Tips & Help

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 acquaint you with the full power of Microsoft Index Server.

  • Look for words with the same prefix. For example, in your query form
    type key* to find key, keying, keyhole, keyboard,
    and so on.

  • Search for all forms of a word. For example, in the form type sink**
    to find sink, sinking, sank, and sunk.

  • Search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND,
    for words close to each other. For example, both of these queries, system and
    manager
    and system near manager, look for the words system
    and manager 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.

  • 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 surfing
    but not surfing the Net, write the following query:

    surfing AND NOT the Net

  • Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one word or another,
    for example:

    Abbott OR Costello

    This query finds all pages that mention Abbott or Costello or both.

  • Put quotation marks around keywords if you want Index Server to take
    them literally. For instance, if you type the following query:

    "system near manager"

    Index Server will literally look for the complete phrase system near manager. But
    if you type the same query without the quotation marks:

    system near manager

    Index Server searches all documents for the words system and manager.

These hints will get you started, but for more complex queries and
more examples, see the Query Language page.