diff --git a/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactEntryListAdapter.java b/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactEntryListAdapter.java
index 9ebf9a2..fb9c73a 100644
--- a/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactEntryListAdapter.java
+++ b/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactEntryListAdapter.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 
 import com.android.contacts.common.ContactPhotoManager;
 import com.android.contacts.common.R;
+import com.android.contacts.common.util.SearchUtil;
 
 import java.util.HashSet;
 
@@ -225,7 +226,8 @@
         if (TextUtils.isEmpty(queryString)) {
             mUpperCaseQueryString = null;
         } else {
-            mUpperCaseQueryString = queryString.toUpperCase();
+            mUpperCaseQueryString = SearchUtil
+                    .cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery(queryString.toUpperCase()) ;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactListItemView.java b/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactListItemView.java
index 8354fd9..89a67d5 100644
--- a/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactListItemView.java
+++ b/src/com/android/contacts/common/list/ContactListItemView.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import com.android.contacts.common.ContactStatusUtil;
 import com.android.contacts.common.R;
 import com.android.contacts.common.format.PrefixHighlighter;
+import com.android.contacts.common.util.SearchUtil;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -1148,33 +1149,21 @@
         }
 
         String snippet = cursor.getString(summarySnippetColumnIndex);
+
         // Do client side snippeting if provider didn't do it
         final Bundle extras = cursor.getExtras();
         if (extras.getBoolean(ContactsContract.DEFERRED_SNIPPETING)) {
 
             final String query = extras.getString(ContactsContract.DEFERRED_SNIPPETING_QUERY);
-            if (TextUtils.isEmpty(snippet) || TextUtils.isEmpty(query)) {
-                snippet = null;
-            } else {
-                // If the name matches, don't show snippets.
-                int displayNameIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME);
-                if (displayNameIndex >= 0) {
 
-                    final String displayName = cursor.getString(displayNameIndex);
-                    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(displayName)) {
-                        snippet = null;
-                    } else {
-                        final String lowerQuery = query.toLowerCase();
-                        final String lowerDisplayName = displayName.toLowerCase();
-                        final List<String> nameTokens = split(lowerDisplayName);
-                        for (String nameToken : nameTokens) {
-                            if (nameToken.startsWith(lowerQuery)) {
-                                snippet = null;
-                            }
-                        }
-                    }
-                }
+            String displayName = null;
+            int displayNameIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME);
+            if (displayNameIndex >= 0) {
+                displayName = cursor.getString(displayNameIndex);
             }
+
+            snippet = updateSnippet(snippet, query, displayName);
+
         } else {
             if (snippet != null) {
                 int from = 0;
@@ -1207,9 +1196,116 @@
                 }
             }
         }
+
         setSnippet(snippet);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Used for deferred snippets from the database. The contents come back as large strings which
+     * need to be extracted for display.
+     *
+     * @param snippet The snippet from the database.
+     * @param query The search query substring.
+     * @param displayName The contact display name.
+     * @return The proper snippet to display.
+     */
+    private String updateSnippet(String snippet, String query, String displayName) {
+
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(snippet) || TextUtils.isEmpty(query)) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        query = SearchUtil.cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery(query.toLowerCase());
+
+        // If the display name already contains the query term, return empty - snippets should
+        // not be needed in that case.
+        if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(displayName)) {
+            final String lowerDisplayName = displayName.toLowerCase();
+            final List<String> nameTokens = split(lowerDisplayName);
+            for (String nameToken : nameTokens) {
+                if (nameToken.startsWith(query)) {
+                    return null;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // The snippet may contain multiple data lines.
+        // Show the first line that matches the query.
+        final SearchUtil.MatchedLine matched = SearchUtil.findMatchingLine(snippet, query);
+
+        if (matched != null && matched.line != null) {
+            // Tokenize for long strings since the match may be at the end of it.
+            // Skip this part for short strings since the whole string will be displayed.
+            // Most contact strings are short so the snippetize method will be called infrequently.
+            final int lengthThreshold = getResources().getInteger(
+                    R.integer.snippet_length_before_tokenize);
+            if (matched.line.length() > lengthThreshold) {
+                return snippetize(matched.line, matched.startIndex, lengthThreshold);
+            } else {
+                return matched.line;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // No match found.
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    private String snippetize(String line, int matchIndex, int maxLength) {
+        // Show up to maxLength characters. But we only show full tokens so show the last full token
+        // up to maxLength characters. So as many starting tokens as possible before trying ending
+        // tokens.
+        int remainingLength = maxLength;
+        int tempRemainingLength = remainingLength;
+
+        // Start the end token after the matched query.
+        int index = matchIndex;
+        int endTokenIndex = index;
+
+        // Find the match token first.
+        while (index < line.length()) {
+            if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(line.charAt(index))) {
+                endTokenIndex = index;
+                remainingLength = tempRemainingLength;
+                break;
+            }
+            tempRemainingLength--;
+            index++;
+        }
+
+        // Find as much content before the match.
+        index = matchIndex - 1;
+        tempRemainingLength = remainingLength;
+        int startTokenIndex = matchIndex;
+        while (index > -1 && tempRemainingLength > 0) {
+            if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(line.charAt(index))) {
+                startTokenIndex = index;
+                remainingLength = tempRemainingLength;
+            }
+            tempRemainingLength--;
+            index--;
+        }
+
+        index = endTokenIndex;
+        tempRemainingLength = remainingLength;
+        // Find remaining content at after match.
+        while (index < line.length() && tempRemainingLength > 0) {
+            if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(line.charAt(index))) {
+                endTokenIndex = index;
+            }
+            tempRemainingLength--;
+            index++;
+        }
+        // Append ellipse if there is content before or after.
+        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        if (startTokenIndex > 0) {
+            sb.append("...");
+        }
+        sb.append(line.substring(startTokenIndex, endTokenIndex));
+        if (endTokenIndex < line.length()) {
+            sb.append("...");
+        }
+        return sb.toString();
+    }
+
     private static final Pattern SPLIT_PATTERN = Pattern.compile(
             "([\\w-\\.]+)@((?:[\\w]+\\.)+)([a-zA-Z]{2,4})|[\\w]+");
 
