Document Search Help

Search Type: Exact Match and Wildcard
Some search fields have two different types of searching: Exact Match and Wildcard. Exact Match searches will search for a name in the exact order you entered it. You will need to enter Last Name First with no punctuation. For example, if you enter Franklin Benjamin, the system will return documents belonging to Benjamin Franklin but not Franklin Roosevelt.

Wildcard searches work similar to an Internet search engine. The order of the words doesn't matter. For example, if you enter Franklin Benjamin, the system will return documents belonging to Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Roosevelt and Benjamin Moore. The space between the names acts as an implied OR (i.e. Franklin OR Benjamin).

Wildcard Search Operators
Performing Advanced searches with no operators will return documents containing any of the words you entered. By using certain modifiers, or operators, you can focus your search.

+ Must Contain
The + operator tells the system that this word must appear in the document. For example, if you enter Franklin +Benjamin, the system will return documents belonging to Benjamin Franklin, but not Franklin Roosevelt.

- Must NOT Contain
The - operator tells the system that this word must NOT appear in the document. For example, if you enter Franklin -Benjamin, the system will return documents belonging to Franklin Roosevelt, but not Benjamin Franklin.

$ Sounds Like
The $ operator tells the system that this word is not spelled correctly but sounds like the typed word. For example, if you enter Franklayn$ , the system will return documents belonging to any name that sounds like Franklin.

? Possible Incorrect Letter
The ? operator tells the system that a specific letter in the name might not be correct. For example, if you enter Frankl?n, the system will return any documents belonging to Franklin Roosevelt, or Franklyn Roosevelt, but the results returned will not be limited to just those two letter. The ? can be replaced with any letter.

* Starts With
The * character is a wild card character. It can be used in both Basic searches and Advanced searches. It can be substituted for any other character or characters. For example, if you enter Frank* Ben*, the system will return documents belonging to Benjamin Franklin, Ben Frank, and Bennie Frankenstein. This can be useful if you are unsure about spelling.

Legal Searching Tips
Using ** allows you to search by any character in the field. For example, *TS* in the Legal Remarks field will return documents which contain TS anywhere in the Legal Remarks field. (TS indicates a timeshare unit.) This feature works only on the Case #, Parcel #, and Legal Remarks fields.

AND/OR
When searching over multiple legal descriptions, enter a pipe character to separate multiple entries. For example, to search over Section 12 and Section 23 enter 12|23 into the Section field. This will return all documents with a legal description in Section 12 or Section 23.

Grouping Terms
Use parentheses () to group clauses to form sub queries. To search for either DENVER or COLORADO and MAP use the query (DENVER OR COLORADO) AND MAP. This query requires either DENVER or COLORADO to appear with MAP. Use double-quotes to group words into an exact search. Entering MICKEY MOUSE will return documents with MICKEY MOUSE found in the same field. It will not return documents if the words are separated or do not match exactly (i.e. MICKEY M MOUSE or MICKEY MOUSEHEAD).

Other Options
A tilde ~ alone performs a fuzzy search. ROAM~ will return words that are similar in spelling to ROAM, such as FOAM or ROAMS. A tilde ~ plus a number performs a proximity search. This can be useful when there are instances of a name being recorded both with and without the middle initial. MARY MAXWELL~1 will return all instances of MARY and MAXWELL being one word away from each other (i.e. MARY L MAXWELL or MARY ELIZABETH MAXWELL). Increase the number to increase the number of words between your search criteria.