How does the system search? Options are given to the user for the keyword, title, and author search fields. If the user fills in the search field, they must also be certain to select the proper option associated with that search field. Let's say the user wants to search the Administrative Record for the keywords "the cat in the hat". If the user also selects the option for "All Words" the system will search for documents that have the words 'cat' and 'hat', and only those document containing both words. Notice that I specified the words 'cat' and 'hat' only. This is because the search does not look for commonly used words, typically prepositions or documents, like 'the' and 'in'. Getting back to the example, we can also select the option "Any Word". If this option is selected, the system will return all results containing one or both of the words 'cat' or 'hat'. The user can also select the option for "Exact Phrase", which will return only the documents that contain the string of words "the cat in the hat". Results will not be returned for documents including the words 'cat' or 'hat' or both. The term 'cat hat' will not be returned because in this case, the commonly used words are searched for as they are part of the string of words the user wants to find. Special Characters Most special characters are not allowed and are usually filtered out if entered. The exceptions are Double Quotes - Used to denote a string of words together. Asterisk - Used to denoted a wildcard. This wildcard will provide results for all words containing this substring whether the wildcard characters appear before or after the string the user searches. The exception to this is when the user has selected the option for 'Exact Phrase'. In such a case, the wildcard will not be used for searching. How to use the author date search: If the starting date field is not completed, a search for the date will not be performed. If the user wishes to search using only one date restriction they can do so by only selecting the first option for a date. Only if the user is restricting the search by using 2 dates does the user need to complete both date fields and the drop down options associated with them.
How does the system search?
Options are given to the user for the keyword, title, and author search fields. If the user fills in the search field, they must also be certain to select the proper option associated with that search field. Let's say the user wants to search the Administrative Record for the keywords "the cat in the hat". If the user also selects the option for "All Words" the system will search for documents that have the words 'cat' and 'hat', and only those document containing both words. Notice that I specified the words 'cat' and 'hat' only. This is because the search does not look for commonly used words, typically prepositions or documents, like 'the' and 'in'. Getting back to the example, we can also select the option "Any Word". If this option is selected, the system will return all results containing one or both of the words 'cat' or 'hat'. The user can also select the option for "Exact Phrase", which will return only the documents that contain the string of words "the cat in the hat". Results will not be returned for documents including the words 'cat' or 'hat' or both. The term 'cat hat' will not be returned because in this case, the commonly used words are searched for as they are part of the string of words the user wants to find.
Special Characters
Most special characters are not allowed and are usually filtered out if entered. The exceptions are Double Quotes - Used to denote a string of words together. Asterisk - Used to denoted a wildcard. This wildcard will provide results for all words containing this substring whether the wildcard characters appear before or after the string the user searches. The exception to this is when the user has selected the option for 'Exact Phrase'. In such a case, the wildcard will not be used for searching.
Double Quotes - Used to denote a string of words together. Asterisk - Used to denoted a wildcard. This wildcard will provide results for all words containing this substring whether the wildcard characters appear before or after the string the user searches. The exception to this is when the user has selected the option for 'Exact Phrase'. In such a case, the wildcard will not be used for searching.
How to use the author date search:
If the starting date field is not completed, a search for the date will not be performed. If the user wishes to search using only one date restriction they can do so by only selecting the first option for a date. Only if the user is restricting the search by using 2 dates does the user need to complete both date fields and the drop down options associated with them.
Why do we have to, "Turn on power options?" This link has been included so that the initial look at the search page will not be overwhelming and so that there is a better separation between the basic and power options. What are the advantages of using the power search options? Narrow the search by choosing the topics to look through. The user has the ability to restrict the folders a search reads results from by using the 'Search Documents' options. Return only a few results at a time. This is also known as paging. This allows the user to return only 10, 25, 50, or 100 results to the screen if there are more results returned to the screen than is visually appealing. The order of the results is the same initially as when the user does not opt to use paging. The user can sort the results by a number of predetermined orders. Ask the computer your question. Microsoft's Indexing Service uses an option called 'freetext'. In short, this allows the computer to figure out what you are looking for. This search can be less precise as there is no weight given to any one keyword. However, the benefit is that when the user doesn't know exactly what to search for, the computer can effectively look through the context of the document to return successful results for the user.
Why do we have to, "Turn on power options?"
This link has been included so that the initial look at the search page will not be overwhelming and so that there is a better separation between the basic and power options.
What are the advantages of using the power search options?
Narrow the search by choosing the topics to look through. The user has the ability to restrict the folders a search reads results from by using the 'Search Documents' options. Return only a few results at a time. This is also known as paging. This allows the user to return only 10, 25, 50, or 100 results to the screen if there are more results returned to the screen than is visually appealing. The order of the results is the same initially as when the user does not opt to use paging. The user can sort the results by a number of predetermined orders. Ask the computer your question. Microsoft's Indexing Service uses an option called 'freetext'. In short, this allows the computer to figure out what you are looking for. This search can be less precise as there is no weight given to any one keyword. However, the benefit is that when the user doesn't know exactly what to search for, the computer can effectively look through the context of the document to return successful results for the user.
