Phrase or boolean search is not working

Article: dts0114

Symptoms

- A search for a phrase like "first class mail" finds the search words but not as part of the phrase

- A search for a boolean expression like "apple and pear" finds "apple" even when "pear" is not in the document

- A search for a phrase like "this is a house" finds all instances of "house"

Troubleshooting Steps

(1) Check that you have selected the "Boolean search" search type instead of "Any words" or "All words".   Boolean connectors (AND, OR, NOT, etc.) have no effect on "Any words" or "All words" searches.

(2) Check that any phrases in your search request have quotation marks around them.  Example:  "first class mail" and letter

(3) Check whether any of the words you are searching for are noise words.  Noise words are ignored in search requests, so a search for "this is a house" is treated as a search for "house".  For more information on noise words, see: How to make common words like 'the' searchable