Help Desk - Full Text Search

tiHelpdesk features full text search capability to make filtering and finding issues or tasks easier and faster. Filtering using the Keyword text box on the Filter and Search Panel filters the search results using the data in the issues or task subject line and the body text of the initial issues or task and all repines for the keywords.

Keyword Filter Text Box

Advanced filtering rules can be used in the keyword dialog to control how the search engine weights word usage in determining search and filter results relevance..

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Advanced Filtering

Advanced filtering returns indexed results based on word relevance. A weight is placed on word usage based on the search expression that is entered. Results are calculated based on the number of words in the index, the number of unique words in a record and the total number of words in both the index and the result, and the weight of the word. Additionally word variants are included while calculating search results. Searching for "baked" would include results for "baker, baking and baked"

Full text searches default to natural language mode. No operators are required. A sample of natural language search is a simple search for "error message"

Depending on how many issues or tasks in the help desk and task management system a high number of rows may be returned for these common words. Both the words "error" and "message" carry weight and would be returned in the results if "error" or "message" was used in a reply. How the words "error" and "message" are used in the replies, and their proximity to each other will impact where in the search result an issue or task is returned.

Using Operators

Adding Operators to the search expression will return more accurate result set with fewer issues or tasks in the results.

Adding the "+" operator before words adds weight to those words and causes the search engine to return using a slightly different search mode.

example: +error +message (both "error" and "message" are required in the results)
example: +error message ( "error" is required and "message" is optional )

Adding the "-" operator before a word tells the search engine specifically excludes the word.

example: +error -strange ( "error" is required and "strange" must not appear in the results)
example: +error message -strange ( "error" is required, "message" is optional and "strange" must not appear in the results)

Adding the "~" operator before a word tells the search engine that the following word contributes negatively to the relevance of the row (which is different to the '-' operator, which specifically excludes the word.)
example: +error ~strange ( "error" is required and issues or tasks that contain strange are still returned but are lower in priority in the results)
Anything enclosed in the double quotes is taken as a whole (so you can match phrases)

example: "strange error message" ( the exact phrase "strange error message" must be found in the issue or task in order to be included in the filter results)
The wildcard character or "*" indicates zero or more characters. It can only appear at the end of a word.

example: tim* (returns results for words that start with "tim" including time, timid, timbers, timarau and more.

Not all features may be available to all users. Features and options depend on user permissions and subscription level.