At its simplest, a query can be just a word or a phrase. But with the tips on this page, you can expand the focus of your query to give you more complete results. These tips will get you started with basic query language and help you to learn more about Microsoft Index Server, which is used to perform the searches on our website.
Tips
Look for words with the same prefix
You can do this by using an asterisk after the letters that are common to the words for which you are searching. For example, type web* to find web, website, webhosting, and so on.
Search for all forms of a word
You can find all forms of a word by using two asterisks: for example, in the form type run** to find run, running and ran.
Find words close to each other
If you search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND, you can find words close to each other. For example, both of these queries, training AND course and training NEAR course, look for the words training and course on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages are ranked in order of proximity. The closer together the words are, the higher the rank of that page.
Exclude text from your search
You can refine your queries with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances of training but not advanced, write the following query: training AND NOT advanced.
Find either or both words
If you add the OR keyword you can find all instances of either one word or another. For example, if you type database OR index you will find all pages that mention database or index or both.
Find exactly the phrase you want
Put quotation marks around keywords if you want Index Server to take them literally. For instance, if you type "oil exploration software" Index Server will only look for the complete phrase 'oil exploration software'. But if you type the same query without the quotation marks your results will include all the documents that include the words oil, exploration and software in any combination, together or separately.
Free text queries
Use the Free Text option (by clicking the radio button below the Search text box) to enter queries using natural language. Index Server will examine your query, extract nouns and noun phrases, and construct a query for you.
With free text queries you can enter any text you want, from a proper question to a string of words and phrases, without worrying about the query language. For example, if you type in the query Which product offers crossplot features? Index Server will create a query for you automatically and begin the search.
Remember that when you're using free text queries, the regular query language features are disabled and keywords such as AND, OR and NEAR are interpreted as normal words.