alfresco-content-app/docs/features/search-results.md

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Search Results

Search Results

When you type queries into the Search Input component, the application will return the Search Results in a page. From the search results page you can open files and perform various actions depending on the permissions available for the selected item.

This page consists of the following ADF components:

• Search Filter
• Search Chip List
• Search Sorting Picker
• Document List with custom layout template
• Info Drawer with Metadata and Version Management
• Toolbar with basic actions like Preview, Download, Favorite, Copy, etc.

And also the Info Drawer, Toolbar and Node Selector dialogs for copy and move operations.

Alfresco Full Text Search

The following table describes current support of the Alfresco Full Text Search (FTS) syntax in the Content Application when using Search Input component.

Feature	Full	Partial	N/A	Details
Search for a single term	1.6			Docs
Search for a phrase		1.7		Docs
Search for an exact term	1.7			Docs
Search for term expansion			X	Docs
Search for conjunctions	1.7			Docs
Search for disjunctions	1.7			Docs
Search for negation			X	Docs
Search for optional, mandatory, and excluded elements of a query			X	Docs
Search in fields		1.7		Docs
Search for wildcards		1.7		Docs
Search for ranges			X	Docs
Search for fuzzy matching			X	Docs
Search for proximity			X	Docs
Search for boosts			X	Docs
Search for grouping			X	Docs
Search for spans and positions			X	Docs
Escaping characters			X	Docs
Mixed FTS ID behavior			X	Docs
Search for operator precedence			X	Docs
Search query templates			X	Docs
Search query literals			X	Docs
Search using date math			X	Docs

Partial support means the feature supports basic scenarios and there are edge cases that are not yet fully tested and might not work.

Search Modes

The Search Input component supports two search modes. You can switch between them using the mode toggle displayed next to the search box:

• Standard search (default) — finds text exactly as you enter it. The application builds the query for you, matching your input against the fields configured for the active search form (see Search Forms). This is the recommended mode for everyday searching.
• Formula search — lets you build a query manually using Alfresco Full Text Search (FTS) syntax. In this mode the application passes your input to the search service unchanged, so special characters such as :, ", * and the AND/OR operators are interpreted as search syntax.

The selected mode is preserved in the search URL, so it is restored when you reload the page or share a search link.

In previous versions the application implicitly switched to raw query handling whenever it detected a : or " character in the input, and used a leading = symbol for exact-term matching. That implicit behavior has been removed in favor of the explicit Formula search mode. To run field-scoped queries, phrase queries, exact-term matching, or any other FTS syntax, switch to Formula search.

Search Queries and Precise Searching

When using Standard search, the application constructs the query from your input. Given a single term, the default query matches that term against every field configured for the active search form:

((cm:name:"[term]" OR cm:title:"[term]" OR cm:description:"[term]" OR TEXT:"[term]" OR TAG:"[term]"))

When wildcard searching is enabled, a * suffix is appended to every term so that partial matches are also returned:

((cm:name:"[term]*" OR cm:title:"[term]*" OR cm:description:"[term]*" OR TEXT:"[term]*" OR TAG:"[term]*"))

Note that compared to Share the following defaults are removed from ACA:

OR ia:whatEvent:"[term]*" OR ia:descriptionEvent:"[term]*" OR lnk:title:"[term]*" OR lnk:description:"[term]*"

Key facts

1. If you have entered more than one word into the search input box, then the search query is constructed automatically using an AND operation.

2. If you have entered more than one word separated by AND, then the search query is constructed using an AND conjunction. Since AND is the default operator (see fact 1), the explicit AND keywords are removed when the search input value is processed.

3. If you have entered more than one word separated by OR, then the search query is constructed using an OR disjunction. Unlike AND, the OR operators are preserved when processing the search input value because OR is not the default operator.

4. For phrase queries, exact-term matching, field-scoped queries, or any other advanced FTS syntax, switch to Formula search so that the input is sent to the search service unchanged.

Examples

Search Type	Search mode	Entered search input value	Expected result
Single Term	Standard	banana	Nodes that contain the term banana in any configured field
Conjunction	Standard	big yellow banana	Nodes that contain all of the terms big, yellow, and banana
Conjunction	Standard	big AND yellow AND banana	Nodes that contain all of the terms big, yellow, and banana
Disjunction	Standard	orange OR banana OR apple	Nodes that contain at least one of the terms orange, banana or apple
Phrase	Formula	cm:name:"big yellow banana"	Nodes whose cm:name contains the exact phrase big yellow banana
Field-scoped / advanced	Formula	TEXT:"orange" AND TAG:"fruit"	The query is passed to the search service exactly as entered

Wildcard searching

Wildcard searching is controlled by the search-wildcards-enabled property in app.config.json:

{
  "search-wildcards-enabled": true
}

Value	Behavior
true	A * suffix is appended to every term in Standard search, so partial matches are returned (e.g. ban matches banana).
false	Terms are matched as entered, without an implicit trailing wildcard.

This setting only affects how Standard search builds the query; in Formula search you control wildcards yourself by typing them into the query.

Important note: Consider using Search Logical Filter when you need to combine multiple search types. Mixing search types directly in the input may result in wrong query format and incorrect results.