Filtering Syntax Guide
Filtered views are powerful tools for organizing your Reader documents. The power behind them comes from queries, which can be customized with a variety of parameters.
To learn the basics of creating filtered views, check out our Organizing Content guide.
Query Structure
Creating a query from a single parameter is relatively straightforward: enter the parameter and the desired input.
To create a query that uses multiple parameters, you'll need a bit more structure. This structure is added using three core concepts: AND, OR, and nesting via parentheses.
AND
This is used to link parameters that should all apply to each filter result. For example, tag:news AND published__after:"1 week ago" will return documents that are tagged with "news" and were published within the last week.
OR
This is used to link parameters where only one of them should apply to each result. For example, tag:news OR tag:tech will return documents that are tagged with "news" or are tagged with "tech".
Nesting
What do you do if you want to mix and match your ANDs and ORs? Parentheses!
To separate the parameters from each other, you can group them into shorter statements with parentheses. For example, to display recent documents from two different tags, you could use (tag:one OR tag:two) AND saved__after:"2 weeks ago".
Date Parameters
These parameters filter results based on the date of a particular aspect of the document. You can use dates in two formats: absolute (e.g. 2024-09-15) or relative (e.g. "1 week ago").
Date parameters are often most useful when combined with the __before and __after operators.
saved
Filters by the date the document was saved to your Reader library.
last_opened
Filters by the date that the document was most recently opened.
published
Filters by the date that the document was published.
last_status
Filters results by the date of the most recent action taken on the document, such as moving it from the inbox to the archive.
Text Parameters
These parameters filter results by text-based metadata, such as title, author, or category.
If the text input contains more than one word, it should be placed inside of quotation marks, e.g. title__contains:"keyword or search term".
tag
Filters by tag(s) applied to the document.
domain
Filters by the domain the document originated from, e.g. nytimes.com or youtube.com.
url
Filters by the full URL of the document's original page.
category or type
Filters by the document's type. These types are set by Reader when the document is saved, so the valid options are limited to the following list:
articleepubemailpdftweetrssvideo
Restore default category views
If you've deleted one of the default category views that lives under the Library in your Reader sidebar and decide you want to restore it, you can do so by creating a filtered view with the query category:[name].
For example, to recreate the "Books" view, you would want to use the query category:epub. (Make sure there's no space after the colon!)
Once the view is recreated, it will re-adopt the default icon and display in the Library section of the sidebar.
rss_source
Filters by the name of the source RSS feed. This will only work on documents added via an RSS feed, not with manually saved documents or documents sent via email.
author
Filters by the name of the document's author.
location or in
Filters by the document's current location within your Library.
If you're using the default Triage Library configuration, the Library locations are inbox, later, and archive.
If you're using the Shortlist configuration, the options are later, shortlist, and archive.
title
Filters by the title of the document.
saved_using
This parameter is used to locate documents imported from another read-it-later service.
Options:
instapaperpocketomnivore
Binary Parameters
These parameters filter results by parameters that can either be true or false.
feed
Filters by whether or not the document is in the feed.
seen
Filters by whether the document has been opened or marked as seen.
unseen
The inverse of the above: Filters by whether the document has been opened or marked as seen.
shared
Filters by whether the document has a public link enabled.
Numerical Parameters
These parameters filter results based on parameters that accept numbers.
Numerical parameters are most often useful when combined with the __lt or __gt operators.
words
Filters by the number of words in the document.
progress
Filters by the reading progress percentage.
highlights
Filters by the number of highlights made in the document.
To display all documents with at least one highlight, you can also use has:highlights.
minutes
Filters by the estimated reading time of the document.
saved_count
Filters by the number of times a document has been saved to your account.
Other Parameters
has
This parameter filters documents based on whether or not certain annotations have been made. It accepts the following options:
highlights: Displays all documents with at least one highlighted passage.tags: Displays all documents with at least one tag.notes: Displays all documents with content in the document note field.
Operators
You can add these double underscore operators to other parameters above to modify them.
Example:
highlights__gt:5
__gt
Type: Numeral
Displays results where the parameter is greater than the specified number.
__lt
Type: Numeral
Displays results where the parameter is less than the specified number.
__gte
Type: Numeral
Displays results where the parameter is greater than or equal to the specified number.
__lte
Type: Numeral
Displays results where the parameter is less than or equal to the specified number.
__contains
Type: Text
Displays results where the parameter contains the specified text anywhere within its content.
__exact
Type: Text
Displays results where the parameter content is exactly the same as the specified text.
__before
Type: Date
Displays results where the parameter's date is earlier than the specified date or time frame.
__after
Type: Date
Displays results where the parameter's date is later than the specified date or time frame.
__not
Type: Any
Displays results where the parameter does or is not the same as the specified input.
