Hello there, EmilyDiaz.

While the search feature doesn't have the option to look for names or dates across all customer notes, you can use the Customer Contact List report. This is to easily get the information you need.

Here are the steps on how to do that:

1. Go to Reports.
2. In the Find report by name field, type Customer Contact List.
3. Click the Gear icon beside the Export icon.
4. Hit the Show More link, then mark the Note, Create Date, First Name, and Last Name boxes.
   
5. Click Run report to sync the changes.

For additional reference, you can visit these articles to know more about the basic reports in QBO and how to customize it:

• Available reports in QuickBooks Online.
• How to customize reports.

Be sure to get back to me if you have additional questions. I'd be more than happy to assist you further. Wishing you well.

I ran the report you suggested but I am still not allowed to do a quick search through that report.  We are a cemetery with thousands of customer files. Let me give an example of what I am trying to do. 

John & Jane Doe purchase 4 cemetery plots for themselves and any family that may need a space. John's sister passes away and he wished to have her buried in one of his plots.  All the paperwork goes until John Doe's account because he is the owner.  In his notes, we will type that John Doe's sister, Beverly Brown, is buried in space 1A.  

Later, someone comes in and wants to place flowers on Beverly Brown's grave but does not know where it is located.  We could go into our Quickbooks Desktop customer center and search Beverly Brown.  When we search that name, John Doe's account pops up because Beverly Brown is listed in his notes.  We then can open John's account, view his notes, and find where Beverly is buried.

On my new Quickbooks online account, if you type in Beverly Brown, it says no customers found because she is not listed as a customer.  John Doe is the customer and she is just buried on his property. I need to be able to search my customer center for text that may be found in notes.

Does that make sense?

Thanks for adding more information about your concern, EmilyDiaz.

I recognize how beneficial for your business to be able to search for names or dates across all customer notes. Please know we’re continuously improving to enhance our customers’ experience while using it.

I suggest sending feedback for the Search function in QBO to work in the same way as QBDT. Let me guide you through the steps on how to submit it.

1. Go to the Gear icon at the top and choose Feedback under Profile.
2. Enter your feedback in the field box and hit Next.

I invite you to visit the QuickBooks Blog to know more about our latest happenings. From there, you’ll get the recent news, features, and updates about the product.

For an overview of how the Search function works in QBO, click here to view the complete information.

Feel free to visit the Community if you have any other QuickBooks concerns. Please know I’m always ready to assist further. Have a good one.

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to mention that for some time now it seems QBO on the Customers page has the Search function including the contents of the Notes* field. At least it has been working for me. However, QBO is currently offering a "new view with filters" that is flagged as being in beta. Unfortunately, the search function in this new view does NOT return any results from Notes like the "original tab view" does when you return to it and use search. I also have not been able to find any settings to add the Notes as a column or filter criteria on this new view page (thinking maybe it's just a default issue, but no). I have already provided feedback about this on the new view, but it seems absurd that this is even an issue. Will they fix this before removing the old view entirely?

*

But it gets worse! We are talking about the single "Notes" field for a Customer. This is what QBO now refers to in some documentation as "Simple Notes". That’s in contrast to the "New Notes" which are threaded under the dedicated Notes tab of the Customer. Aside from the basic confusion of having two separate features both labeled "Notes", in practice and from the documentation I have found thus far, there is NO way to search these threaded New Notes. You also can't include them in a report, like the Customer Contact List, as you can the Simple Notes. Of course, another point of confusion for the Simple Notes is that you have to find the "Note" attribute to add the column, not "Notes" as the field is clearly labeled elsewhere in the UI. If you search for "notes" in the column chooser you won't find the attribute!

Suffice to say, this is just a bit maddening, but seems par for the course with QBO. I really wish they would do comprehensive software requirements tracking and A. Assure they don't break functionality with a redesign; B. Come up with distinguishable and properly labeled names in the UI for new features; C. Make sure that supporting pieces like reports use the matching labels for attributes. As someone that has worked in software development, I don’t think this is too much to ask, especially for a critical business product.