Using Free-Text Search

Free-text search allows you to quickly search across your collection using keywords, phrases, and search operators. Free-text searches can be performed in All Entries or within any Folder.

For a broader overview of searching in CatalogIt, see:

MasterIt Resource: Using Free-Text and Structured Search in CatalogIt

Performing a Free-Text Search

To perform a free-text search, click the Magnifying Glass in All Entries or within any Folder and enter your search terms.

By default, free-text search looks across the information contained in your Entries and returns matching results.

Search Operators

Free-text search supports several operators that can help refine your search results.

AND Searches

Spaces are treated as an AND function.

For example:

Margaret Jones

returns Entries that contain both Margaret and Jones.

You can also use the + symbol to require multiple terms.

For example:

blue+glass

returns Entries that contain both blue and glass.

OR Searches

Use the vertical bar (|) to search for one term or another.

For example:

dog | horse

returns Entries containing either dog or horse.

Exact Phrase Searches

Use quotation marks around a phrase to search for that exact sequence of words.

For example:

"blue glass"

returns Entries containing the exact phrase blue glass.

Combining Phrases and Keywords

You can combine quotation marks and the + operator to create more precise searches.

For example:

"blue jar"+tin

returns Entries that contain the exact phrase blue jar and the word tin.

Excluding Terms

Use the - symbol to exclude a term from your search results.

For example:

-wood

returns Entries that do not contain the word wood.

You can combine inclusion and exclusion searches.

For example:

basket+-willow

returns Entries that contain basket but do not contain willow.

Wildcard Searches

Use the * symbol as a wildcard suffix to search for words that begin with the same characters.

For example:

harris*

returns Entries containing words such as Harris, Harrison, Harrisburg, and Harrisville.

Stop Words

Certain common words are ignored during free-text searches. These are known as stop words.

The following words are excluded from free-text searches:

a, an, and, are, as, at, be, but, by, for, if, in, into, is, it, no, not, of, on, or, such, that, the, their, then, there, these, they, this, to, was, will, with.