1. A new component within the PDM Standard vault configuration is ‘Lists’. Expand the List & right click on ‘Quick Search Variable Lists’, selecting ‘New List’ from the fly-out opens the first configuration window.
2. Within this configuration window you can add up to 5 variables to specifically search for within the PDM Vault via the Quick Search tool:
- a. Edit the Name.
- b. Click Add to create a new row.
- c. Select required Variables from the dropdown & Edit the show name where applicable.
- d. Apply permission to the Groups.
- e. Click OK to save & exit.
3. Now that the search variables have been added, the Quick Search column set needs to be created for the search results, plus any additional variables that are useful for review at the same time.
- a. Right Mouse Click, Columns from within the PDM Administration tool and select ‘New Column Set’.
- b. Set the name for the Column Set also change the type dropdown to ‘Quick Search Result’.
- c. Add the variables from step 2 along with any additional “informational” variables required within the results view.
- d. Apply permission to the Groups.
- e. Click OK to save & exit.
4. The final step for the configuration is to set the additional search options within Microsoft Windows Explorer.
- a. Using the Grey dropdown button found next to the search window shows the list of variables to specifically search within. File/Folder name selected by default, check the additional Variables.
- b. Change the option for Search, default Current Folder. Suggestion to set All Folders.
- c. Choose between ‘Latest Version’ or ‘All Versions’
Once all of the above is completed then the Quick Search is ready for use. As a helpful tip you can use AND, OR, and NOT operators in the search string to find multiples (must be upper case).
The explanations below highlight the benefits of the AND, OR, and NOT operators within the PDM search tool:
The AND operator is inclusionary and limits search results, unless you are searching for common words, with every AND you add to your Boolean query, the fewer results you will typically get.
The OR operator offers flexible inclusion, and typically broadens your search results. The OR operator is technically interpreted as “at least one is required, more than one or all can be returned”.
The NOT operator is exclusionary – it excludes specific search terms and so the query will not return any results with that tern (or terms) in them.