diff --git a/src/com/android/contacts/common/util/SearchUtil.java b/src/com/android/contacts/common/util/SearchUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3428ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/com/android/contacts/common/util/SearchUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,213 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.android.contacts.common.util;
+
+import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
+
+/**
+ * Methods related to search.
+ */
+public class SearchUtil {
+
+    public static class MatchedLine {
+
+        public int startIndex = -1;
+        public String line;
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "MatchedLine{" +
+                    "line='" + line + '\'' +
+                    ", startIndex=" + startIndex +
+                    '}';
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Given a string with lines delimited with '\n', finds the matching line to the given
+     * substring.
+     *
+     * @param contents The string to search.
+     * @param substring The substring to search for.
+     * @return A MatchedLine object containing the matching line and the startIndex of the substring
+     * match within that line.
+     */
+    public static MatchedLine findMatchingLine(String contents, String substring) {
+        final MatchedLine matched = new MatchedLine();
+
+        // Snippet may contain multiple lines separated by "\n".
+        // Locate the lines of the content that contain the substring.
+        final int index = SearchUtil.contains(contents, substring);
+        if (index != -1) {
+            // Match found.  Find the corresponding line.
+            int start = index - 1;
+            while (start > -1) {
+                if (contents.charAt(start) == '\n') {
+                    break;
+                }
+                start--;
+            }
+            int end = index + 1;
+            while (end < contents.length()) {
+                if (contents.charAt(end) == '\n') {
+                    break;
+                }
+                end++;
+            }
+            matched.line = contents.substring(start + 1, end);
+            matched.startIndex = index - (start + 1);
+        }
+        return matched;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Similar to String.contains() with two main differences:
+     * <p>
+     * 1) Only searches token prefixes.  A token is defined as any combination of letters or
+     * numbers.
+     * <p>
+     * 2) Returns the starting index where the substring is found.
+     *
+     * @param value The string to search.
+     * @param substring The substring to look for.
+     * @return The starting index where the substring is found. {@literal -1} if substring is not
+     *         found in value.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    static int contains(String value, String substring) {
+        if (value.length() < substring.length()) {
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        // i18n support
+        // Generate the code points for the substring once.
+        // There will be a maximum of substring.length code points.  But may be fewer.
+        // Since the array length is not an accurate size, we need to keep a separate variable.
+        final int[] substringCodePoints = new int[substring.length()];
+        int substringLength = 0;  // may not equal substring.length()!!
+        for (int i = 0; i < substring.length(); ) {
+            final int codePoint = Character.codePointAt(substring, i);
+            substringCodePoints[substringLength] = codePoint;
+            substringLength++;
+            i += Character.charCount(codePoint);
+        }
+
+        int valueCodePoint = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < value.length(); i = findNextTokenStart(value, i)) {
+            valueCodePoint = value.codePointAt(i);
+
+            int numMatch = 0;
+
+            // As an optimization, we lower here instead of making the parent do it.
+            //int substringCodePoint = substring.codePointAt(numMatch);
+            int valueCpIndex = 0;
+            int cp = Character.toLowerCase(valueCodePoint);
+            while (numMatch < substringLength && cp == substringCodePoints[numMatch]) {
+                numMatch++;
+                if (numMatch == substringLength) {
+                    // Must exit loop here otherwise code below may cause IndexOutOfBoundsException.
+                    // When query string matches content exactly.
+                    return i;
+                }
+                valueCpIndex += Character.charCount(cp);
+                cp = Character.toLowerCase(value.codePointAt(i + valueCpIndex));
+
+            }
+
+        }
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Find the start of the next token.  A token is composed of letters and numbers. Any other
+     * character are considered delimiters.
+     *
+     * @param line The string to search for the next token.
+     * @param startIndex The index to start searching.  0 based indexing.
+     * @return The index for the start of the next token.  line.length() if next token not found.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    static int findNextTokenStart(String line, int startIndex) {
+        int index = startIndex;
+
+        // If already in token, eat remainder of token.
+        while (index <= line.length()) {
+            if (index == line.length()) {
+                // No more tokens.
+                return index;
+            }
+            final int codePoint = line.codePointAt(index);
+            if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(codePoint)) {
+                break;
+            }
+            index += Character.charCount(codePoint);
+        }
+
+        // Out of token, eat all consecutive delimiters.
+        while (index <= line.length()) {
+            if (index == line.length()) {
+                return index;
+            }
+            final int codePoint = line.codePointAt(index);
+            if (Character.isLetterOrDigit(codePoint)) {
+                break;
+            }
+            index += Character.charCount(codePoint);
