Search Tips and Tricks
General notes
In general the SmartSearch inside Smart Knowledge Hub is backed by a Lucene-based index containing all different types of content we support. In the following you can learn how to use some of the more advanced techniques to find the content you desire quickly and efficiently.
Please note that these examples are not exhaustive and an infinite amount of combinations are possible by combining different query syntax.
Searching for multiple terms
You might have noticed that when searching for multiple words delimited by spaces you will be presented with results that may contain only one of these words.
This is because the search treats every one of these words as a specific "search term" and the result is a list containing all content pertaining to one of those terms.
However you can mitigate this by telling the search that these are not multiple search terms but one instead by simply using quotation marks ("") around those words.
Example: Search for term 'cake recipes' instead of cake recipes
"cake recipes"
Limit results to specific types
In case you want to find content pertaining to specific types, eg. playlists or elements you have multiple ways to achieve this.
- You can use the filter menu below the searchbar on the far right to choose from the set of options we provide.
- Use the query syntax for more advanced or specific combinations like searching for a term in playlists and elements for example.
Here are two examples for the second option, using the query syntax.
Example 1: Search for term 'Banana' in elements or playlists
type:element OR type:playlist Banana
Example 2: Search for literal term "Banana-flavored Ice Cream" in elements
type:element "Banana-flavored Ice Cream"
Searching with Wildcards '*' and '?'
Sometimes you don't quite know how a search term is spelled or you simply want to have more results by using so called wildcards.
Example 1: Search for term 'Banana' or 'Banane'
Banan?
Example 2: Search for all terms containing 'Banana'
Banana*
Example 3: Wildcard Search in the middle of a term
Bana*ne
Please note that these wildcard symbols can not be used as the first character of a search.
Please note that this only applies to single term searches.
Boolean Operators
Sometimes it is required to combine different search terms to find the correct result that you want. For this there are multiple options with different semantics.
- OR
- AND
- NOT
- '+'
- '-'
Please note that boolean operators must be ALL CAPS.
OR Operator
This operator is the default conjunction operator, that means that if you specify multiple search terms without specifying a boolean operator, the OR operator will be used.
Example 1: Search for Banana or Cherry
Banana Cherry
Example 2: Search for Banana or Cherry
Banana OR Cherry
Please note these examples end with the same search result.
AND Operator
This operator works by making search terms joined by AND to be required somewhere in the content.
Example: Search for Banana and Cherry
Banana AND Cherry
Please note that you can use the symbol && in place of the word AND.
NOT Operator
This operator works by excluding content that contain the search term after NOT.
Example: Search for Banana but not Cherry
Banana NOT Cherry
Please note that you can use the symbol ! in place of the word NOT. Please note that you cannot use this operator with just one search term.
+ Operator
This operator works by specifying that the term following the symbol exists somewhere in a field of a single content.
Example: Search for Banana but needs to include cake
Banana +cake
- Operator
This operator works by specifying that the term following the symbol does not exist somewhere in a field of a single content.
Example: Search for Banana but may not include cake
Banana -cake
Searching in specific fields inside the index
In Limit results to specific types option number 2 we used a specific syntax for filtering based on a special field named "type".
We currently support a known list of these fields below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| type | Type of Content, supported values are: thinx,project,playlist and element |
| tags | All Tags including SmartCodes assigned to the content |
| smartcode | Only SmartCodes assigned to the content |
| playlist | Titles of the Playlists this content is in |
Additional Advanced Information
For more info you can always refer to the official Apache Lucene Query Documentation, which you can find here.