🛠️ Operators

Contents

1. Quotation Mark-Operator // Exact Search
2. Star-Operator
3. Minus-Operator
4. File Type-Operator
5. Author-Operator / Minus Author-Operator

The Quotation Mark Operator // Exact Search

Use exact search to search for an exact word or group of words in a specific order.

Use this operator only if you want to search for a very specific word or group of words, otherwise helpful results might be excluded.

This is what your input might look like:

• How much "groundwater" is pumped in Walsum?
  • The word groundwater must be present somewhere in the document.

• How much "groundwater" "is" pumped in Walsum?
  • The words groundwater and is need to be included in the document. However, they do not need to be directly after each other.

• How much "groundwater is" pumped in Walsum?
  • The words groundwater and is must be in the document in the same combination. E. G. groundwaters is will not be matched as it is not an exact match.

The Star operator // Placeholder

The Star is a placeholder that can be used in a search query instead of an unknown term.

This is what a query might look like:

• Project*

• water*

The Minus Operator

For example, you want to find all information on a certain topic except for the information that has been developed in a certain project. Use the Minus operator to exclude certain terms from your search, e.g. like this:

• Cost reinforced concrete 2020 -projectname_1

• offer 100 licences -customer name -person

It is important that the term to be excluded is placed directly (without spaces) after the minus. If there are several comments to be excluded, the minus operator must be used several times (see 2nd example).

In addition, the minus operator cannot be used alone.

The File Type Operator

Common file formats can be filtered with amberSearch using the file type filter. However, many companies have special file formats that cannot be mapped using the standard filters.

To search these we have introduced the file type operator:

• type:xlsx Calculation Project X

• type:pptx Final Project Presentation 2022

The operator can be triggered by using "type:", "type:" or "suffix:". You can then enter the type of file you are looking for (see examples above). The operator works especially for files that are stored in file storage systems. The operator may be anywhere in your query.

Please note: A specific file type extension is expected - Excel is not a file type extension, but .xlsx, .csv & Co are.

The Author Operator / Minus Author Operator 

Are you looking for documents that are only from a specific author? Then use the "author operator". 

Or do you not want to include documents by a specific author in your search? Then use the "Minus author operator". 

To customise your search accordingly, use the search operator as follows:  

• author:name
• -author:name

As you can see in the image above, you will now only see search results that are from your desired author. 

Or if there are several employees in your team who have the same first name or surname, you can of course also insert the first name and surname to include or exclude the desired author. This then looks like this:

• author:"Firstname Lastname"
• -author:"Firstname Lastname"

Remember to put the first name and  last name in quotation marks, as shown above.

If you are looking for a very specific document, which exists in several versions by several authors, for example, then first enter your search phrase and then the author operator: 

• search phrase author:name

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