Tips for Searching

At its simplest, a query can be just a word or a phrase. But with the tips on this page, you can expand the focus of your query to give you more complete results. These tips will get you started with basic query language and acquaint you with the full power of Microsoft Index Server.

• Search with the keyword AND for multiple words.  For example, the search system and manager will find pages with both the word system and manager included.

• Search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND, for words close to each other. For example, both of these queries, system and manager and system near manager, look for the words system and manager on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages are ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words are, the higher the rank of that page.

• Refine your queries with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances of linking but not the Internet, write the following query:

  Linking AND NOT the Internet

• Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one word or another, for example:

  Tax OR Fee

  This query finds all pages that mention Tax or Fee or both.

• Put double quotation marks around keywords if you want Index Server to take them literally. For instance, if you type the following query:
  
  ""president of the senate""

  Index Server will literally look for the complete phrase president of the senate. But if you type the same query without the quotation marks:
  
  president of the senate

  Index Server searches all documents for the words president, of, the, and senate.

These hints will get you started, but for more complex queries and more examples, see the Query Language page