2.6 Searching for Information

The Search functionality in Filr enables you to discover what information is available about a particular topic.

If you want to quickly sift through information in a folder or area by typing a portion of a word or phrase, you can filter the list, as described in Filtering a Folder List.

For information about how to perform a search from within the Filr mobile app, see the Filr Mobile App Quick Start.

When you perform a search in Filr, Filr searches the following content:

Folder names
File names and file content
Comments on files
Net Folders

Searches file names by default. Depending on configuration settings set by the Filr administrator, file content might or might not be searched.

If you have access rights to view a file but you do not have access rights to view the folder where the file is located, the file is not listed in search results.

The following topics describe how to use the Search functionality:

2.6.1 Using Search

Searching the Entire Site

To perform a site-wide search:

In a web browser, access the Filr site as described in Accessing Filr from a Web Browser.
Type the words or quoted phrases into the Search field, then press Enter.

Searching in a Specific Location

To perform a search in a specific area, such as in your My Files, in Net Folders, or in Shared with Me:

Perform a site-wide search, as described in Searching the Entire Site.
On the search results page, in the Search field, specify what you want to search for.
Select one of the following options:

Search Entire Site: Searches the entire site. This option is already selected if you just performed a site-wide search.

Search My Files: Searches only files and folders that are located in your My Files area.

Search Net Folders: Searches only files and folders that are located in Net Folders that you have access to.

Search Shared with Me: Searches only files and folders that are located in your Shared with Me area.

Search Shared by Me: Searches only files and folders that are located in your Shared by Me area.

Search Current Folder: Searches only files and folders that are located in your current folder. Select Include Sub-Folders to also search sub-folders of the current folder.
Click Search.

Using Wildcards and Operators in a Search

Filr enables you to refine your search in numerous ways. The wildcards and operators described in the following table can be used when you search Filr in a web browser or on a mobile device.

Table 2-1 Supported Operators and Wildcards for Search

Search Capability	Function	Example
AND, OR, and NOT between two terms	Searches for Filr files where two terms or phrases: Both exist (AND) Either exist (OR) One exists but not the other (NOT) By default, Filr uses AND when you do not specify an operator between two terms.	sales NOT figure searches for Filr files that contain the term “sales” but not the term “figure.”
Double quotation marks surrounding a phrase	Groups words together to make a phrase.	"marketing meeting notes"
Field name followed by a colon, followed by brackets that contain a date range	Searches a specific field that contains values within a specific date range. Fields you can search on: _creationDate _creatorName _modificationDate _modificationName _ownerName _fileName (includes file extension) _fileExt _loginName _groupName firstName middleName lastName emailAddress txtEmailAddress mobileEmailAddress title	_creationDate:{20110503* TO 20130608} searches all files whose _creationDate field contains values greater than 5/3/2011 and less than 6/8/2013. Use curly brackets if you want to exclude the beginning and ending dates from the search, as in the above example. Or, use square brackets if you want to include the beginning and ending dates that you specify. For example, _creationDate:[20110503 TO 20130608*] searches all files whose _creationDate field contains values of 5/3/2011 or greater and 6/8/2013 or less.
Asterisk (*) after word fragments	Searches for words that begin with the word fragment that you specify. You cannot put an asterisk before word fragments.	work* searches for words such as “workspace” and “workshop.” *space does not search for words ending in “space,” such as “workspace.”
Question mark (?) as a replacement for any single character	Replaces any single character in your search. You can use multiple question marks to replace multiple characters. You cannot use a question mark as the first character in a search.	t??e returns all results containing the words “true,” “tree,” and so forth.
Tilde (~) after a term	Searches for approximate matches for a single word.	roam~ finds matches such as “foam” and “roams.”
Tilde (~) after a group of words, followed by a number	Searches for instances of the words that you specify that are within a certain distance.	"marketing notes"~5 searches for instances where the words “marketing” and “notes” appear within 5 words of each other.
Caret (^) after a term	When you search for more than one word, using the caret (^) symbol after a word gives higher relevance to the word (files with more occurrences of the term are displayed first in the search results). Adding a number after the caret symbol gives even higher relevance to the word. By default, the relevance factor is 1. For example sales is the same as sales^1.	sales^ figure finds matches for “sales” and “figure,” giving higher relevance to the term “sales” (files with more occurrences of the term “sales” are displayed first in the search results). To give even higher relevance, sales^2 is higher than sales^, and sales^3 is higher than sales^2, and so forth. You can also give relevance to phrases. For example, "sales figure"^2 "marketing figure"
Minus (-) before a word	Excludes the word from the search.	-tree excludes all items containing “tree,” “Tree,” “TREE,” and so on.
Field name followed by a colon, followed by what you want to search for	Searches a specific field. When you search a specific field, you must search on the data name of the field. Data names resemble the true names found in the interface. Fields you can search on: _creationDate _creatorName _modificationDate _modificationName _ownerName _fileName (includes file extension) _fileExt _loginName _groupName firstName middleName lastName emailAddress txtEmailAddress mobileEmailAddress title When you search in a specific field, the field name is always case sensitive. For example, when searching the _fileName field, you must type _fileName rather than _filename.	title:meeting finds instances of the word “meeting” in the file’s Title field. emailAddress:jchavez* finds instances of “jchavez” in the Email Address field.

2.6.2 Frequently Used Words That Are Not Recognized in a Search

NOTE:This section applies only to English. Frequently used words in languages other than English are not removed when performing a search.

Filr removes frequently used words that have no inherent meaning when you perform a search. Words that are not recognized in a search are: a, an, and, are, as, at, be, but, by, for, if, in, into, is, it, no, not, of, on, or, such, that, the, their, then, there, these, they, this, to, was, will.

This includes when you perform a search with quotation marks. For example, searching for “sell the products” in quotation marks will return all of the following: “sell their products,” “sell with products,” “sell the products,” and so forth. However, it will not return “sell products.”

2.6.3 Special Characters in Search

Filr views the underscore (_) character as a break in the word. For example, if you enter market_analysis into the Search field, Filr returns items with market and analysis. If you want Filr to return only items with the entire name market_analysis, you need to wrap the name in quotes (“market_analysis”).