diff --git a/packages/lib/services/rest/routes/search.ts b/packages/lib/services/rest/routes/search.ts
index 6bc60a4df..cf0efca75 100644
--- a/packages/lib/services/rest/routes/search.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/services/rest/routes/search.ts
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ export default async function(request: Request) {
 		results = (await SearchEngineUtils.notesForQuery(query, false, options)).notes;
 	}
 
-	// We do not sort the results because the search engine has already sorted them in order of
-	// relevance.
+	// We do not sort the results if the "order_by" query parameter is not specified, because the
+	// search engine has already sorted them in order of relevance.
 	// https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/10088
-	return collectionToPaginatedResults(modelType, results, request, { sort: false });
+	return collectionToPaginatedResults(modelType, results, request, { sort: !!request.query.order_by });
 }