The Elium search engine enables free text searches that are enriched with metadata and multiple attributes. Elium also supports the indexing of standard files containing text, such as Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and even cells from Excel files.
For Advanced Search
Elium offers a list of commands that users can utilize to refine their queries and obtain more targeted search results. Below is the list of these commands:
AND: The AND operator retrieves all specified search terms. For example, searching for Knowledge AND management AND Elium returns only results that contain all three search terms. This results in limited outcomes.
OR: The OR operator retrieves results that contain at least one of the specified terms. Searching for Knowledge OR Elium OR Management returns all items that include any of the three search terms. This yields a larger number of results.
NOT: The NOT operator excludes items that contain the specified term. Searching for Knowledge NOT Elium returns items related to Knowledge, but specifically excludes those that contain the word Elium.
This serves as a method to fine-tune results.Quotation Marks “ “: Quotation marks are used to define phrases that must appear together in the article. The words within the quotation marks, including spaces and special characters (numbers, punctuation, symbols), are treated as a complete and indivisible set. The order of the words is significant.
For example, “Knowledge Management” treats the phrase “Knowledge Management” as a whole. You will not receive articles that discuss only Knowledge or only Management.
Brackets (): Brackets help structure the query and are useful for complex searches. They allow for the creation of groups of words that can interact with one another, functioning similarly to a mathematical formula.
For example: Knowledge AND (management OR sharing) NOT Elium.
Question Mark ?: This command acts as a wildcard. It can be placed at any point within a word. During the search, the letter replaced by the question mark can be substituted with any other character. Use question marks cautiously, as their placement may yield unexpected results.
For example: organi?ation will return results containing either organisation or organization.
Asterisk *: The asterisk can only be used at the end of words and replaces multiple letters. It should be used with even greater caution than question marks.
For example: orga*. This will return results such as organised, organisation, etc.
Tilde ~: The tilde is used with quotation marks to specify that the words should be no more than a specified distance apart. This is useful for finding words within the same sentence (set a low number) or in the same paragraph (set a slightly higher number).
For example: “Knowledge management”~8 means the two words must be together within a group of 8 words and can appear in any order.
For Tags
Similar to full-text searches, tag filters operate according to Boolean logic.
When a user selects two tags from the same category, an
OR
is applied. The user allows for the presence of either one of the two tags in the searched articles. For example, selecting the tags "Belgium" and "France" from the same "Country" category will display articles tagged with either "Belgium", "France", or both.When a user selects two tags from different categories, an
AND
is applied. The user requires the searched articles to include both tags. For example, selecting the "Belgium" tag in the "Country" category and the "Food industry" tag in the "Sector" category will display articles related to the food sector in Belgium only.
For Categories of Tags
Selecting two categories of tags means asking the search engine to display only articles that contain at least one tag from each selected category. Therefore, categories are linked by an AND
Boolean.
For Spaces and Groups of Spaces
The various selected spaces as filters are always linked by an OR
. The user allows the search to encompass content from one or the other space.
For Type of Content
The various selected types as filters are always linked by an OR
. The user permits the search to include content from one or the other type of content.
For Contributors
The various selected contributors as filters are always linked by an OR
. The user allows for content from one or the other contributor.