Searching with Tokens
The search system indexes tokens instead of whole property values.
Tokens are individual chunks of a property value that allow the system to locate files based on pieces of information. This type of searching allows for quicker search results and reduces the impact to the system when searching vaults containing thousands of property values.
Knowing how property values are broken down into tokens allows you to search for tokens only. This reduces the impact to the system when returning multiple results by letting you refine your search. Now when you perform the same search for DES, only the files with the author's name of DES are returned. The results do not include the Design00.idw file because the first token is Design, whereas the author's initials of DES are a complete token.
How Property Values are Broken into Tokens
All adjacent characters of like type are grouped into a single token. Like type is alphabetic (a,-b,-c,-...z), numeric (0,1,2,..9), or special punctuation (-,-,@...$). Numbers with dots are not recognized as separate tokens.
Only six punctuation characters are searchable:
- Dollar sign ($)
- Dash (-)
- Underscore (-)
- At sign (@)
- Plus sign (+)
- Pound sign (#)
All other punctuation are not searchable and are not contained in tokens.
This table shows how a few different file names would be broken down into tokens.
| File Name | Tokens |
|---|---|
A-055401-321.ipt |
A - 055401 - 321 ipt |
Great White Shark.doc |
Great White Shark doc |
Gr8work.xls |
Gr 8 work xls |
A.112.0023.0.ipt |
A 112.0023.0 ipt |
Searching with Tokens
This ability to specify search values based on tokens allows more latitude when constructing searches. The search tries to find equivalence to string in the search field. It will not display results if you use tokens individually. You can append a wildcard for broader searches or specify a token for more refined returns.
Using '@me' for Personalized Searches
Vault now supports '@me' keyword in the 'Value' field for more personalized searches. It automatically replaces '@me' with the current user's display name across both basic and advanced searches.
You can use '@me' with all string properties and operators (is, is not, contains, does not contain) and across all clients including thick, thin, mobile, and add-ins.