Search modes define how a search query is processed. A search mode is applied globally to an entire query unless you place an alternative search mode operator in front of specific term(s).
The available search modes are:
- Exact Match (operator: +)
- A document must contain the exact search term(s) to be a hit.
- Stem (operator: #)
- An algorithm looks to the stem of the term and then follows rules to determine different ending variations of the term. A document must contain the original term or any of the stemmed variations to be a hit.
- Stem mode uses the publicly available Porter Stemming Algorithm. Query expansion can also be configured for Stem mode to return additional documents. If, for example, matter is specified as a query expansion for case, then a stem mode search for case will also return documents containing the word matter.
- Concept (operator: ^)
- Concept mode first expands the inputted term using stem mode and then looks for content conceptually related to each expanded term based on the concepts generated for the matter. A document must contain the original term or an identified concept term to be a hit.
- Fuzzy (operator: ~)
- A fuzzy mode search expands query terms to include terms with spelling variations. A document must contain the original term or any of the identified spelling variations to be a hit.
Example
| Search Query | Search Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
case |
case |
Cases is not found, as it is not the exact match. |
Examples
| Search Query | Search Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| price |
price prices priced pricing |
Common endings are returned. |
| audit |
audit audits audited auditing |
Stem mode may not return all variations, for example, auditor. |
| run |
run runs running |
Stem mode does not return irregular word variations, for example, ran. |
Examples
| Search Query | Search Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
money |
money monies cash finances fees (and other money-related topics) |
Concept mode search results will differ between matters because concept groups (aspect models) are based on the actual documents contained in each matter. |
|
money NOT #money |
cash finances fees |
Documents will not contain the actual term money or any of its stemmed variations (# is a search mode operator for stem mode). |
Examples
| Search Query | Search Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
case |
case cause care core cis etc. |
Fuzzy mode may return false hits, that is, documents that do not really meet the search criteria. If your search results are overly broad, consider using strategically placed wildcards instead of fuzzy mode. |
|
privilege |
privilege privelege etc. |
Fuzzy mode can be used to find commonly misspelled words. |
Tip: Fuzzy mode searches often work well for documents that were run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to generate searchable text, especially if the OCR is not of good quality. Administrators can configure the maximum edit distance for a fuzzy mode search, that is, the maximum number of differences allowed between the inputted term and the expanded query terms. Administrators can also configure fuzzy mode search to specify that the expansion terms must start with the same letters as the query terms, which increases search performance.