Use a search template

A search template, created using Search Designer, contains some of the search criteria needed to locate documents and folders. This topic describes how to add information before you run the search.

Select the search location

The user designing the search template selects the object stores and, optionally, specific folders to search, and determines whether you can see what folders have been selected. When you select the search template, the viewable pre-selected folders are displayed in the Folder section; however, if all folders are hidden, the Folder section isn't available. You can add or remove folders from the list. For each folder, you can limit the search to the selected folder, or expand the search to include all of its subfolders.

NOTE  If the search template includes hidden folders, your search results might contain items that reside in folders other than those displayed.

To change the selected folders

  1. Click Select In. In the selection window that opens, the top area contains the folder tree view, where you can navigate to the folder you want to search. The bottom area contains the selected folders.
    KEYBOARD TIP Use Ctrl + Shift + Down arrow to move forward and Ctrl + Shift + Up arrow to move backward through the areas and the various options and buttons.
  2. To add a folder, navigate to the desired folder in the folder tree view and click Add. (In this context, your Favorites folder displays only those folders that exist on the object store specified for this search.) Select as many folders as you want.
    TIP Click Show Path to display the paths to each selected folder.
    KEYBOARD TIP If the folder is not already selected (that is, it has tab focus but not click focus), press Enter to select and expand the folder. Press Enter again to add a folder.
  3. To remove a folder, select it in the selected list and click Remove. If there are no hidden folders, removing all folders expands the search to the entire object store.
    KEYBOARD TIP With the folder selected (that is, it has click and tab focus), press Delete to remove a folder.
  4. By default, subfolders are included in the search. To change this for a specific folder, select the folder in the selected list and clear the Include subfolders check box.
    KEYBOARD TIP Alternatively, with the folder selected (that is, it has click and tab focus), press the spacebar to select or clear the Include subfolders check box.

Select the class

The user designing the search template selects the document and folder classes to search, and determines whether you can view and change the pre-selected classes. When you select the search template, viewable pre-selected classes are displayed; however, if no classes have been pre-selected or all pre-selected classes are hidden, the Class option isn't available.

You can optionally clear the viewable pre-selected classes. The remaining selected classes, including any hidden classes, determine the properties you can use to set search conditions. Because properties can be defined globally or can be customized for one or more classes, the property definitions might be in conflict if more than one class is selected. If the selected classes have no conflicts, the property definition for the class is used. If no classes are selected, or if the selected classes result in conflicts, the property definition comes from the global property definition.

NOTE  If the search template includes hidden classes, your search results might contain items that match classes other than those displayed.

To change the selected classes

  1. Click Class. The Class tab displays the pre-selected classes; classes specified as read-only by the search template designer are displayed but cannot be modified.
  2. To include or exclude a class, select or clear its check box.

Specify document and folder conditions

You can type values for required and editable search conditions. For text strings, you can select from the available list of operators if the user designing the search specified the "is like" operator in Search Designer.

The user designing the search specifies the properties to search for. In addition, the search designer determines what conditions you can see and modify by specifying that each condition is either required, editable, read-only, or hidden.

The search page displays the non-hidden search conditions. Document-related conditions are displayed on top, folder-related conditions on the bottom. The conditions are grouped and nested in colored boxes to visually show how the conditions are combined with the AND and OR operators.

TIP Click Reset to restore all conditions to the original values contained in this search.
KEYBOARD TIP Some field values must be selected from a list using the ... button. (This is the button used to select a value from a list as opposed to typing a value.) To clear a value selected in this way (except for the Search in or Class fields), move the focus to the ... button and press Delete.
SCREEN READER TIP For a complex set of nested conditions, you must read the conditions line by line.

Common conditions

When a property applies to both documents and folders, the user designing the search can specify the property as common. Common conditions are displayed in both the document and folder sections of the search template; specifying a value in one section automatically updates the value of the corresponding property in the other section. Common conditions are identified by their icons; the paired document and folder property share the same name and relative position in the list of search conditions.

