Use the Search Center to search for documents.
You can use the Search Center to search and retrieve internal documents.
Depending on what your administrator has set, you might also be able
to search documents from intranet sources of your organization or
from additional sources.
Searching for content
To
submit your search query, use the Search box that is available at
the side of the portal theme bar.
Note: Depending on your installation
and its customization, search might be available by other than the
default means.
- Click the downward arrow that is beside the Search text input
field, and select a scope to search from the drop-down list of available
scopes. The Search field displays the name of scope you picked. If
you do not pick a scope, All Sources (the default) will be searched.
For details about search scopes refer to Searching by scopes.
- To enter a search query, type your search string over the name
of the selected scope in the entry field. For details about the search
syntax refer to Search syntax.
- Click the Search icon (magnifying glass)
to launch your query. Search displays the items that match your search
terms on the Search Center tab page. The information about the search
results appears grouped by columns for relevance, title, owner, and
date. For details refer to Search result list details.
- Change or refine your search using one of the following methods:
- Refine your search by typing additional words in the Search text
entry field. For details about the search syntax refer to Search syntax.
- Launch a search to a different content location by selecting the
search scope as required. For details refer to Searching by scopes.
- To view a result, click that result. Clicking a result leaves
Search and opens it in its native application. To return to the previous
set of results, click Show Last Results from
the Search selection drop-down list.
- Click Close Search to leave the search
results.
To perform more advanced searches,
use the Search and Browse portlet, which allows you to select additional
parameters that further restrict a search beyond a simple text-string
query.
Searching by scopes
- Scope
- Search scopes are used to group or limit searches to one or multiple
content locations or document types or a combination of both. You
can select scopes from the pull-down list next to the search text
entry field.
The following search scopes are available by default:
| Search collection |
Contents of Result List |
|---|
| All Sources |
Documents from Managed Web Content, from any indexed content
that you have access to, and from any custom third-party links that
have been configured by an administrator display in the same list.
This does not pertain to external search services. |
| Managed Web Content |
Documents originating from the Managed Web Content source.
This scope is available only if you have a Managed Web Content site. |
| Custom links |
Custom links are displayed in the pull-down selection list
next to the search text entry field. They are typically third-party
search facilities configured by your administrator |
| Show last results |
Click this option from the Search selection drop-down list
to return to the previous set of results, if you have performed a
search recently. |
Search syntax
To improve
the effectiveness of your search queries, follow these guidelines:
- Use more than one word in your search queries.
The search engine
employs a free-text ranking mechanism to locate the best matches for
your query. Documents containing more query terms and in close proximity
to each other, will receive a higher score.
- Use quotation marks (" ") to retrieve an exact match for your
search string.
When you use quotation marks, Search checks the position
of words in the quoted phrase to make sure they are next to each other
and in the order entered, for example:
- Entering the phrase stock discount can
be less precise since it will find results with the word stock or
the word discount.
- Entering the phrase "stock discount" returns
results where this phrase appears exactly as you entered it.
When using quotation marks, the following rules apply:
- If you forget to use the closing quotation mark, the initial quotation
mark is ignored.
- If you search for strings with special query characters, such
as a blank or a colon ( : ), you must enclose the whole search string
within the quotation marks.
- Single quotation marks (') are not valid operators. Always use
double quotation marks (").
- Use the plus sign (+) or minus sign (-) symbolic operators to
help narrow the search. A plus sign (+) in front of a term guarantees
that every document contains that term. A minus sign (-) in front
of a term ensures that every document returned excludes that term,
for example:
"status reports" -weekly +monthly
The
minus sign eliminates or rejects the weekly status reports from the
returned result set while the plus sign narrows the search to monthly
reports.
- Use an asterisk (*) as a trailing wildcard at the end of
a search term, in the format wildcar*, but
not *ildcard or wil*card.
Limitations
Search has the following limitations:
- Search is not case-sensitive.
For example, if you search for
content about the country
China, the result set might include
other documents associated with china (of the pottery kind) unless
you include or exclude certain words using symbolic operators.
+china -pottery +asia
- Search ignores punctuation, such as periods or commas, unless
they are enclosed in a quoted phrase.
- Search does not support the use of the logical operators AND,
OR, and NOT.
- The less than ( < ) and greater than ( > ) symbols
are special HTML characters that Search cannot handle.
Search result list details
The
following additional information about the search results is shown:
| Data |
Description |
|---|
| Relevance |
A graphical representation indicates the relevance rank of
each item returned in the result set, the most relevant matches having
filled bars and the least relevant matches empty. |
| Title |
This displays the item title. Results typically display the
file type icon, or the source icon, if the result is not a file, with
the returned result title as a link. Clicking the result title leaves
Search and takes you to that search result. |
| Owner |
This shows the name of the person most recently associated
with the result, such as owner, contributor, sender, or directory
listing. |
| Last updated |
This shows when an item was last updated. |
| Description / Summary |
This shows a summary of a returned result item if one has
been created by the owner of the returned item. |
Modifying your search preferences
You
can change the number of results that are shown on your search results
page and the preferred language of your search.
- Click the Search Options drop-down list and then select Set
Search Preferences. The Search Preferences form displays
the following options:
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Results per Page |
Lets you set how many search results should appear on each
result page. Note: You can also set this option by clicking one of
the numbers given for Items per page at the
bottom of the portlet. This setting applies only for the current session
and is reset when you log out.
|
| Language Preference |
Lets you choose the language of your query from the Language
drop-down list. By default, the query language is set to the portal
locale. An explicit language choice overrides the portal locale settings
and returns results from any matching search scope. |
- Click OK to preserve your changes.
Note: Set the search preferences by either of the following
options:
- By using the Set Search Preferences option
from the Search Center options drop-down menu. This lets you
set the Results per page and the Language
preference. These settings are stored separately for
each user and applied to all future sessions until they are changed
again.
- By using the Personalize option from the
Search Center portlet context menu. This lets you set the Results
per page and the Language preference.
These settings are stored separately for each user and applied to
all future sessions until they are changed again.
- By selecting Items per page at the bottom
of the Search Center portlet. This setting applies only for the current
session and is reset when you log out.