6 Searching for Documents or Objects

This chapter decibels how to search for documents or objects using the portal banner, using the Portal Search portlet, using advanced search, or using federated search. Each method of search uses the same text search rules.

Note:

Only those documents or objects to which you have at least Read access appear in your results.

To search for documents or objects through the portal banner, type your search string in the box in the portal banner, and click Search.
To go directly to the result that your portal administrator has set as the top best bet for a term, without first seeing all the search results, type the top best bet operator (>) followed by your search string and click Search, or type your search string and click the Search icon.
Note:
- If no top best bet has been set for the term, the regular search results appear.
- The top best bet button () is available only if enabled by your portal developer.
To search for documents or objects using a saved search, use the Portal Search portlet.
To search for documents or objects using metadata properties and location, click Advanced Search.
To search other content, portals, and Web search engines, click Federated Search.

Note:

The Federated Search button is available only if enabled by your portal developer.

Searching for Objects or Documents Using Advanced Search

You can perform an advanced search, using metadata properties and location, to find objects or documents.

In the portal banner, click Advanced Search.

To search for text in the name or description of an object or document, type the text you want to search for in the Search for text box.

You can use the text search rules.
To search for property values, click Add Criteria, and specify the property criteria in the boxes that appear:
1. In the first drop-down list (property), select the searchable property for which you want to filter the values.
2. In the second drop-down list (operator), select the operator to apply to this condition.
  
  This list will vary depending on the property selected:
  - For any text property you can search for a value that contains your search string (Contains). Depending on your portal deployment, you might also be able to search for properties that are blank (Contains No Value).
    
    Note:
    
    Depending on your portal deployment, you might be able to exclude results with particular values. Select Contains, then type “not” followed by words that you want to exclude from your search. For example, if you want to search for documents about retirement benefits, excluding pension plans, then type “retirement benefits” in the Search for text box, select Contains from the drop-down list, and type “not pension plan” in the text box.
  - For any date property you can search for a value that is the date and time you choose. Depending on your portal deployment, you might also be able to search for a value that comes after, comes before, or is not the date and time you choose or for a value that occurs in the last number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks that you specify.
  - For any number property you can search for a value that is equal to the number you enter in the text box. Depending on your portal deployment, you might also be able to search for a value that is greater than, is less than, is not, is greater than or equal to, or is less than or equal to the number you enter in the text box.
3. In the Value text box, enter the value the property must have, or not have, depending on which operator you selected.
  
  Note:
  
  If you are searching for a text property, you can use the text search rules.
To remove a property condition, select the condition and click the Remove icon (next to Add Criteria).
Specify how you want your search criteria handled:
- To meet all the conditions you define, select All Criteria.
  
  Selecting All Criteria is equivalent to using AND.
- If you want your search results to meet at least one of the conditions you define, select Any Criterion.
  
  Selecting Any Criterion is equivalent to using OR.
To restrict your search to specific Knowledge Directory folders, click Add Document Folder. In the Select folder for search dialog box, select the folders you want to search and click OK.
To remove folders from your list, select the folders and click the Remove icon (to the right of Add Document Folder).

To select or clear all folder boxes, select or clear the box next to Folder Names.
Specify whether you want to include subfolders.

By default, the portal searches subfolders. To exclude subfolders from your search, clear the box next to Include subfolders.
To specify the number of results to display on a page, in the Results per page drop-down list, choose a value.
Depending on your portal deployment, you might be able to restrict your search to a specific language. In the This language only drop-down list, choose a language.
To limit your search to specific object types, in the Result Types list, select the object types you want to search.

To select or clear all object type boxes, select or clear the box next to Object Type.
To set all search conditions back to the defaults, click Clear.
To perform your search, click Search.

