Searching

The Search tool allows you to search vaults for files or folders.

The Report Generator creates detailed reports about files stored in a vault.

To use the Search tool:

1. Do one of the following:

• In Windows Explorer, select Tools, Enterprise PDM Search.

• Right-click a vault or folder in a vault and select Enterprise PDM Search.

• Select a vault or folder and click Enterprise PDM Search on the toolbar.

2. On the left panel, under Forms, select a search form to define the search criteria. Default search forms include:

• Complete Search. Allows you to specify search criteria for each tab in the upper-right panel.

• Users. Searches for logged in users.

If you do not have any forms in the list, you might not have rights to use search forms. Contact your administrator to check your permissions.

If Item Explorer is installed, you have additional search forms for items.

3. Click Start Search or Search, Start Search. 

In the search results:

• Double-click a file to open it.

• Right-click a file to access Enterprise PDM functions.

Below the search results are tabs for Preview, File or Folder Data Card, Version, Bill of Materials, Contains, and Where Used.

Menus

The following menus provide functionality for searching.

Search

This menu includes functions to start and stop searches, plus the following:

• Clear Search. Removes search criteria. You can also click Clear Search .

• Export Result. Exports search results as a comma-separated value (.csv ) file.

• Open Result. Opens search results in Microsoft Excel.

• Add to Favorites. Saves the search criteria under Favorites in the left panel. You can also click Add to Favorites .

Edit

This menu includes: Get Latest Version, Check Out, Check In, History, and View. These are available when you select a file from the search results.

View

This menu lets you display the toolbar and status bar. Additionally, use Split to divide the dialog box between the search form and results.

Tabs

The following tabs are available when you use the Complete Search form: Name and Location, Cards, Variables, Checked in/out, Version Data, Workflow, Label, History, and Content.

Use What's This to access information about the variable settings for any field on any tab. Click What's This on the toolbar, and click in a field.

Name and Location

Searches for files or folders based on their names and locations.

Name. Type a file name, with or without an extension, or a folder name . You do not have to type the whole name and you can use wildcards (* or ?). If Name is empty, all files in the Look in field are found.

You can look for files with different file names in the same search by typing several search values separated by a space or comma. For example, the search criteria:

fax.doc, frame*dep.pdf *frame.slddrw

finds all document files ending with fax.doc , all pdf files whose file names contain the words frame and dep, and all SolidWorks drawing files ending with frame.slddrw.

Look in. Select a vault and folder to search, or click Browse to locate a vault or folder to which you are logged in.

Include subfolders.

Search in all versions. Searches all versions for the file data card values. If cleared, only the latest file versions are searched.

Display files.

Display folders.

Cards

Searches for files and folders based on data cards.

To search for files and folders based on data cards:

1. Select the file extension of the file data card to display.

• Only extensions linked to file data cards in the selected search location (from the Name and Location tab) are searched.

• Select Folder to show the folder data card linked to the search location.

To search files of a certain extension, specify the extension on the Name and Location tab.

2. Select criteria for the data card. Some cards have more than one tab where you can select additional search values.

In many fields, you can use mathematical operators:

Operator	Description	Example
	match exactly	123
>	greater than	>123
<	less than	<123
>=	greater than or equal to	>=123
<=	less than or equal to	<=123
!=	not equal to	!=123
-	in the interval x-y (including x & y).	123-500

Variables

Searches for files with values stored in variables.

Set the following:

• And searches for variable A and variable B.

• Or searches for variable A or variable B.

• Variable name, from the list of variables that appears when you select the Variable column.

• Comparison operator, from the list of operations that appears when you click in the Comparison column.

• Value of the variable from the list of variables that appears when you click in the Value column. The comparison operation applies to this variable.

For example, you can set an And condition where:

• Variable name = Drawing No.

• Comparison = Number Equal To

• Value of the variable = 889767

The vault is searched for documents with variables called Drawing No. and values of 889767.

You can also combine search criteria on the Variables tab. For example, if you set the following conditions:

• And condition where:

Variable	Comparison	Value
Drawn by	Text Equal To	Simon
Description	Text Contains	Door Seal

• Or condition where:

Variable	Comparison	Value
Revision	Text Equal To	A
Revision	Text Equal To	B

The vault is searched for documents with data cards values that match the Drawn by and Description criteria, and with value A or B in the revision variable.

To edit values in the Variable search:

Click in a field and select a new option or edit the text.

Checked in/out

Display only files checked out by . Limits the search to files that are checked out by a specific user.

Version Data

Limits the search to specified file versions.

• Version comment. Searches files for the comment that was made when the file version was created (checked in).
  Type the whole comment or part of it.

• Only versions created by

• Only versions created before and Only versions created after

Workflow

Searches files in a specified state.

• Display files in state. Searches for files which are currently in the specified state.

• Include files that have been in the specified state at least once. Searches for files that have been in the specified state at least once.

• Find only transitions made by. Searches for files whose states were changed by the specified user.

• Only transitions made before and Only transitions made after. Searches for files whose states were made before or after the specified dates.

Label

Searches for files based on label content.

• Text to find in label. Searches for files with the specified label.

• Also look in the label comment. Searches for the text in the comment as well as the label.

• Find only labels made by. Searches for files with labels set by the specified user.

• Find only labels set before and Find only labels set after. Searches for files whose labels were set before or after the specified dates.

History

Searches for files based on history.

Text to find in history. Searches for files with the specified history.

The following options search the specified fields for the text in Text to find in history:

• Look in version comments

• Look in labels

• Look in change state comments

• Look in revision comments

• Look in card variable values

Stored after and Stored before. Searches for files whose history was stored after or before the specified date.

Content

Searches the content and properties of files indexed on the file server (only possible in supported files such as Microsoft Office files, text files, and pdf files).

• Text to find in files.

• Search in content.

• Search in properties

• Find at least one of the words

• Find the exact phrase

Related Topics

Searching BOMs