+        }
+
+        return index;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Anything other than letter and numbers are considered delimiters.  Remove start and end
+     * delimiters since they are not relevant to search.
+     *
+     * @param query The query string to clean.
+     * @return The cleaned query. Empty string if all characters are cleaned out.
+     */
+    public static String cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery(String query) {
+        int start = 0;
+        while (start < query.length()) {
+            int codePoint = query.codePointAt(start);
+            if (Character.isLetterOrDigit(codePoint)) {
+                break;
+            }
+            start += Character.charCount(codePoint);
+        }
+
+        if (start == query.length()) {
+            // All characters are delimiters.
+            return "";
+        }
+
+        int end = query.length() - 1;
+        while (end > -1) {
+            if (Character.isLowSurrogate(query.charAt(end))) {
+                // Assume valid i18n string.  There should be a matching high surrogate before it.
+                end--;
+            }
+            int codePoint = query.codePointAt(end);
+            if (Character.isLetterOrDigit(codePoint)) {
+                break;
+            }
+            end--;
+        }
+
+        // end is a letter or digit.
+        return query.substring(start, end + 1);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/src/com/android/contacts/common/util/SearchUtilTest.java b/tests/src/com/android/contacts/common/util/SearchUtilTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e03e871
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/src/com/android/contacts/common/util/SearchUtilTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.android.contacts.common.util;
+
+import android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.SmallTest;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link SearchUtil}.
+ */
+@SmallTest
+public class SearchUtilTest extends TestCase {
+
+    public void testFindMatchingLine() {
+        final String actual = "this is a long test string.\nWith potentially many lines.\n" +
+                "test@google.com\nhello\nblah\n'leading punc";
+
+        SearchUtil.MatchedLine matched = SearchUtil.findMatchingLine(actual, "poten");
+        assertEquals("With potentially many lines.", matched.line);
+        assertEquals(5, matched.startIndex);
+
+        // Full line match.
+        matched = SearchUtil.findMatchingLine(actual, "hello");
+        assertEquals("hello", matched.line);
+        assertEquals(0, matched.startIndex);
+
+        // First line match
+        matched = SearchUtil.findMatchingLine(actual, "this");
+        assertEquals("this is a long test string.", matched.line);
+        assertEquals(0, matched.startIndex);
+
+        // Last line match
+        matched = SearchUtil.findMatchingLine(actual, "punc");
+        assertEquals("'leading punc", matched.line);
+        assertEquals(9, matched.startIndex);
+    }
+
+    public void testContains() {
+        final String actual = "this is a long test string.\nWith potentially many lines.\n" +
+                "test@google.com\nhello\nblah\n'leading punc";
+        assertEquals(0, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "this"));
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "lon"));
+
+        assertEquals(1, SearchUtil.contains("'leading punc", "lead"));
+        assertEquals(9, SearchUtil.contains("'leading punc", "punc"));
+
+    }
+
+    public void testContainsNotFound() {
+        final String actual = "this is a long test string.\nWith potentially many lines.\n" +
+                "test@google.com\nhello\nblah\n'leading punc";
+
+        // Non-prefix
+        assertEquals(-1, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "ith"));
+        assertEquals(-1, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "ing"));
+
+        // Complete misses
+        assertEquals(-1, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "thisx"));
+        assertEquals(-1, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "manyx"));
+        assertEquals(-1, SearchUtil.contains(actual, "hellox"));
+    }
+
+    public void testFindNextTokenStart() {
+        final String actual = "....hello.kitty";
+        //                     012345678901234
+
+        // Find first token.
+        assertEquals(4, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 0));
+        assertEquals(4, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 1));
+        assertEquals(4, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 2));
+        assertEquals(4, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 3));
+
+        // Find second token.
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 4));
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 5));
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 6));
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 7));
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 8));
+        assertEquals(10, SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 9));
+
+        // No token.
+        assertEquals(actual.length(), SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 10));
+        assertEquals(actual.length(), SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 11));
+        assertEquals(actual.length(), SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 12));
+        assertEquals(actual.length(), SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 13));
+        assertEquals(actual.length(), SearchUtil.findNextTokenStart(actual, 14));
+    }
+
+    public void testCleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery() {
+        assertEquals("test", SearchUtil.cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery("...test..."));
+        assertEquals("test", SearchUtil.cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery(" test "));
+        assertEquals("test", SearchUtil.cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery(" ||test"));
+        assertEquals("test", SearchUtil.cleanStartAndEndOfSearchQuery("test.."));
+    }
+
+}