Vault uses a powerful search engine to help you find documents, object records, and attachments. You can perform basic searches from the primary search bar or carry out more detailed searches using Advanced Search. From the primary search bar, you may also be able to select the type of object or document that you’d like to find. If your vault does not have custom tabs, the drop-down selector does not appear and your searches always use “all documents” as the search context.
About Document Searches
When searching for documents, you select either All Documents or a specific document type in the search bar. The available options depend on custom tab configuration. The document search finds documents with field values that match the search terms. Vault also includes field values for object records that the document references. For example, searching “chopredol” would bring back documents that reference the CholeCap product because that value is in the Generic Name field. The specific object fields that are included when searching for documents will vary according to your vault’s configuration. Learn about basic search below.
For more detailed searches that may include document content (full text search) and attachments, you can use Advanced Search. Learn about advanced search below.
When you search, Vault converts your search terms into relevant filters using Smart Filtering. For example, a search for “Cholecap Promotional Piece” would automatically create a filter for the Cholecap Product and the Promotional Piece document type. Learn more about Smart Filtering.
When searching, Vault finds all words that start with the search term. For example, a search on “ind” would return “independent” and “indication,” but not “find” or “rescind.” To search for an exact match to your terms, put double quotes around the terms. Learn more about how Vault searches.
About Object Record Searches
To search for object records, you select the specific object from the search bar or Advanced Search window. When using the search bar, Vault searches the field values of the specific object’s records. If you wish to include object attachments in your search, you’ll need to use Advanced Search.
You can only search object records or object record attachments if your vault has a custom tab for the specific object. For example, Thomas’ vault has Product and Country objects, but only Product records are available via custom tab. He cannot use search to find Country records. Learn more about custom tabs.
About Searching Attachments
When your vault uses attachments, you can include them in search by selecting Include Attachments in the Advanced Search dialog and entering terms to search. Vault searches within the attachment’s filename, description, and (if applicable) full text content. When Vault finds matching attachments, what appears in the search results can vary:
When searching for documents and using the compact or detail layout, matching attachments appear under the related documents.
When searching for documents and using the tile or tabular layout, Vault displays only the related document. You’ll need to open the Doc Info page to get to the attachment.
When searching objects, Vault displays only the related object record. You’ll need to click into the record’s details to get to the attachment.
How to Use Basic Search
Basic Search allows you to perform simple queries by searching within document or object record fields.
To search within document or object record fields:
In the search bar’s drop-down menu, select the documents or objects you want to search. Note that these align with the custom tabs in your vault.
Click into the search field in the primary navigation bar. Vault automatically displays the most recently viewed documents or object records. If you’re looking for one of these, click on it from the preview list. If not, continue with the next steps.
Start typing one or more terms in the search box. To search an exact string, use double quotes around the terms (“patient education”). On document searches, the preview list updates with each character you enter to suggest search terms and up to 5 relevant results. This will not occur on object record searches.
Choose a document or object record from the preview list, press Enter to see all results, or click Advanced Search to perform a more complex query. Learn about advanced search below.
Optional: If the search result set is too large, apply filters to the search results page to help find the document or object record. Learn more about filtering on fields.
Click on the document or object record name to view it.
Note that when clicking into the search field in most areas of Vault, search defaults to all documents in the Library. If you click into the search field while viewing a custom document or object tab, search defaults to only documents or object records within that tab. Learn more about searching custom tabs above.
How to Use Advanced Search
Advanced Search allows you to perform more complex queries for documents by searching within specific fields, including attachments, filtering on source file formats, changing the search operator, and searching within document content.
To use Advanced Search:
Click the binoculars icon from the search bar or Advanced Search from the search preview list.
Fill in as many criteria as needed.
To perform a general search in addition to the field-specific search you’ve entered, select Include Content in the Search Scope and enter the search terms in either the Any of these words or All of these words fields, depending on which search operator you want to use. You can use both fields if needed. Learn more about full-text search.
Click Search.
By default, searches include document and document fields or object record fields only. Select Include Content to include document content when using Advanced Search. Select Include Attachments to search for matches in document and object record attachments.
About Filtering in Advanced Search
On the search results page, any filter criteria you apply are in addition to the search criteria. For example, if you select CholeCap as the Product in your search, the Product filter will have All selected, but only documents with CholeCap selected are showing. You can choose additional products and the results page will then show only documents with both CholeCap and the additional products selected.
When you apply filters through Advanced Search or through the Filters area in the left panel, they appear above the document list. From there, you can clear all filters.
How to Search Across Vaults
If your vault has the My Vaults feature enabled, you can search across documents in every vault to which you have access. Learn more about cross-vault search.
About Missing Documents or Object Records
If you cannot find a document or object record by searching, there are several possibilities:
You have not been assigned permission to view the document. Only documents that you have permission to view appear in your search results. Note that you can be assigned to a role on the document that has no permissions for the document’s current state.
Your search term doesn’t match because of a spelling error in your search entry, the document’s or object record’s fields, or the document content. Vault does not suggest alternate spellings like Google search.
The document or object record does not exist or has been deleted.