Using Full-Text Search

You can locate every occurrence of a word or phrase in the Help. You can narrow your search by limiting it to topic titles or by specifying subsets of topics or using Boolean and wildcard strings.

Most searches will return a large number of topics. You can make the list of topics more manageable by clearing the Match Similar Words check box before you search and by sorting the list by location.

To perform a full-text search

  1. In the navigation pane, choose the Search tab.

  2. In the Type in the Words to search for box, type the word or phrase you want to find.

  3. Choose the List Topics button.

    The first 500 topics that match your search criteria are displayed.

  4. Sort the topic list by selecting the Location column heading. The location for each topic will help clarify whether or not that topic is relevant for you.

    For more information about sorting the list, see Title, Location, and Rank Columns in Search.

The Search check boxes enable you to modify your search to perform the following tasks:

  • Match similar words

    When selected, Help finds minor grammatical variations of the word or phrase you enter, as well as the word or phrase itself. For example, if you type add and selected this check box, Help finds add, adds, and added. This option is independent of other options or syntax.

  • Search titles only

    When selected, Help finds variations of the word or phrase you enter in topic titles only.

See Also

Search Syntax in Full-Text Searches | Words, Phrases, and Wildcards in Full-Text Searches | Operators in Full-Text Searches: AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR | Rules for Nested Expressions in Full-Text Searches | Navigation Using Shortcut Keys | Finding Information in Help

 Last updated on Wednesday, April 14, 2004

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