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?

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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.