The search function in Case Management offers two main ways to search: Free Text Search and Query Builder. In this article, we’ll focus on Free Text Search, a convenient way to search broadly across the cases you have access to.
Free Text Search is especially useful when you want to find a case but do not know exactly which form or field contains the information. For example, you can search for a name, a number, or other information that you know has been registered in the case.
The search is performed across the forms and cases you have access to. To use this function, you must also have permission to use Free Text Search in your profile.
Search for a case
Open the search function in Case Management and enter what you want to search for in the search field. The search starts automatically once you have entered at least three characters.
By default, Free Text Search scans all forms and cases you have access to. This means you do not need to know exactly which form or field contains the information you are looking for. Further below, you can read more about how to limit the search to selected forms.
The search results display the 20 matches considered most relevant to your search. There may be additional cases that match your search term, even if they are not shown in the results.
Search for whole words
Free Text Search looks for complete words rather than parts of a word. For example, searching for protect will not return a case containing the words protective or protection. To find those cases using Free Text Search, you need to search for the full word exactly as it appears in the case.
This is due to the way information is prepared and indexed for search. Because Free Text Search can search across all fields in a large number of cases and forms at the same time, large amounts of information must be processed quickly. The search is therefore designed to provide fast and broad results, even in environments with many thousands of cases and large volumes of information. One consequence of this is that partial matches within longer words will not return a result. If you cannot find the case you are looking for, try using a more specific search term.
Limit the search to specific forms via filter
To make your search more precise, you can use the filter icon to choose one or more forms to search within.
- Click the filter icon.
- Select one or more forms you want to search in.
- Enter what you want to search for in the search field.
Once you enter your search term, only results from the selected forms will be shown. When a filter is active, a gray box labeled “Form” appears next to the funnel icon.
Keep in mind that the forms you selected will remain as an active filter until you remove it. If you later want to search across all forms again, you will need to clear the filter first.
Free Text Search or Query Builder?
Free Text Search is most useful when you want to search broadly and quickly, for example when you know part of the information in a case but do not know exactly where it is located.
If you know more precisely what you are looking for and need to perform a more specific search, you can use Query Builder. There, you can build search queries based on specific conditions and fields.