How to create a Document Search

How to create document (e.g. CVs, Contracts etc.) search criteria, running the search and scoring results. Document Searching Webinar.

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Written by Jackie Read
Updated over a week ago
  • Select Document Search within the Searches tab. This opens the document search interface.

  • The search criteria is entered into the middle panel. The right-hand side column allows the user to select the Document Categories to be included within the Search. By default, all document categories will be included. Users can change these settings using the checkbox options listed underneath:

  1. All Docs: will search all documents in all the Categories.

  2. Default Docs: will only search the default documents in the Document Library. For example, when adding an Original CV in a Candidate’s record, users can right click on the document and select the Default option. Any Document which has this option applied, will be searched, if this category has been ticked.

  3. Latest Docs: will search for the most up to date documents that have been added on the system within the selected categories. 

Alternatively, manually select the categories to include in the search by ticking the ones required.

Entering Search Criteria

To enter search criteria:

  • Enter the word or phrase into the Search Term data field. Note: If a phrase is entered, ensure quotes e.g.“project manager” are used to find an exact match.

  • If this search logic is not used, Adapt will assume the Near logic, which in this example would return records where the word project is near the word manager. 

  • The wildcard * can also be used to find alternative endings of a word e.g. if manag* was entered, the system would find manager, management and managed. 

  • Phrases and wildcards can be combined i.e. “ProjectManag*”. The logic will actually treat each word in the phrase as a prefix and will effectively search for “project* manag*”. This will return results like ‘project manager’ ‘Projector manager, ‘projected management’ etc.

  • Multiple search terms can be entered, but for each word or phrase a new line must be entered.

  • Once the word or phrase has been entered, press tab and the field will turn green and the number of records containing the searched word will appear in the box to the right.

  • To enter additional search terms, click on the Add button at the bottom of the screen, and this will create a blank line under the existing criteria. Choose between the AND/OR/AND NOT logic and enter the search term.

  • Continue to add search terms as required.

  • If additional search terms are entered, the running total results within the search are displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Applying brackets to search criteria

If entering multiple search terms to find a broad range of Candidates for example, enter brackets around each distinct group.

In the example below, users are searching for candidates where:

Job role = director or senior manager
Experience = IT or Telecoms
OR
Location = London or South East

As the search terms are separate, they each have an open and a closed bracket (highlighted in red on the screenshot above).

To run a Document Search:

  • Ensure all the search criteria has been entered, then click Get Results.

  • Document searches are automatically saved to the users Saved Results section.

  • Navigate to this section to review and manipulate the results:

Scoring the Results

The Weight option allows users to select how important that particular Search Term is to the overall outcome. Options are 1 (High or most important) to 5 (Low or least important). 

The weighting option is shown in the search criteria, under the Advanced option. Once the search has been run, users can display the Weighting column by ticking the box in the sort tab of the Formatter Tool, then selecting Apply:

The Weighting column will be displayed on the search results by a blue/white bar. The more solid the bar, the higher the weighting. Click on the bar to show a breakdown.

Watch the webinar on Document Searching:

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