diff --git a/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/components/alfresco-search-control.component.ts b/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/components/alfresco-search-control.component.ts
index 3cd9d5464c..c4c488c9ae 100644
--- a/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/components/alfresco-search-control.component.ts
+++ b/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/components/alfresco-search-control.component.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import { Control, Validators } from '@angular/common';
 import { Component, Input, Output, EventEmitter, AfterViewInit } from '@angular/core';
 import { AlfrescoPipeTranslate, AlfrescoTranslationService } from 'ng2-alfresco-core';
 import { AlfrescoSearchAutocompleteComponent } from './alfresco-search-autocomplete.component';
+import { SearchTermValidator } from './../forms/search-term-validator';
 
 declare let __moduleName: string;
 declare var componentHandler: any;
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ export class AlfrescoSearchControlComponent implements AfterViewInit {
 
         this.searchControl = new Control(
             this.searchTerm,
-            Validators.compose([Validators.required, Validators.minLength(3)])
+            Validators.compose([Validators.required, SearchTermValidator.minAlphanumericChars(3)])
         );
 
         this.searchControl.valueChanges.map(value => this.searchControl.valid ? value : '')
diff --git a/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/forms/search-term-validator.ts b/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/forms/search-term-validator.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f353d13335
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ng2-components/ng2-alfresco-search/src/forms/search-term-validator.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*!
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2016 Alfresco Software, Ltd.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { Control } from '@angular/common';
+
+export class SearchTermValidator {
+
+    static minAlphanumericChars(minChars: number) {
+        return (control: Control) => {
+            return ('' + control.value).replace(/[^0-9a-zA-Z]+/g, '').length >= minChars ? null : {
+                hasMinAlphanumericChars: false
+            };
+        };
+    }
+
+}