The basic Plone search box includes several features you can take advantage of to refine the accuracy of your searches, making it easier for you to find what you need. This Howto explains the syntax options available for more targeted searching.

You can access the advanced search screen by typing search_form at the end of your site domain.

Example: www.yourwebsite.org/search_form

Visit the LearnPlone advanced search page

Automatic "AND"

By default, if you enter a string of words in the search criteria, the "and" operator is used. For example:

heart disease africa

would find any content containing all of those words.

"NOT"

To make combinations of words required, use the "NOT" operator. The hyphen acts as the "NOT" operator. For example,

hiv africa -children

children.

Variations on a word

Results will vary based on variations of the root word. For example, singular vs plural versions of the same word. If you want to include any variation of the root word, you can add a "wildcard" to your search syntax. Two ways to do this, include:

• Add "*" to the criteria, which allows any variation on the root. ie tree* would give results for tree, trees, treeline, etc
  
• Add "?" to the criteria, which allows any variation of only one letter. ie An? would give results for and, any, ann, etc.
  

Search for a phrase

To search for an entire, exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotations. For example,

"heart disease in africa"

would return content that contained that whole phrase.

Additional Notes:

• Searches are not case sensitive
• Want the gory details? If you are a techie, you can also review the full documentation on the zcatalog available for much, much more information.