Using wildcards

For string-based property values using the starts with, ends with, and contains options, search automatically inserts the wildcard character (%) in the appropriate location (at the end, beginning, or both) when running the search. You can optionally include additional wildcard characters as needed.

Content searches

A content search returns documents that contain the text you specify in its content or indexed properties. If the user designing the search has included a content-based condition, the search prompts you to type text to search for.

NOTE  If the object store to be searched is not indexed for content-based searches, the associated conditions are not displayed.

If the search template prompt says... the search looks for documents with content matching...
content contains (single word or phrase only) a single word or phrase. Use an exclamation mark (!) to exclude the word or phrase from the search results. For example, searching for !music excludes any documents containing the word music. Typically you would use this in conjunction with another content-based condition. For example, in another condition you might type bass; excluding music in this condition allows you to see documents pertaining to sea fishing but excluding documents about bass quartets.
content contains (all) all words or phrases, in any order. You must type at least one word.
content contains (any) any words or phrases. You must type at least one word.
content contains (in proximity) the words or phrases, in order and near each other. A proximity search looks for all the words you specify, and ranks the results based on the proximity of the matches. You must type two or more words or phrases.
content contains (in the same paragraph) all words or phrases, in the same paragraph. You must type two or more words or phrases.
content contains (in the same sentence) all words or phrases, in the same sentence. You must type two or more words or phrases.
HTML/XML tag <tag name> all words or phrases contained within the specified HTML or XML tag. You must type at least one word.
content matches VQL query a structured query using the Autonomy K2 query language. See the Autonomy K2 documentation for further information about structured queries.

Here are some tips to help you maximize the effectiveness of your content search.

Matching an exact word or phrase

To match an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in double quotes. This is especially useful for proper names or common phrases. For example, searching for John Adams would return documents containing U. S. presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Searching for "John Adams" would return only those documents containing John Adams.

A content search not only looks for your search terms, but also for words that are similar to those terms. For example, searching for the word month would return documents containing the words month or months. To exclude variations of a single word, you can enclose the word in double quotes.

Matching case

Enclose a word or phrase in double quotes to force the search results to match case.

Searching for common words By default, a content search automatically ignores common words such as the, in, or and. To search for common words as part of a phrase, enclose them in double quotes.
Using wildcard characters

If you are not sure of the spelling or other variation used in the document you are searching for, you can use a wildcard character in your search term.

  • Use an asterisk (*) to stand for zero or more letters, numbers, or underscore ( _ ) characters. For example, searching for wo*d finds documents containing wood, word, World, or would.
  • Use a question mark (?) to stand for one (and only one) letter or number. For example, searching for ?an finds documents containing ran or can, but not span.

Select the versions to search

The user designing the search template specifies what version of a document to search for, and determines whether you can change this option. When you select the search template, the version selection is displayed; however, if the user designing the search has hidden this property, the Document versions option isn't available.

To change the version selection

  1. Click Document versions.
  2. Select one of the following options:

Work with the search results

The search designer specifies one or more columns to sort the results by. For a search on property-based conditions, you can re-sort the results by clicking a column heading. Click the heading again to reverse the sort order. To restore the default sort order of search results sorted by more than one column, you must re-run the search. If you leave the search to browse or search elsewhere, Workplace XT remembers your search criteria for up to ten different search templates. It does not remember your search results; to redisplay the results, you must re-run the search.

The search results from a search that includes a content-based condition are displayed differently. Note that a search can have a content-based condition that has been hidden by the user designing the search. You can tell if a content-based condition exists because the search results are ranked based on how well they match the content-based conditions. The documents with the highest ranking sort to the top.

If the search includes a combination of content-based and property-based conditions, where it looks for one set or the other, the documents matching the content conditions are displayed first, followed by the unranked documents matching the property conditions. If the search includes a combination of content-based and property-based conditions, where it looks for one set and the other, and the search results contain 200 items or less, you can re-sort the results by clicking a column heading. Click the heading again to reverse the sort order.

You can select one or more documents to view or to perform various actions. You can view the available actions on the toolbar or in the pop-up menu.