Searching with cSearch

Entering a single word in the cSearch search field, e.g. minutes, will perform a search across all cases, records, documents, etc. which include the word.

Entering multiple words in the field, e.g. minutes meeting, will perform a search across cases, records, documents, etc. which include both these words.

cSearch displays an excerpt of each result with the search word(s) bolded, letting the user see the context at a glance.

Click the search field and press the down arrow key to open a list of metadata search fields. A selected metadata field is highlighted in blue. See the figure below.

The asterisk (*) functions as a wildcard, i.e. as a stand-in for any number of characters. This means that searching for public* yields results beginning with “public”, including “publication” and “publicity”.

cSearch automatically adds an implicit asterisk after the search string, which means that entering public and public* will yield the same results. If the user does not want to use the wildcard function, a space must be added after the search string. For example, searching for [public ] will yield records, cases, documents, etc. containing the text string “public”, but excluding “publication” and “publicity”.

The question mark (?) functions as a wildcard for a single character. Searching for e.g. Eri?a will yield results containing both “Erica” and “Erika”.

In cSearch, searching for text strings is limited to the “Title”, “Content” and metadata fields. cSearch automatically searches these fields when the user enters text in the search field.

As stated above, in a search for multiple words, e.g. application position, an asterisk is automatically added at the end of the string. To avoid the wildcard function, add a space at the end.

cSearch does not consider the word order of the search text. This means that performing a search for the words in the above paragraph (with no space at the end) yields results such as “Application for the position of communications officer” and “RE: The position of communications officer (application #2)”.

To search for an ordered text string, use quotation marks, e.g. “application for the position”. This will yield results that matches the word order of the text in the quotation marks exactly.

When searching for multiple words, cSearch only shows results which contain all the entered search words. This can be adjusted using the logical operators AND, OR and NOT.

cSearch contains various metadata search fields which are described in later sections. When using metadata search fields, cSearch groups the search words as follows: A search for from:Klaus agenda yields results with Klaus in the “From” field and agenda* as free text in various fields.

Parentheses can be added to change this grouping. A search for from:(Klaus Salomon) yields results with Klaus Salomon in the “From” fields in F2.

cSearch uses brackets when searching for intervals.

For example, it is possible to search for records with a deadline between January 1st and July 1st by entering deadline:[1-1-2019 1-7-2019], or to search for records with an ID number between 100 and 400 by searching for id:[100 400].

cSearch supports a number of metadata search fields that can be used to refine a search. Open the list of available fields by clicking the search field and pressing the down arrow key.

Select a metadata search field by clicking on the list or by typing its name followed by a colon.

Certain metadata search fields offer search suggestions. For example, the “Record type” field (formatted as “recordtype”) displays a fixed list of options when entering a colon.

Other metadata search fields, such as “From”, do not have fixed value lists. For these fields, cSearch offers suggestions based on previous searches or text entered by the user.

The table below describes the metadata search fields and their functionality.

The table above contains examples of how to use the metadata search fields in cSearch. The fields may be combined, allowing the user to perform a search for e.g. records in which the word information appears in the title. This particular search is performed by entering type:record title:information in the search field. A search for records with the word information in the title which contain the keyword budget would look like this: type:record title:information keyword:budget*.

cSearch orders the search results so the most relevant results are shown at the top of the list.

The order is determined by cSearch’s index, which contains the searchable data. Prioritisation is based on a number of search algorithm criteria, in particular when the user last opened the object and when the object was last edited. The frequency of the search word and whether search words are grouped together in an object also influence priority.

The search results can be sorted by type. Click on a type in the menu under the search field to sort by type. See the figure below.

Choose between “All”, “Records”, “Cases” and “Chats”. Click on More to see the options: “Documents”, “Requests”, “Annotations”, “System messages” and “Notes”.

The results can be further sorted by using metadata fields. Every menu item has a number of associated metadata fields. View the metadata fields by clicking on the drop-down arrow on the right side of the menu. The different menu items and their associated metadata fields are described in the menu below.

Results can also be sorted by age. This sorting will list search objects that were edited most recently at the top of the list. Change to this listing by switching from Priority to Age in the cSearch window as shown below.

If a normal search does not yield the expected result, the search may be broadened by switching to Extended search via the drop-down menu as shown below.

An Extended search finds words related to the entered search word in two ways:

As with a normal search, an extended search allows for the use of operators and metadata fields.