Search using operators

It is possible to combine different search operators. This means you can use multiple operators in the same search string in the free-text search field. F2 will then find results where the entire search string is valid for the same object. An object is, for example, the title of a record, an attached document, or the title of a case.

Example: If you search for "citizen AND letter NOT inquiry", F2 will find results where "citizen" and "letter" appear in the same object, but the word "inquiry" does not. The word "inquiry" may still appear elsewhere in the search result, such as in the case title.

Enter a search string followed by * to search for words in which that string is included. If day* is typed into the search field, all records in the chosen list whose content, title, or case title contain words that begin with day (e.g. “days” or “daytime”) will appear in the result list.

Strings written in a search field without the asterisk (*) are perceived as whole words. For example, typing day in a search field will return any records that contain the word “day”, but not records that, for example, contain the word “days”.

Typing AND between two search words will search for records that contain both words. This means that typing minister AND department only yields results containing both “minister” and “department”.

A search with two words separated by a space will be carried out as if there were an AND between the words. AND is thus the implicit operator between two words when nothing else is specified.

Typing OR between two search words will return records containing either word. This means that entering minister OR department will return all records containing either “minister” or “department”.

Using OR, F2 will search for records whose content, record title, or case title contains one or both search words.

The NOT operator is for searches in which a user needs results whose content or title contain search word A, but exclude search word B. This can be done by entering [search word A] NOT [search word B].

For example, searching for ministry 2023 NOT department will return all items in the selected list whose content, title or case title contain both the words “ministry” and “2023”. It will exclude results containing the word “department”.

It is not possible to perform a search that contains only “NOT” followed by a word. The reason is that the database has to generate a positive search list before it can remove records which do not contain the term specified after “NOT”.

If a word combination is put in quotation marks (“”), for example “Mary Smith”, F2 will search for this exact search string. This means that items containing “Mary Jane Smith”, “Mary and John Smith”, etc. will not appear in the result list.

Search words are grouped by using parentheses. For example, a search for meeting AND agenda OR participants will give results that contain either the two words “meeting” and “agenda” or results containing the word “participants”. The search can be more precise by adding parentheses around some of the search words. For example, a search for meeting AND (agenda OR participants) will give results containing both “meeting” and “agenda”, along with results containing both “meeting” and “participants”.

A function called “Stop words” can be applied to searches. This is done in cooperation with cBrain. Stop words are words, symbols, etc. that are excluded from free-text searches.

These include common words such as “and”, “but”, or “for”. If the user enters a stop word in a search or metadata field while the “Stop words” function is active, no results will be displayed.