Getting Started with Discovery Search
Accessing Discovery Search
Your administrator will provide you with the URL to your organization’s Discovery Search homepage. To access Discovery Search, navigate to this URL in your preferred supported web browser. We recommend bookmarking this URL for future use.
Role-based Access
Discovery Search uses role-based access control as a method of ensuring that a user only sees the content for which that user has permission.
A user may have one or more roles assigned to them in Active Directory. To view your assigned role and/or to switch between more than one assigned role:
Click your User Profile.
Select Preferences.
If you have more than one role assigned to you, select a role from the dropdown menu.
Discovery Search is automatically refreshed to reflect the role selected.
Based on the role you have been assigned or the role that you have selected, the appearance of Discovery Search can vary. This is because administrators are able to define custom configurations for the following search features:
Advanced Search
Filters
Sources
Source Groups
Get to know the search page
The Discovery Search homepage allows you to perform Google-type searches of your corporate data from a similar search interface.
Search Field
Perform a standard search
Enter a query or keywords in Search
Click the search icon or press Enter
Fig. 1: Standard search bar in Discovery Search
Discovery Search will match the searched term against any indexed fields and return a list of relevant results you have sufficient permissions to review. These results are returned from the data stored in the Analytics Engine. This includes all metadata and any extracted information captured during crawls, such as full text or added insights.
Perform a search using index fields
Searches using index fields allow you to perform a search that will immediately refine the results. To perform a search using index fields:
Prefix your search with the name of the field you want to search, followed by a colon ( : ) and the term you want to find (for example, creationTimeUtc:2021-05-04)
Click the search icon or press Enter
What does each index field mean?
Within the index created by the Analytics Engine, there are fields that can be used to refine search results.
Date and number ranges require square brackets around the search term.
Index field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
creationTimeUtc: | Limit results to those created on a specific date or within a specific date range | creationTimeUtc:[2021-05-02 TO 2021-05-03] creationTimeUtc:2021-05-03 |
extension: | Limit results to a specific file extension | extension:pdf |
fullText: | Limit results to those that have full text for a file | fullText:purchase |
hash: | Refine results by the hash assigned to the file | hash:b4aff70d4220791e41509c01d0dbab04 |
lastWriteTimeUtc: | Limit results to those modified on a specific date or within a specific date range | lastWriteTimeUtc:[2017-02-01 TO 2017-03-01] |
length: | Limits results to those where files are a specific size in bytes | length:[0 TO 100000] |
name: | Limit results to those with keywords associated with the file | name:draft |
Perform a combined search
A combined search allows you to perform a further refined search directly from the search bar. To perform a combined search:
Enter a query with a combination of keyword and index field in Search
Click the search icon or press Enter
Combined Search Examples
String | Result |
|---|---|
user guide AND extension:pdf | pdf records with “user guide” in the name |
user guide NOT extension:pdf | all records with “user guide” in the name, except pdf files |
Fig. 2: A source-specific combined search by keyword and index field
Match Field
Perform a Boolean search
Boolean searches allow you to combine words and phrases to limit, broaden, or define your search. In Discovery Search, Boolean searches are presented as Match options. To perform a Boolean search:
Enter a query in Search
From the Match dropdown, select your desired Boolean option from the list (for example, Any words, All words, Exact phrase, or Contains)
Click the search icon or press Enter
Fig. 3: A Boolean search
What does each Boolean (Match) option mean?
There are four options when performing a Boolean search: Any words, All words, Contains, and Exact phrase.
Search Type | Case Sensitive | Wildcard Supported | How the Query is Built |
|---|---|---|---|
Any words (default) | No | Yes Note: Best used when searching in a specific field (ex. name:). | Searches for either of the words entered. Results will be shown for files that contain either of the searched words. Example:  |
All words | No | Yes Note: Best used when searching in a specific field (ex. name:). | Searches for all words entered, meaning all terms entered must be found in each result. Example:  |
Contains | Yes Note: Enhanced Wildcard fields are searchable in both upper and lowercase. | Yes Note: A * (wildcard) is applied by default therefore users do not have to specify. | Searches for terms entered exactly as they are entered. Example:  |
Exact phrase | No | No | Searches for the exact phrase, in the same order they are typed. Discovery Search automatically wraps the search phrase in double quotes (“ ”). Example:  |
Source Field
Perform a source-specific search
If your administrator has defined and configured content sources, you will be able to filter by content source directly from the homepage. To filter a search by source:
Enter a query in Search
From the Source dropdown, select a source
Click the search icon or press Enter
Fig. 4: Searching by source in Discovery Search
Perform a source-specific search using Source Groups
If your administrator has defined and configured Source Groups, you will be able to select multiple sources to search directly from the homepage. To filter a search by source group:
Enter a query in Search
From the Source dropdown, select a source group
Once you’ve got all the sources selected you wish to search, click the search icon or press Enter
Selecting a source group will automatically select all sources within that group. To deselect a particular source from within a source group, uncheck the checkbox next to the source you wish to deselect.
Sort by Field
Sort search results
If configured by your administrator, how results will be sorted when returned can be set before executing a search. To specify the preferred sort order:
Enter a query in Search
From the Sort by dropdown, select a sort order
Click the search icon or press Enter