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Advanced search panel
Advanced Search allows you to search by specific metadata fields and other system recorded information about the document.
Users can combine up to 10 search criteria in order to filter results.
The parts of an advanced search include:
- Search criteria type – Allows users to select the full text contents of a document, a metadata field, or system value they want to search the document management system with.
- Search operator – Allows users to select an operator to accompany a selected metadata field. The list of available operators is dependent on the type of Metadata field selected. For multiple selections for "In the List", select the check boxes next to the values.
- Search value – Allows users to enter a specific value to search for. For most cases there is only one value for each operator. The only exception is the “between” operator that allows users to search between two values such as dates or numbers.
- Add or remove search criteria – The [ - ] and [ + ] buttons to the right of each row allow users to remove or add (respectively) rows from the search criteria. Up to ten search rows are joined automatically joined using the AND operator. Full text search and database search criteria can be mixed in a single search.
- Search options – Check box options allow you to enable the boolean search feature, include documents the library archive, include all document versions, and use historical metadata field values. The Save button keeps these options enabled across all advanced searches.
Search Operator Selectors
| Search operator selector | Description |
|---|---|
| Contains in FTS | Searches the full text search index which includes the metadata, document name, file properties, and contents of the document and contains an exact match of the value. Allows the use of complex full text search expressions. |
| Does not contain in FTS | Searches the full text search index which includes the metadata, document name, file properties, and contents of the document and the value is not present. |
| Contains in DB | Searches only the metadata and contains an exact match of the value. Allows the use of wildcards. The contents of a document are ignored (full text search index). |
| Does not contain in DB | Searches only the metadata and the value is not present. The contents of a document are ignored (full text search index). |
| Equals | Matches the specified value. The “Search by” |
| Not equal | Does not equal the value specified. The “Search by” |
| Is Blank | The value has been left empty (blank). |
| Below | Matches anything below a certain level in a drill down menu type field |
| > (greater than) | Is larger than the specified value. |
| < (less than) | Is less than the specified value. |
| >= (greater than or equal to) | Is larger than or equal to the specified value. |
| <= (less than or equal to) | Is less than or equal to the specified value. |
| In the list | Matches all values entered in the list. Multiple values are separated by commas. The “Search by” |
| Not in list | Show all documents that do not match the values entered in the list. Multiple values are separated by commas. The “Search by” |
| No older than x number of days before now | The document is not older than x days before today. In other words, 5 days old or less. |
| At least x number of days older than now | The document is x many days older than the specified date. In other words, show everything prior to the last 5 days. |
| Between | Search for values that are within a set of values, given the minimum and maximum values. |
option can be used with this search operator selector if configured for database drop-down fields.
option can be used with this search operator selector if configured for database drop-down fields.
The following table describes the type of search operator selectors that are available for each metadata field type:
| Metadata Field Type | Available search operator selectors |
|---|---|
| Text | Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB, Equals, Not Equals, Is Blank |
| Drill down menu | Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB, Equals, Not Equals, Below, Is Blank |
| Drop down menu (FileHold managed and database lookup) | Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB, Equals, Not Equals, In the List, Not in the List, Is Blank |
| Date | Equals, Not Equals, In the List, Not In the List, Between, > (greater than), < (less than), >= (greater than or equal to), <= (less than or equal to), At least, No older than |
| Number / Currency | Equals, Not Equals, In the List, Not In the List, Between, > (greater than), < (less than), >= (greater than or equal to), <= (less than or equal to), Is Blank |
| Checkbox | Equals, Is Blank “Is Blank” can be used in the event that a check box type metadata field is added to a schema but documents belonging to that schema already exist in the system. |
| URL | Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB, Equals, Not Equals, Is Blank |
Performing an Advanced Search
To access the advanced search form
- From the 'Search and Saved searches' simple search, click the Advanced link to the right of the search button.
In the FDA or Web Client, click the Advanced search icon
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- Click on a Saved Search in the library tree.
- Right-clicking on a level (cabinet, drawer, or folder) the file structure and selecting Search. The search is automatically set to start at the library, cabinet, drawer, folder group of folder level depending on where the user right clicks.
To perform an advanced search
- In the Advanced Search screen, use the following table to build search queries. Use up to 10 search filters to build the search query.
| Search option | Description |
|---|---|
| File Or Metadata | Allows users to add a full text search value to their metadata search criteria. This hybrid approach can be used to combine the best aspects of full text and metadata only searching. The same full text search operators apply to this field as in Full Text Searching. |
| Full text search |
By default, a natural language query or “Google-like” search is used with the full text search options above. |
| Document Name | Searches the system for a file by the name in the search criteria. Can use Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB type searches. |
| Checked Out Status | Search by the checked out status of:
|
| Person | Allows users to search by:
|
| File Date | File Data menu allows users to search by:
|
Workflow Status > Approval Status Workflow Status > Review Status | Search by the workflow approval status of:
Search by the workflow review status of:
|
| Library Location | Allows users to restrict searching to a specific cabinet, drawer, folder group or folder. Searching using the library location applies a “pre-filter” for the search engine to narrow possible full text search results. This reduces the time for searches with a very high occurrence of hits in the full text index. This also improves relevance values as fewer search results are excluded after the database portion of the search. |
Document Log > Action Document Log > Date | Search for documents that have been checked out, downloaded, checked in, copied, moved, archived, viewed, printed, published, added, linked, emailed, etc. Search for documents that have had actions performed on them within a date or date range. |
| Special Fields | Allows users to search for files by:
|
| Common MD (metadata) Fields | Allows users to search by common metadata fields such as “Customer Name”. The list of possible metadata field options is customized based on how the library administrator has defined the document classification standards for the FileHold server. |
| Search by Schema | Allows users to restrict their search by document type (document schema). The list of possible document schemas are dependent upon how the Library Administrator configured the system. Searching using schemas applies a “pre-filter” for the search engine to narrow possible full text search results. This reduces the time for searches with a very high occurrence of hits in the full text index. This also improves relevance values as fewer search results are excluded after the database portion of the search. The ability to search by a schema can be disabled. The following key can be added to the web.config file in C:\Program Files\FileHold Systems\Application Server\WebClient: |
| Search by Metadata Field Name | Depending on the document type selected, the associated metadata fields are available to search by. |
- Select any of the following advanced search options:
- Boolean search – Allows a user to employ the Boolean search options.
- Include Archive in Search- Searches the documents in the library archive and includes any matches in the results. FileHold searches only the library (current documents) if this option is not selected.
- Include All Document Versions - Searches all versions of the document. FileHold searches only the latest version if this option is not selected.
- Search Using Historical Metadata Fields - When any metadata value is changed for a specific document version, a metadata version is created keeping both the old (historical) and new value in the database. Normally search will only look for the latest metadata version. Checking this box will include all metadata versions. This checkbox respects the setting for "Include All Document Version" checkbox. If you would like to search all historical values for all document versions, make sure both boxes are checked.
The historical metadata fields option has no effect on CONTAINS FTS searches since the full text index only contains the latest metadata values for each document version. Each time you make a change to a metadata value, the old document version is removed from the full text index and reindexed with the latest metadata.
Removed drilldown or dropdown field choices are not captured as historical data. When you remove a value from the choice list for one of these types of metadata fields, it is forever removed from document's historical information as this is a configuration change, not a value change.
Click the Save icon
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to save any of the advanced search options so that they are maintained for every Advanced Search performed. The administrator can control your ability to change these values centrally in the advanced search client options.
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- Click Search. The search results are returned. You can continue to add or modify the advanced search criteria, save the search, or export the results to a CSV file.