Currently exclude from search excludes records from both, toolbar searches and Smart Groups.
It would be nice to have an additional option exclude from smart group search. This would make it possible to exclude records from toolbar searches but not from Smart Groups and Smart Rules.
Development would have to assess this but why?
E.g. to be able to use a Smart Group to get a flattend list of records that live in subgroups (e.g. captured documentation - it’s often useful to know under which heading something appeared) but not have those records appear in toolbar search results.