Search for items - Authoring Portlet

Large websites contain large numbers of items. We can search for items using the search feature.

1. To perform a basic search:

   1. Select an attribute to search for. We can choose to search an item's description or title, or select All Attributes to search both of these attributes. We can also search for the UUID of an item using the ID attribute.

   2. Enter some text to search for:

      • The search looks for exact matches to the search text unless specified a trailing asterisk ( * ) that acts as a wildcard. For example, searching for 'Span*' displays search results containing words that begin with 'Span' such as 'Spanish'.

      • The asterisk character can also be used on its own, to specify the search is for all items in the selected search form.

      • Use the plus ( + ) and minus ( - ) symbols to specifically require a keyword's inclusion or exclusion in the search results. Searching for '+Span +Fran' specifies the search display results must contain words 'Span' and 'Fran'.

      • The wildcard * character can only be used at the end of a search query, and cannot be used with negative exclusion. For Example: draft* is supported, but *draft and -draft* are not supported.

      • Search queries must contain a positive search term. For example: +content -draft is supported, but -draft is not supported.

      • We can explicitly search for phrases by enclosing keywords in double-quotes ( " ). If we are searching a double-byte character set language we must enter at least two characters.

      • The use of an underscore ( _ ) character functions in the same manner as the space ( ) character. For example: _my_content displays results containing the word "my" or "content".

      • Common words (often called "stopwords"), such as "the," "and," or "of," are typically not included in search indexes. If we named an item "the home page" and then searched for "the", the search may return no results. To search for stopwords, enclose the word or phrase in double quotes. For example, "the".

   3. Click Search.

   A basic search only searches for items in the current view:

   • If we select a view, only items related to that view is shown in the search results for the basic search. For example:

     • If the "My items" view is selected, only items authored by the current user are searched for.

     • If the "Content" view is selected, only site areas and content are searched for.

     • If the "Categories" view is selected, only taxonomies and categories are searched for.

     • If the "Components" view is selected, only components are searched for.

     • If the "Authoring Templates" view is selected, authoring templates are searched for.

     • If the "Presentation Templates" view is selected, presentation templates are searched for.

     • If the "Workflow Items" view is selected, only workflows, workflow stages, and workflow actions are searched for.

     • If the "All Items" view is selected, all items are searched for.

   • If we open a sub-level view, only items displayed within this view is shown in the search results for the basic search. For example:

     • If the "My Items > Draft" view is selected, only draft items authored by the current user are searched for.

     • If the "Components > Image Components" view is selected, only image components are searched for.

     • If the "Workflow Items > Workflows" view is selected, only workflows are searched for.

     • If the "All Items > Draft" view is selected, only draft items are searched for.

     • If the "All Items > Items by Workflow" view is selected, only items that are workflowed are searched for.

   • When searching within the first level of "My Items" or "All Items", only published and expired content is displayed in search results. To search for draft or deleted items we need to open the "draft" or "deleted" views before searching.

   • If we would like to search for items in all views, select the 'All items' view, or use the advanced search.

2. To perform an advanced search:

   1. Click Advanced Search.

   2. To search for items within a specific index, select Selected path in the Search in drop-down list and then click Select Path to specify the path.

   3. To search for items in all libraries, select All libraries in the Search in drop-down list. To search for items within a specific library, select Selected Library in the Search in drop-down list and then select a library.

   4. Select the item types to search for.

   5. Select to search either published, expired, draft, items pending approval, or deleted items.

   6. Select an attribute to search for. We can choose to search an item's description, title or keywords, or select All Attributes to search all of these attributes.

   7. Select to either search for all words, any words, an exact phrase, or none.

   8. Enter some text to search for:

      • The search looks for exact matches to the search text unless specified a trailing asterisk ( * ) that acts as a wildcard. For example, searching for 'Span*' displays search results containing words that begin with 'Span' such as 'Spanish'.

      • The asterisk character can also be used on its own, to specify the search is for all items in the selected search form.

      • Use the plus ( + ) and minus ( - ) symbols to specifically require a keyword's inclusion or exclusion in the search results. Searching for '+Span +Fran' specifies the search display results must contain words 'Span' and 'Fran'.

      • The wildcard * character can only be used at the end of a search query, and cannot be used with negative exclusion. For Example: draft* is supported, but *draft and -draft* are not supported.

      • Search queries must contain a positive search term. For example: +content -draft is supported, but -draft is not supported.

      • We can explicitly search for phrases by enclosing keywords in double-quotes ( " ). If we are searching a double-byte character set language we must enter at least two characters.

      • The use of an underscore ( _ ) character functions in the same manner as the space ( ) character. For example: _my_content will display results containing the word "my" or "content".

      • Common words (often called "stopwords"), such as "the," "and," or "of," are typically not included in search indexes. If we named an item "the home page" and then searched for "the", the search may return no results. To search for stopwords, enclose the word or phrase in double quotes. For example, "the".

   9. Click Add an entry to add further search queries.

   10. Select options to filter the search with as required. We can filter search results based on:

       • Click Add an entry to add a filter option. We can filter a search by:

         • The authors and owners of items returned in a search result. If searching for a user, only items where the user has explicitly been set as our owner or author are searched for. If searching for a group, only items where the group has explicitly been set as our owner or author are searched for.

         • When an item was created, published, expired, or last modified.

         • The authoring template, category, workflow, or workflow stage used by items returned in a search result.

       • Click Add an entry to add further filter options.

   11. Click Search.

What to do next

Search indexes:

Search indexes are updated periodically. This means newly created or updated items are not found in the search results until the search index has updated.

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