Complex Property Search Example

You can use multiple property criteria to define complex property searches.For example, if you want to find documents published after a certain date by a specific branch of a company, you could set the property criteria to the following values:

First Criterion:
- Property = Object Created
- Operator = Comes After
- Value = December 30, 2003
Your search results would be limited to objects created after December 30, 2003.
Second Criterion:
- Property = Company
- Operator = Contains
- Value = Company A
Your search results would be limited to objects where the company property contains Company A.
Third Criterion:
- Property = Address
- Operator = Contains
- Value = San Francisco
Your search results would be limited to objects that contain San Francisco in the address.
You would also want to limit your Result Types to Documents, so that only documents were returned in your results.

Searching Other Content, Portals, or Web Search Engines with Federated Search

You can use federated search to search for content in Web search engines (for example, Google or AltaVista), other portals, or other collections of information (for example, a Lotus Notes collection or a set of customer service incident reports).

Your portal administrator must have configured an outgoing federated search and your portal developer must have enabled the Federated Search button in the portal banner.

In the portal banner, click Federated Search.
In the Search for text box, type the text you want to search for.
Select the number of results you want returned per location.

By default, 5 results per location are returned. To change this number, select a new number in the Number of results per location drop-down list.
Select the locations you want to search.
- To select particular search locations, select the locations.
- To select all search locations, select the box next to Search Location.
- To save your search location settings, select Always search these locations for me.
Click Search.

Viewing Search Results from a Banner Search

When you perform a banner search, each item returned includes an icon to signify what type of document or object it is, the item name, the item description, when the item was last modified, and a link to view additional item properties.

To view a result, click its name.

If you click a...	You see...
Knowledge Directory folder	The contents of the folder
Document	The document
Community	The home page for the community Note: You can join the community while viewing it.
Community page	The community page Note: You can join the community while viewing it.
Portlet	A preview of the portlet Note: You can add the portlet to a My Page while previewing it.
User	The user's profile

To view the properties of an item, click the Properties link under the item description.
If your search returns more than one page of results, click a page number or click Next >> to view additional results.
To change the sort order of your results, in the Sort by drop-down list, select the desired option:
- Relevance sorts your results according to how closely they match your search query.
  
  Note:
  
  Best bets are only shown in search results when sorting by relevance.
- Name sorts your results alphabetically by name.
- Last Modified Date displays your results in the order in which they were most recently edited.
To change the number of results that are displayed per page, in the Items per page drop-down list, select the desired number.
To filter your results by type (for example, documents, communities, portlets), in the Show only item type drop-down list, select the desired item type.
To edit the results to which you have at least Edit access, click Edit.

Note:

You must have the proper permissions to see the Edit button. You must have at least Edit access to some results. For documents or document folders, you must have the Edit Knowledge Directory activity right. For communities, community pages, portlets, or users, you must have the Access Administration activity right. If you have only the Edit Knowledge Directory activity right, you must filter your results to display only Documents in the Directory or Document Folders. If you have only the Access Administration activity right, you must filter your results to display only Communities, Community Pages, Portlets, or Users.

Saving a Search

You can save a search and access it later through the Portal Search portlet.

Note:

Sort order is not saved when you save your search query.

Run a search.
On the search results page, click Save this Search.
In the dialog box, type a name for this search and click Save.
To add the Portal Search portlet to your My Page, click the link in the dialog box (Click here to add the portlet).

You can run and manage your saved searches through the Portal Search portlet. You can also manage your saved searches through the Search Preferences page.
Click Close Window.

Managing Your Saved Searches

On the Search Preferences page you can rename or delete your previously saved searches.

In the portal banner, click My Account, then click Search Preferences.
Under Saved Searches manage your previously saved searches:
- To rename a saved search, edit the saved search name in the box.
- To delete a saved search, select Delete next to the search you want to delete. When you click Finish, that search will be deleted.
When you are done, click Finish to save your settings, or click Cancel to revert to your previous settings.

Refining Your Search Results

You can refine your search results by filtering items by type or searching again within your results.

Run a search.

To search within your results:
1. In the drop-down list below the portal banner, select Within results.
2. In the text box, type the text for which you want to search.
3. Click Search.
To filter your results by type (for example, documents, communities, portlets), in the Show only item type drop-down list, select the desired item type.