Simple Searching
Type your search into the search box at the top right of the screen:
As you start to enter words into the box, Answers will match pages and attachments that have those words in the title and show you an abbreviated list of the pages found. The list displayed is not all pages that are relevant to your search. The pop-up list displays the first 6 pages, the first two attachments, and the first three matching names. At the bottom of the list is an option to search Answers and generate a complete list (you can also press Enter when you are done typing terms to perform a full site search and get a list of all the pages that include your search terms).
The screenshot below shows the first three results from a full search for "MySlice errors" (retrieved by pressing Enter after entering the keywords in the search box) :
Searching for Attachments
When searching for attachments by name, the file extension is considered part of the last word in the name. So, entering answerstest will not bring up answerstest.docx because answerstest is not the full string. To retrieve this attachment, you must use answerstest.docx or the wildcard character (so a partial string matches): answerstest*
More Advanced Searching
Exact Phrase
Use double quotes around the phrase.
Ex: '"cell phone"' will search for pages containing that exact phrase instead of the words, "cell" and "phone" anywhere in the document.
Using OR
Searches for pages that contain either of the words.
Ex: "apple OR mac" will search for pages that contain either the word, "apple" or the word, "mac."
Using AND
Searches for pages that contain both of the search terms.
Ex: "OSX AND 10.7" will return only pages that have both the word, "OSX" and the number, "10.7."
Using NOT
Searches for pages that contain the first term but not the term that appears after word NOT.
Ex: "media NOT social" will find pages that have the word, "media" but not the word, "social."
Title Searches
To search for pages that only have the term in the page title.
Ex: "title: Wireless" will find pages that have the word, "wireless" in the page title.
Wildcard Searches
To search for a word with any character at a single position within the word, use ? Ex: si?e will find pages with "site," "size," "side," or any other character at the 3rd position.
To search for word that begin with the same string, use * Ex: print* will find pages with printer, printing, and any other word that begins with "print."
NOTE
You can't use the wildcards at the beginning of a word, but you can use them in the middle or at the end of a word:
*systems is invalid.
system* is valid.
iP*d is valid.
Combined Searches
You can combine different search operators together:
(Vista OR 7) AND Windows
"Outlook 2010" AND SUmail
Search Help
From the search results screen, you can get help by selecting the question mark next to the search box.
Search Filters
If your search returns a large number of results, you may want to use one of the search filters available on the search results screen. You can filter by author, space, when the page/attachment was last modified, or content type. A filter becomes effective as soon as you select it.