Performing a Quick Search

Performing a quick search can be as simple as entering text in the search box, and then clicking. The results include any file that has the search text in its file name or metadataClosed Descriptive information about a file that is used to help organize files. Examples of metadata you can assign to files in Document include class, subclass, document type, and keywords, among others.. If you have full-text search enabled, a quick search also can find the search term in a file's contents. This type of search can return up to 2,000 search results at one time.

Note: The firm-level options described below can impact your search results. For instructions on changing these options, see Setting General Configuration Options for Document.

  • Full-text search. Your firm can set full-text search as the default search method. Full-text searches return the most results, but require more time and processing resources than regular searches. You can override the firm default for this option in individual searches, as explained in step 1 below.
  • Number of search results. Your firm can limit the number of search results that Document returns. If the number of results exceeds this number, you will be prompted to narrow your search. You cannot override this firm option.

To run a search, do the following:

  1. Verify that full-text search is either Closedturned on or off, depending on your needs.
  2. The full-text search button is next to the Quick Search box. It has a blue background when full-text search is enabled and a gray background when full-text search is not enabled. Click the button to toggle full-text search on and off.

    Notes

    • Full-text searches can be very time-consuming. You should consider whether a full-text search is necessary before you run a Quick Search.
    • If your firm has updated to Windows Server 2012, you can perform "begins with" word searches. However, the "contains" operator will not work with word searches. Searches for other criteria (such as searches for client, filename, or other criteria) are not limited in this way.
    • Full-text search does not work on files larger than 100 MB and these files will not appear in "Full-Text Search" results.

  3. Enter the text to search for in the ClosedQuick Search box on Document Central.
  4. Review the results on the Search Results tab in Document Central. If there are many results, you can use the Closedcontrols at the bottom of the Search Results tab to page through the results.

Note: If needed, you can export your search results.

You also can run more sophisticated quick searches by doing any of the following:

  • ClosedLimit the search to a particular entity type or entity.

    Before entering your search term, select the entity type or entity in the navigation panel. A filter will be visible in the Search box. You can then enter your search term and continue with the search as normal.

    Note: You can delete the filter from the Search box at any time.

  • ClosedEnter search filters manually.

    You can enter filters in the Search box. Filters should follow this format:

    <FilterPrefix>:<FilterValue>

    <FilterPrefix> is a filter name that is predefined in Document. There are more than a dozen Closedfilter prefixes available for Quick Search. The <FilterValue> is the text that the filter should look for. For example:

    If you include more than one filter in Quick Search, the search results only include files that meet all of the filters requirements. (This is the equivalent of creating an "And" condition in a Boolean query.) Quick Search cannot accommodate "Or" statements. If you need to create an "Or" statement in a search query, you should use the Advanced Search.

  • ClosedUse wildcard characters in your search.
  • You can substitute the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) wildcard characters for unknown text at the end of a search term. Document will find any results that include the known portions of the search string.

    • The asterisk can replace any number of characters, including no characters at all.

      Example: You cannot remember the complete name of a file that you are searching for, but you know it is an Excel file that has the word "Smith" at the beginning. When you enter Smith* as your search criteria, you might receive the following results:

      • Smithers-Harris Q2 Results.xls
      • Smith Jones Consulting.pdf
      • Smith.doc
    • The question mark replaces a single character, or no character at all.

      Example: If you search for tax??, the system will look for text that has exactly two characters after the word "tax." So, examples of the results that might be returned include the following:

      • taxes
      • taxed
      • tax11

Tip: Click Save Search if you want to perform this same search in the future. See Saving a Search for more information.