diff --git a/src/becca/entities/note.js b/src/becca/entities/note.js
index 59e7fce16..5562f239c 100644
--- a/src/becca/entities/note.js
+++ b/src/becca/entities/note.js
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ class Note extends AbstractEntity {
                 this.flatTextCache += ' ';
             }
 
-            this.flatTextCache = this.flatTextCache.toLowerCase();
+            this.flatTextCache = utils.removeDiacritic(this.flatTextCache.toLowerCase());
         }
 
         return this.flatTextCache;
diff --git a/src/services/search/expressions/note_cache_flat_text.js b/src/services/search/expressions/note_cache_flat_text.js
index 3cbd84c33..ca5f2c59d 100644
--- a/src/services/search/expressions/note_cache_flat_text.js
+++ b/src/services/search/expressions/note_cache_flat_text.js
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 const Expression = require('./expression');
 const NoteSet = require('../note_set');
 const becca = require('../../../becca/becca');
+const utils = require("../../utils");
 
-class BeccaFlatTextExp extends Expression {
+class NoteFlatTextExp extends Expression {
     constructor(tokens) {
         super();
 
@@ -44,15 +45,15 @@ class BeccaFlatTextExp extends Expression {
 
             for (const attribute of note.ownedAttributes) {
                 for (const token of tokens) {
-                    if (attribute.name.toLowerCase().includes(token)
-                        || attribute.value.toLowerCase().includes(token)) {
+                    if (utils.normalize(attribute.name).includes(token)
+                        || utils.normalize(attribute.value).includes(token)) {
                         foundAttrTokens.push(token);
                     }
                 }
             }
 
             for (const parentNote of note.parents) {
-                const title = beccaService.getNoteTitle(note.noteId, parentNote.noteId).toLowerCase();
+                const title = utils.normalize(beccaService.getNoteTitle(note.noteId, parentNote.noteId));
                 const foundTokens = foundAttrTokens.slice();
 
                 for (const token of tokens) {
@@ -89,8 +90,8 @@ class BeccaFlatTextExp extends Expression {
                 }
 
                 for (const attribute of note.ownedAttributes) {
-                    if (attribute.name.toLowerCase().includes(token)
-                        || attribute.value.toLowerCase().includes(token)) {
+                    if (utils.normalize(attribute.name).includes(token)
+                        || utils.normalize(attribute.value).includes(token)) {
 
                         foundAttrTokens.push(token);
                     }
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ class BeccaFlatTextExp extends Expression {
             }
 
             for (const parentNote of note.parents) {
-                const title = beccaService.getNoteTitle(note.noteId, parentNote.noteId).toLowerCase();
+                const title = utils.normalize(beccaService.getNoteTitle(note.noteId, parentNote.noteId));
                 const foundTokens = foundAttrTokens.slice();
 
                 for (const token of this.tokens) {
@@ -140,4 +141,4 @@ class BeccaFlatTextExp extends Expression {
     }
 }
 
-module.exports = BeccaFlatTextExp;
+module.exports = NoteFlatTextExp;
diff --git a/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_protected_fulltext.js b/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_protected_fulltext.js
index 197649765..6b171c3e7 100644
--- a/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_protected_fulltext.js
+++ b/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_protected_fulltext.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const log = require('../../log');
 const becca = require('../../../becca/becca');
 const protectedSessionService = require('../../protected_session');
 const striptags = require('striptags');
+const utils = require("../../utils");
 
 class NoteContentProtectedFulltextExp extends Expression {
     constructor(operator, tokens, raw) {
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ class NoteContentProtectedFulltextExp extends Expression {
                 continue;
             }
 
-            content = content.toLowerCase();
+            content = utils.normalize(content);
 
             if (type === 'text' && mime === 'text/html') {
                 if (!this.raw && content.length < 20000) { // striptags is slow for very large notes
diff --git a/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_unprotected_fulltext.js b/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_unprotected_fulltext.js
index 208f6e415..ad43cef46 100644
--- a/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_unprotected_fulltext.js
+++ b/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_unprotected_fulltext.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const Expression = require('./expression');
 const NoteSet = require('../note_set');
 const becca = require('../../../becca/becca');
 const striptags = require('striptags');
+const utils = require("../../utils");
 
 class NoteContentUnprotectedFulltextExp extends Expression {
     constructor(operator, tokens, raw) {
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ class NoteContentUnprotectedFulltextExp extends Expression {
                 continue;
             }
 
-            content = content.toString().toLowerCase();
+            content = utils.normalize(content.toString());
 
             if (type === 'text' && mime === 'text/html') {
                 if (!this.raw && content.length < 20000) { // striptags is slow for very large notes
diff --git a/src/services/search/services/parse.js b/src/services/search/services/parse.js
index f42f56329..a635c7fcb 100644
--- a/src/services/search/services/parse.js
+++ b/src/services/search/services/parse.js
@@ -18,9 +18,10 @@ const OrderByAndLimitExp = require('../expressions/order_by_and_limit');
 const AncestorExp = require("../expressions/ancestor");
 const buildComparator = require('./build_comparator');
 const ValueExtractor = require('../value_extractor');
+const utils = require("../../utils");
 
 function getFulltext(tokens, searchContext) {
-    tokens = tokens.map(t => t.token);
+    tokens = tokens.map(t => utils.removeDiacritic(t.token));
 
     searchContext.highlightedTokens.push(...tokens);
 
diff --git a/src/services/search/services/search.js b/src/services/search/services/search.js
index 500e09aa5..e98e54672 100644
--- a/src/services/search/services/search.js
+++ b/src/services/search/services/search.js
@@ -223,8 +223,8 @@ function highlightSearchResults(searchResults, highlightedTokens) {
         }
 
         for (const attr of note.getAttributes()) {
-            if (highlightedTokens.find(token => attr.name.toLowerCase().includes(token)
-                || attr.value.toLowerCase().includes(token))) {
+            if (highlightedTokens.find(token => utils.normalize(attr.name).includes(token)
+                || utils.normalize(attr.value).includes(token))) {
 
                 result.highlightedNotePathTitle += ` "${formatAttribute(attr)}'`;
             }
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ function highlightSearchResults(searchResults, highlightedTokens) {
     }
 
     for (const token of highlightedTokens) {
+        // this approach won't work for strings with diacritics
         const tokenRegex = new RegExp("(" + utils.escapeRegExp(token) + ")", "gi");
 
         for (const result of searchResults) {
diff --git a/src/services/utils.js b/src/services/utils.js
index 818767600..0b923ff2c 100644
--- a/src/services/utils.js
+++ b/src/services/utils.js
@@ -290,6 +290,14 @@ function deferred() {
     })();
 }
 
+function removeDiacritic(str) {
+    return str.normalize("NFD").replace(/\p{Diacritic}/gu, "");
+}
+
+function normalize(str) {
+    return removeDiacritic(str).toLowerCase();
+}
+
 module.exports = {
     randomSecureToken,
     randomString,
@@ -321,5 +329,7 @@ module.exports = {
     removeTextFileExtension,
     formatDownloadTitle,
     timeLimit,
-    deferred
+    deferred,
+    removeDiacritic,
+    normalize
 };