bindle offers it once. Without Apple Intelligence the toggle is dimmed, and the note says it needs Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings.

Below the toggle, Bindle shows how the work is going: "Summarizing 13 of 120" with a bar while it runs, why it has stopped (such as Low Power Mode), or how many links are summarized.

How It Works

Summaries are written from a link's offline copy, so a link needs one first. New saves come first, then the rest of the library.
A summary syncs to all your devices like a note, so a device without Apple Intelligence still shows summaries made elsewhere.
Tag ideas stay on the device that made them.
By default the backlog waits for power. See "Summaries and tag suggestions" in Settings > Device & Circle > Battery.

In a Link's Details

Summary shows the summary, marked "Summarized on device". Choose Regenerate to write it again, or Summarize when there is none yet. While Bindle works on it, you see "Summarizing on this device…", or "Waiting for the summary before it…" when another link is still being summarized.
Suggested tags appear as dashed chips under the link's tags. Tap one to add it as a tag. Tap its x to dismiss it. Either way, Bindle never suggests that tag for that link again.

Tag ideas reuse tags you already have where they fit, and at most five are shown.