diff --git a/zeppelin-web/src/components/filterNoteNames/filter-note-names.html b/zeppelin-web/src/components/filterNoteNames/filter-note-names.html
index a354cda70b8..f8fd22f2e52 100644
--- a/zeppelin-web/src/components/filterNoteNames/filter-note-names.html
+++ b/zeppelin-web/src/components/filterNoteNames/filter-note-names.html
@@ -11,4 +11,4 @@
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 -->
-<input type="text" class="note-name-query form-control" ng-click="$event.stopPropagation()" placeholder="&#xf002 Filter" ng-model="$parent.query.name" />
+<input type="text" class="note-name-query form-control" ng-click="$event.stopPropagation()" placeholder="&#xf002 Filter" ng-model="$parent.query" />
diff --git a/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.controller.js b/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.controller.js
index 50c769f1c3c..fb5957addba 100644
--- a/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.controller.js
+++ b/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.controller.js
@@ -14,7 +14,45 @@
 
 'use strict';
 
-angular.module('zeppelinWebApp').controller('NavCtrl', function($scope, $rootScope, $http, $routeParams,
+angular.module('zeppelinWebApp')
+.filter('notebookFilter', function() {
+  return function (notebooks, searchText)
+  {
+    if (!searchText) {
+      return notebooks;
+    }
+
+    var filteringNote = function(notebooks, filteredNotes) {
+      _.each(notebooks, function(notebook) {
+
+        if (notebook.name.toLowerCase().indexOf(searchText) !== -1) {
+          filteredNotes.push(notebook);
+          return notebook;
+        }
+
+        if (notebook.children) { 
+          filteringNote(notebook.children, filteredNotes);
+        }
+      });
+    };
+
+    return _.filter(notebooks, function(notebook) {
+      if (notebook.children) {
+        var filteredNotes = [];
+        filteringNote(notebook.children, filteredNotes);
+
+        if (filteredNotes.length > 0) {
+          return filteredNotes;
+        }
+      }
+
+      if (notebook.name.toLowerCase().indexOf(searchText) !== -1) {
+        return notebook;
+      }
+    });
+  };
+})
+.controller('NavCtrl', function($scope, $rootScope, $http, $routeParams,
     $location, notebookListDataFactory, baseUrlSrv, websocketMsgSrv, arrayOrderingSrv) {
   /** Current list of notes (ids) */
 
diff --git a/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.html b/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.html
index 148d67d3311..c6f5e36f8e6 100644
--- a/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.html
+++ b/zeppelin-web/src/components/navbar/navbar.html
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@
             <li class="divider"></li>
             <div id="notebook-list" class="scrollbar-container">
               <li class="filter-names" ng-include="'components/filterNoteNames/filter-note-names.html'"></li>
-              <li ng-repeat="note in navbar.notes.root.children | filter:query track by $index" ng-class="{'active' : navbar.isActive(note.id)}" ng-include="'notebook_list_renderer.html'">
-              </li>
+              <li ng-repeat="note in navbar.notes.root.children |notebookFilter:query track by $index" ng-class="{'active' : navbar.isActive(note.id)}" ng-include="'notebook_list_renderer.html'"></li>
             </div>
           </ul>
         </li>