How can I use the full-text search?

This article shows you which search terms you can formulate for a full-text search and provides many examples.

Introduction

With the search in SimpleumSafe, you can quickly find all files that contain your search term in the content or file name. This saves you time scrolling and allows you to find important documents immediately. Full-text searches not only simple keywords, but also entire phrases and logical combinations.

Note: Files whose file name contains your search term (without *, AND, OR, …) are also displayed at the very top of the results list.

1. Simple Text Search

Simply enter a word or phrase, and all files containing that term anywhere in the text will be displayed.

If only text is entered (without *, AND, OR, …), an * is automatically added and a prefix search with * is performed.

  • Example: Enter project

  • Results: “Project plan.pdf”, “Final project.docx”, “project description.txt”, etc.

  • Not found: Substrings in longer words, e.g., project, will not automatically find superprojective.

2. Prefix Search with *

Add an asterisk * to the end of a word to search for all words beginning with that prefix.

  • Syntax in the search field:
banana*

  • Examples:

  • banan* → finds “banana.txt”, “Bananensplit.pdf”, “bananatastic.doc”

  • thr* → finds “three.txt”, “throw.png”, “thrive.md”

Enclose a phrase in quotation marks "…" to find only exact phrases.

  • Syntax in the search field:
"hello world"

  • Example:

  • "hello world" → finds only documents that contain the exact phrase hello world.

  • Not found: “hello beautiful world”.

4. Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT

Combine terms with AND, OR, and NOT to refine your search. Case is not important.

Operator Meaning Example Explanation
AND both terms must occur apple AND banana finds only files with apple and banana
OR at least one of the terms must occur apple OR pear finds files with apple, pear, or both
NOT excludes files that contain the term apple NOT pie finds apple files, but not with pie

Implicit AND If you separate multiple words with only spaces, an AND is automatically inserted between them.

  • report budget summary ⇔ report AND budget AND summary

5. Grouping with parentheses

Use parentheses (...) to control the order of evaluation.

  • Example 1:
(apple OR banana) AND cherry

→ Evaluate OR first, then AND with cherry.

  • Example 2:
apple OR (banana AND cherry)

→ All apple files plus only those with banana and cherry.

Quick Overview

Feature How to Enter It Example
Simple Search word project
Wildcard Prefix start* banana*
Phrase Search "multiple words" "hello world"
AND / OR / NOT A AND B, A OR B, A NOT B apple AND banana, apple NOT pie
Implicit AND Spaces one two three
Grouping with (...) ( ... ) (apple OR pear) AND cherry
Filename first — Files with search terms in the filename are sorted at the top.

With these simple inputs, you’ll find exactly the files you’re looking for – both in terms of content and file name.

The search settings

What does “Use full-text search” do?

With full-text search enabled, the app searches not only file names, but also the content of all files. This way, you’ll find every match in long PDF or text files, for example. If you deactivate this option, only file names will be searched – the content is left out.

When should I deactivate full-text search?

  • Performance: On very large data sets, indexing and searching can consume slightly more resources.
  • Storage: Full-text indexes require additional disk space.
  • Simplicity: If you primarily search by file name, a simple search may be sufficient.

What happens when you click “Reindex now”?

This action completely deletes the existing search index and rebuilds it from scratch.

  • Why reindex?
  • You’ve modified or moved several files outside of the app.
  • The full-text search returns unexpected results.
  • You’ve just activated the full-text option and want all content in the index right away.
  • Note: Depending on the amount of data, reindexing may take some time. During this time, the search is limited.

What is “Index Missing Files” for?

This feature retroactively adds only those files to the index that weren’t previously indexed. The app normally indexes all new and modified files automatically, but in case we missed something…

Scenarios:

  • You copied files into the repository without the app automatically capturing them.
  • Index entries are missing after a restore from backup.
  • Advantage: Significantly faster than a full reindex because files that have already been indexed are skipped.

Indexing Tips

  1. Regularly in the background: The app usually updates the index automatically as soon as you add or change files.
  2. Manually check: If you notice that new data isn’t being searched, “Index missing files” is usually the first step.
  3. Completely restart: If inconsistencies still occur after this (e.g., modified file contents aren’t found), select “Reindex now.”

Search results

  • Matches in the file name are always displayed at the top.
  • This is followed by a full-text search of the file contents (if enabled).

With these settings, you ensure that your search always remains up-to-date and performs well – regardless of whether you’re just searching for file names or browsing deep into the content for keywords.

Good luck with your search!