Search Tips

The top banner of this online manual provides an extensive search function similar to Internet search engines like Google and Bing.

  • Searches are not case-sensitive.
  • A search will return partial matches.
  • To search for a specific phrase, enclose the search terms in quotation marks. For example, a search on "student teacher" returns only the topics in which that two-word phrase appears.
  • When you enter multiple topics, the search returns only the topics that contain all of the terms. (This is known as a Boolean AND search.)
  • You can include Boolean operators with the search terms to perform advanced searches that include or exclude some topics based on the search terms.

Click the filter icon in the search bar to narrow the search to a specific area. For example, if you select Library User, only the topics concerning general MEDIAL library operations are searched for the terms you specify. Administration and installation topics are excluded.

The search results page provides hypertext links to the topics that contain the search terms. The results are weighted, meaning that the topics at the top of the search results page contain more prominent instances of the search terms.

When you display a topic, the search terms are highlighted. When you search on multiple terms, each matched term uses a different highlight color.

  • Term 1
  • Term 2
  • Term 3
  • Term 4

Removing Highlight Colors

To remove the highlight colors from the page, click the highlight removal button on the toolbar:

When you run a search on more than one term, you can use Boolean operators to refine the results.

By default, a search returns only the topics that contain all of the search terms. For example, the following search terms return only the pages that contain both "student" and "teacher":

student teacher

Adding the Boolean AND Operator in Complex Searches

When you perform a complex search, you can use any of these following operators to specify a Boolean AND search:

  • AND (not case-sensitive)
  • +
  • &

Examples of Boolean AND Searches

For example, all of these searches are equivalent:

  • student teacher
  • student and teacher
  • student AND teacher
  • student & teacher
  • student + teacher

A Boolean OR search returns all topics that contain some or all of the terms. You can use either of these operators:

  • OR (not case-sensitive)
  • |

For example, all of the following searches return the topics that contain the term "student," the term "teacher," or both:

  • student or teacher
  • student OR teacher
  • student | teacher

A Boolean NOT search excludes topics that contain one or more of the terms. You can use any of these operators:

  • NOT (not case-sensitive)
  • !
  • ^

For example, all of the following searches return the topics that contain the term "student" but do not include the term "teacher":

  • student not teacher
  • student NOT teacher
  • student ! teacher
  • student ^ teacher

Use parentheses to combine Boolean phrases and search terms. The following table lists a few examples.

Examples of Complex Searches
Search Expression Results Returned
student AND (teacher OR assignment) Topics that contain "student" as well as either "teacher" or "assignment."
student OR (teacher NOT assignment) Topics that contain "student" or "teacher." Topics that contain both "teacher" and "assignment" are excluded, however.
student OR (teacher AND assignment) Topics that contain "student" or that contain both the terms "teacher" and "assignment."