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.
advanced search panel

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” Search by metadata icon option can be used with this search operator selector if configured for database drop-down fields.

Not equal

Does not equal the value specified.

The “Search by”  Search by metadata icon option can be used with this search operator selector if configured for database drop-down fields.

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”Search by metadata icon​option can be used with this search operator selector if configured for database drop-down fields.

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” Search by metadata icon​option can be used with this search operator selector if configured for database drop-down fields.

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.

 

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 
    Advanced search
    .
  • 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

  1. 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
  • File or metadata – Searches both file contents and metadata for matching search terms. This search option remains unchanged from previous versions and is the default.
  • File only – Searches file contents only for matching search terms.
  • Metadata only – Searches metadata only for matching search terms. The contents of the file is ignored.
  • Raw query – A direct search in the dtSearch engine with no adjustments made by FileHold. Raw dtSearch search terms are required for this option. This option is available only to system administrators by default.
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:

  • Checked In
  • Checked Out

Person

Allows users to search by:

  • Owned By Me
  • Owned By Someone Else
  • Checked Out By Me
  • Checked Out Be Someone Else

File Date

File Data menu allows users to search by:

  • Date Last Modified
  • Creation Date
  • Approval Date (workflow)
  • Review Date (workflow)

Workflow Status > Approval Status

Workflow Status > Review Status

Search by the workflow approval status of:

  • Approved
  • Pending Approval
  • Not Approved
  • Not Submitted for Approval
  • Approval Postponed

Search by the workflow review status of:

  • Reviewed
  • Pending review
  • Not submitted for review

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:

  • Folder name – Search using all or part of a folder name.
  • File Size - This value is specified in megabytes (MB). Fractional values are acceptable. For example, 10 KB would be specified as ".01".
  • File Type – The File Type Extension list is dynamically updated and sorted alphabetically. A new file extension entry is dynamically added to the initial standard list upon adding a document with a new file extension for the first time. The list is not updated in FDA until the user logs in and out. Multiple file extensions can be selected when the qualifier is set to “In the list”.
  • FileHold ID – The unique ID number given to every version of a document.
  • Document Control No. – Specialized metadata field used to track specific document numbering requirements. Can use Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB type searches.
  • Version Control No. – Like document control numbers, used to track specific document numbering requirements. Can use Contains in FTS, Does not contain in FTS, Contains in DB, Does Not Contain in DB type searches.
  • Has Markup – User can find documents that have been "Marked Up" using the Viewer Markup Tool.
  • Has Link – Users can find all documents that have been linked with other documents.
  • Is Favorite – Provides a list of documents that are marked as favourites.
  • Document Format – Select Electronic Document, Electronic Record, or Offline Document type.

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:

<add key="DisableSchemasInSearch" value="true"/>

Search by Metadata Field Name

Depending on the document type selected, the associated metadata fields are available to search by.
  1. 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.

  1. Click the Save icon
    Save advanced search setttings button
     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.
Advanced search example
  1. 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.
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