Library Search

What is a library search?

You can perform an advanced search on the Asset Library Search panel by choosing one or more filters. Save your search filters so you can quickly apply those filters again in the future. Saved searches may be shared with other BLUE users.

Who can use library search?

Anyone who has access to the library can perform an advanced asset search and save their search filters for reuse. Only the saved search owner can make changes to it – share / unshare, rename, update the filter criteria, or delete it. When performing a search, you will only see the assets you have access to.

View all column data using horizontal scroll

When viewing an asset’s detail panel, the asset list has a horizontal scrollbar, allowing column data to be viewable at any time. Scroll to see data in the right-hand columns, such as File Size and Expiry Date.

 

Exploring the advanced search

All Assets

To perform a search and start from scratch, choose All Assets in the Asset Library. Choose some filters or choose a saved search to get started.

Filters

• Search by general free text, Type, Status, Date Added, Expiry Date, Extension, Attributes (string – constrained/non-constrained and date).
• Attributes: Click the Edit link to manage the task attribute filters on the Search panel.

General Free Text Search

You can perform an advanced asset library search by typing any of the following into the Search field:

Asset Name	The name of a file or folder.
Asset Number	The number assigned to an asset by the system or the user.
Attribute Values	These include values on the asset’s properties and attributes assigned to the asset’s type.
First Page Content	This is text found within the first page of a file that has not been converted to outline. Note: Searching for strings of text may return results that contain one or more words found in the files. For example, if searching for files that contain “the red house down the block,” the system can return files that contain the full phrase and assets with any one of the words in the phrase. So files that contain only “red” will appear in the results.
File Application	If you want to narrow the results by a certain software application, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop. Enter that application name in the search box.
File Extension	Entering text such as .pdf, you can filter your selected criteria to only bring results that have that file extension.
Status Name	The status of the file or folder  (i.e. Approved).
Type Name	Each library asset has a type assigned (i.e. Standard Proof File), searches can be filtered by entering or selecting a type.

Wildcards and expressions

You can enter wildcards and expressions in the Search field to narrow down results:

Quotation Marks	Enter exact word or phrase searches in double quotes, such as: “Yellow 2018“
AND / OR	Enter AND / OR words and phrases (case insensitive) such as: Red and Yellow and 2018 – resulting assets include ALL words as part of their names or attributes Red or Yellow or 2018 – resulting assets have any of the words as part of their names or attributes Red and Yellow or 2018 – resulting assets have both red and yellow as part of their names or attributes, but may or may not include 2018 To enforce a certain way you want the search to be performed, AND / OR criteria can be enclosed in parenthesis. For example the following search criteria are valid and will return different results: Red or (Yellow and 2018) – resulting assets include any with Red as part of their names or attributes and that also contain both Yellow and 2018. (Red or Yellow) and 2018 – resulting assets include any with Red or Yellow as part of their names or attributes and that also contain 2018.
Asterisk	Enter an asterisk (*) anywhere in a search term, such as: gr*  will return assets containing “green”, “grey”, “great”, “grown” *en will return assets containing “green”, “ten”, “aspen”, “queen” gr*n  will return assets containing “green” and “grown” For example, when searching on a file name: Each word (separated by a space) in the file name is indexed and searched on separately. If the file name is “test file.pdf”  then both “test” and “file” can be searched on independently. In this case, if you search for file*, “test file.pdf” will be returned in the search results because file* matches on the word “file”. Wildcards affect the search for context within an individual ‘word’. Wildcards are used to search for any available data that will fit within that context (i.e. both words are searched on to provide results – te* = test, text, tent… , *ile = file, pile, tile). Additional data will be included in the search results if it is part of the file name and is preceded or followed by a space (for example: beta test file image.pdf). The above is just an example for searching on file names. The general free text search box actually searches on many different file properties (type, attributes, file name etc), so you will get more results than just those that match on file name. For a more detailed list of data that it is searched, see General Free Text Search.

Selecting filter fields

To filter by metadata and custom fields, click on the Edit link in the left search filter to add or remove metadata and custom fields that you would like to filter by.

The current filters will appear in the box. Click inside the box and start typing the name of the field you would like to add or select one from the drop-down list that shows up once you have clicked in the box. You can type in a partial name to search, or type the complete name and hit enter to add the field. To remove a filter, click on the “x.”

Once you are done selecting custom filters, click on the Save button at the bottom of the pop-up window.  The list of fields on the filtering pane will update and you will see the new fields added and the removed fields no longer listed.

Saved searches

A saved search allows the library user to choose some search filters and save the criteria with a name so that filter criteria can be quickly applied again in the future.

Who can use saved search?

Any library user can apply search filters and save their criteria with a name. No additional permissions are required to save a search. The saved search owner can share and update the saved search, even after it has been shared with others.

Exploring the saved search

Sharing and modifying saved searches

The owner of a saved search can share it with other BLUE system users, rename, delete or update its search criteria.

Share a Saved Search
Choose the saved search and then choose Share. Choose some BLUE users that you wish to share it with.

Unshare a Saved Search
Choose the saved search and then choose Share. Clear the BLUE users to remove their access to the Saved Search.

Update a Saved Search
Choose the saved search and then change the search filters. Click Save.

Rename or Delete a Saved Search
Choose the saved search and then click Rename or Delete.

Execution of a library search

Choose one or more filters or a saved search from the Saved Search drop down. The results shown will be those that meet the saved search criteria. You will only see items that you have access to.

Sorting results

Clicking the name of the column on the header will sort the results by that column in ascending order. Clicking the name again will sort the results in descending order. Sortable columns are:
– Name
– Number
– Date Added
– Type
– Status
– Expiry Date

Exporting results to Excel

When you have some search results, you can export the list to Microsoft Excel. All attribute values are included in the export.

Click on the Export to Excel button to download your search results as a Microsoft Excel file.

Follow the download instructions on your screen to save the file to your computer or open it with your preferred application.

Library search tips and other notes

Tips

Date Filters (Date Added, Expiry Date and Attribute Dates)
Date filters have control options for On, On or Before, On, On or After, After, and Between dates. Choose a month and type a year in the input box. The year input box supports year values from 1970 to 9999.

Limitations

Attribute Filters
Not all types of attributes are supported as search filters. Supported attribute types include strings (constrained and non-constrained) and dates.