I don't allow scripting on my computer. Can I still use this site? Yes you can. This page was developed with accessibility compliance in mind and provides a nonscripting user the experience that any scripting user would have. The Author Date doesn't sort exactly as I expect. Why is this? Because of how Microsoft's Indexing Service interoperates with Adobe Acrobrat a custom field for this date cannot be created. Instead, an existing field with a type 'string' is the location of our author date. Because of this, the results returned in the search are sorted before they are displayed but only the results with an Author Date defined will be sorted. The remaining results are attached to the front or end of this list depending on whether the sort is ascending or descending. Sorting by the Author Date can also create a long screen load time (10 to 30 seconds) depending on the speed of the network and computers. Can I use wildcards? Yes, the search is setup to allow 1 sequential asterisk in searching. I have specified documents to search through to narrow down my search results yet I still get results as if it searched through all documents. If you have scripting disabled, make sure that you also select the "Search only these documents" option. Why does my search take so long? Some freetext and "Exact Phrase" searches can take longer to return results because the search is more demanding. Each word is looked at and can cause the processing time to increase. Another cause for a long search time can be from when the user sorts by the Author Date. The results returned from the search(or from resorting the results) are sorted prior to being displayed. This is, however, only for a sort for the Author Date. What is actually searched when I use this search page? Microsoft's Indexing Service continually runs through documents set in a certain folder on a server to define attributes about those files. It keeps those attributes in an index file so as to allow quick searching. The attributes that these pages search through are the title of the document, author, subject, author date, abstract, and filename (used in the case a document doesn't have a title). Some searches look through only specific attributes while others search as many as possible. What attributes are searched for the keyword search? For best performance, it was determined that the keyword search will look through the subject, title, and abstract of the documents. What is the sort order for the results? The default sort order for the results is descending rank. This can be changed from the search page by using the Power Search or from the results page by clicking the column header or selecting the appropriate option from the 'sort by' list. Note: clicking the column header may not work if scripting is disabled. How is rank determined? Rank is determined by the computer and is listed down the right side of the results grid. The computer's determination is based on the number of occurrences of the searched word(s) in a document and whether it's in a significant position such as the title. The text in the abstract field of the results contains strange characters. Why is that? Some of the electronic files in this Administration Record have been created through the use of OCR or optical character recognition. In doing this and to make the records searchable, the computer does its best to accurately recognize marks on paper. Sometimes the computer is unable to capture certain marks accurately. The results are what you may see in the abstract field.
I don't allow scripting on my computer. Can I still use this site?
Yes you can. This page was developed with accessibility compliance in mind and provides a nonscripting user the experience that any scripting user would have.
The Author Date doesn't sort exactly as I expect. Why is this?
Because of how Microsoft's Indexing Service interoperates with Adobe Acrobrat a custom field for this date cannot be created. Instead, an existing field with a type 'string' is the location of our author date. Because of this, the results returned in the search are sorted before they are displayed but only the results with an Author Date defined will be sorted. The remaining results are attached to the front or end of this list depending on whether the sort is ascending or descending. Sorting by the Author Date can also create a long screen load time (10 to 30 seconds) depending on the speed of the network and computers.
Can I use wildcards?
Yes, the search is setup to allow 1 sequential asterisk in searching.
I have specified documents to search through to narrow down my search results yet I still get results as if it searched through all documents.
If you have scripting disabled, make sure that you also select the "Search only these documents" option.
Why does my search take so long?
Some freetext and "Exact Phrase" searches can take longer to return results because the search is more demanding. Each word is looked at and can cause the processing time to increase. Another cause for a long search time can be from when the user sorts by the Author Date. The results returned from the search(or from resorting the results) are sorted prior to being displayed. This is, however, only for a sort for the Author Date.
What is actually searched when I use this search page?
Microsoft's Indexing Service continually runs through documents set in a certain folder on a server to define attributes about those files. It keeps those attributes in an index file so as to allow quick searching. The attributes that these pages search through are the title of the document, author, subject, author date, abstract, and filename (used in the case a document doesn't have a title). Some searches look through only specific attributes while others search as many as possible.
What attributes are searched for the keyword search?
For best performance, it was determined that the keyword search will look through the subject, title, and abstract of the documents.
What is the sort order for the results?
The default sort order for the results is descending rank. This can be changed from the search page by using the Power Search or from the results page by clicking the column header or selecting the appropriate option from the 'sort by' list. Note: clicking the column header may not work if scripting is disabled.
How is rank determined?
Rank is determined by the computer and is listed down the right side of the results grid. The computer's determination is based on the number of occurrences of the searched word(s) in a document and whether it's in a significant position such as the title.
The text in the abstract field of the results contains strange characters. Why is that?
Some of the electronic files in this Administration Record have been created through the use of OCR or optical character recognition. In doing this and to make the records searchable, the computer does its best to accurately recognize marks on paper. Sometimes the computer is unable to capture certain marks accurately. The results are what you may see in the abstract field.
