Users can form queries without using a complicated query language. This page will help you to choose the queries that will give you the best results.
Query Basics
A query is simply a description of an information need. The Search Server will search for documents that contain all the words in your query.
What this means is that your query -- the description of your information need -- can be as detailed as you like. Don't worry about providing too many words; the more words, the better.
For example, let's say you're searching for documents about preventing the spread of infectious diseases in your office. A good starting point would be
disease prevention office
Advanced Query Tips
Here are some suggestions for getting the best results out of the Search Server.
Only use words that are relevant to your query
If you're looking for documents about disease prevention, don't enter a query like "
Find me all documents about disease prevention in my office". The Search Server considers all the words in your query to be part of your information need, so queries like the previous example will find all documents containing all the words provided, which may not be exactly what you want.
Restrict search to specific document groups
By default, all documents available on the site are searched. If you are looking for a particular document, such as from the slide library, continuing education, patient resources, etc., remove the checks from the document types you don't want to appear in your search. This will help narrow your search results.
Use 'or' to designate optional words
The default search returns documents that contain all the words provided. If a word is optional, put or in front of it, to return documents that do contain the other search terms, but not necessarily the optional term:
Example: disease prevention or transmission office
Use 'not' to designate words to be excluded
If your search contains a large number of results about a topic different than intended, use 'not' to exclude documents containing that word. In the example, any document containing caries will not be returned in the search results.
Example: disease prevention office not caries
Common words are ignored
The Search Server doesn't index common words like a, and, or the. Consequently, those words in your query will be ignored. The Search Server also ignores numbers; however, it can find strings that happen to contain a number, for example 3Com.