Advanced Search
The Document Register supports advanced boolean search — a powerful query language for finding documents precisely by combining terms, excluding results, and searching specific fields. Advanced search works alongside the filter panel, giving you both quick visual filters and precise text queries.
Accessing the search bar
The search bar is at the top of the Document Register. For basic search, type a term and press Enter. For advanced search, use the operators described below.
Boolean operators
| Operator | Syntax | Example | Finds documents where... |
|---|---|---|---|
| AND | term1 AND term2 | structural AND drawing | Both "structural" AND "drawing" appear |
| OR | term1 OR term2 | structural OR civil | Either "structural" OR "civil" (or both) appear |
| NOT | NOT term or -term | drawing NOT superseded or drawing -superseded | "drawing" appears but "superseded" does NOT |
| Grouping | (term1 OR term2) AND term3 | (structural OR civil) AND Zone-A | Either structural or civil, AND Zone-A |
AND takes precedence over OR. Use parentheses to override precedence.
Wildcard operators
| Wildcard | Syntax | Example | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asterisk (*) | Matches zero or more characters | draw* | drawing, drawings, drawingset |
| Question mark (?) | Matches exactly one character | Rev? | RevA, RevB, Rev1 |
| Prefix wildcard | *term | *structural | Geotechnical-structural, non-structural |
Wildcards can be placed at the start, middle, or end of a term. Avoid leading wildcards on very short terms — they may return too many results.
Phrase search
Wrap phrases in double quotes to search for exact multi-word sequences:
"structural layout" → finds documents containing the exact phrase "structural layout"
"for construction" → finds documents with that exact phrase, not just "for" AND "construction"
Phrase search is case-insensitive.
Field-specific search
Prefix a term with a field name and colon to search within a specific metadata field:
| Prefix | Field searched | Example |
|---|---|---|
title: | Document title | title:foundation |
number: | Document number | number:STR-PLAN-0001 |
type: | Document type | type:drawing |
discipline: | Discipline | discipline:structural |
zone: | Zone | zone:Zone-A |
stage: | Stage | stage:"for construction" |
originator: | Originator organisation | originator:ACME |
status: | Current status | status:approved |
revision: | Revision code | revision:P01 |
Field-specific searches can be combined with boolean operators:
discipline:structural AND status:approved AND NOT zone:Zone-C
Combining search with filters
The filter panel (status, discipline, zone, document type dropdowns) and the search bar work together — both conditions are applied simultaneously (AND logic). For example:
- Filter: Status = Approved, Discipline = Structural
- Search:
"for construction"
Finds: Approved Structural documents containing the phrase "for construction" in any searchable field.
This combination is often more efficient than building the entire query in the search bar.
Search tips
- Search is case-insensitive —
DRAWINGanddrawingreturn the same results. - Search covers: title, document number, comments, change description, and metadata field values.
- Search does not search file content (OCR / full-text within PDFs is not supported).
- Sort results by relevance or any column header.
Common search examples
| Goal | Query |
|---|---|
| Find all drawings for Zone A | discipline:structural AND zone:Zone-A AND type:drawing |
| Find documents with "structural" or "geotechnical" in title | title:structural OR title:geotechnical |
| Find approved drawings that are not superseded | type:drawing AND status:approved NOT status:superseded |
| Find all revisions starting with P | revision:P* |
| Find documents issued in a specific contract | "Contract PKG-01" |
What's next
- Saved Searches — save frequently used search queries to run again with one click
- Document Register — back to the full register overview
- Boolean Search Reference — complete syntax reference