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Version: 7.2

Search query language

The search query language is used to specify conditions on documents, which have to be returned as result when searching the archive.

All search conditions can be negated using the NOT keyword. The keyword is case sensitive, so it must be always written in UPPERCASE. The exclamation mark "!" is a shorter version of the NOT keyword and has the exact same function. The syntax may look like as follows:
For freetext search:

  • NOT value
  • !value

For property search:

  • Subject:(NOT test)
  • Subject:(!test)

You can also combine the NOT operator with:

  • phrase queries: NOT “this is a test”
  • regex queries: filename:(NOT **[0-9]{3}.txt)
  • wildcard queries: NOT test*
  • range queries: Size:(NOT 1M,2M) OR Date:(NOT 2020-01-01,2020-12-31)

The search query language used in any user interface of contentACCESS can be divided into following categories:

Source specification
The searching user can specify where to search on different levels: tenant, model, entity
Tenant:(string) – select a tenant by name; search in tenants having the specified string in name
MTID:(string) – select a model by type identifier (EmailArchive, FileSystemArchive, SharePointArchive)
Source:(string) – select a model by keyword; search in models having the specified string as a keyword (email, file, sharepoint). This is similar as the MTID mentioned, but accepts more free model specification. Possible values are:

  • For FileSystemArchive: file, fs, filesystem, archive
  • For EmailArchive: archive, email, mail, mailarchive, emailarchive

Examples:

  • source:file
  • source:mail

Entity:(string) – select one or more entities by name; search in entities having the specified string in name. Entity name is mailbox address in Email archive and Root folder path in File system archive.
Examples:

  • entity:abal@tech-arrow.com – search in ABAL's mailbox
  • entity:c:temp – search in c:temp folder

Property value specification
The following properties can be used to specify conditions on documents to be returned as result when searching the archive:

Date
Applicable only for properties of “date” type. Exact date specification has to be in format YYYY-MM-DD (no hours, minutes, seconds can be specified).
Example:

  • date:(2016-12-05)

Available placeholders: now – means this hour; today, yesterday, this week, last week, this month, last month, this year, last year
Example:

  • date:(now), date:(last week)

Number
Numbers are written as usually (1, 2, 3…). For the size conditions also units can be specified:
K | KB – size in kilobytes
M | MB – size in megabytes
G | GB – size in gigabytes
T | TB – size in terabytes

Example:

  • size:(>1K) – files or emails (depending on the archive) larger than 1 KB

Range
Two types of ranges can be specified: numerical and date ranges. Ranges can be upper bound, lower bound or an interval. A range can be specified as a value for all properties of type “date” and “number”.
Prop:(>value) – the value of property “Prop” is greater than “value”
Prop:(< value) – the value of property “Prop” is less than “value”
Prop:(value1, value2) – the value of property “Prop” is greater than “value1” and less than “value2”
Examples:

  • size:(1K, 1M) – files/emails (depending on the archive) larger than 1KB and smaller than 1MB
  • date:(2016-10, 2016-12) – files created/modified or emails sent (depending on the archive) in the last quarter of 2016

Filename
Finds items by attachment name (Email archive) or file name (File archive). Wildcard characters can be used for filename pattern specification (* or ?). They have the same meaning as when searching for files in Windows.
Filename:(*.txt) – this will find all attachments and files having the extension .txt
Filename:(file) – this will find attachments and files having the exact name “file”
Filename:(file.*) – this will find attachments and files named “file” of any type (extension)

Properties in different archives
When specifying a boolean value for a property in query, the following notations can be used:

  • true | yes | y stand for True
  • false | no | n stand for False

Property names and values are not case sensitive. Wildcard characters (* and ?) can be used everywhere.

The character '|’ means an option or alternative (in cases if multiple property names and values can be used).

If the value is specified in quotes (e.g. “value”), it is considered as a phrase.
Example:

  • “brown fox” will find all documents that contains the words “brown” followed by word “fox”

Email properties
The properties below are applicable when searching in Email archive

Property

Specificity

Description

HasAttachment:

true | false

if true, finds emails having one or more attachments; if false, finds emails having no attachments

Importance:

Low | Normal | High

finds emails with the specified importance level

Sensitivity:

Normal | Personal | Private | Confidential

finds emails with the specified sensitivity level

Flag:

true | false

find emails having a flag set (true) or not set (false)

AttachmentCount:

(number)

finds emails with the specified attachment count

Bcc:

(string)

condition on addresses in BCC tag of the email

Category:

(string)

condition on category

Cc:

(string)

condition on addresses in CC tag of the email

Folder:

(string)

condition on folder path; possible to find emails only in the specified folder (backslash is used as path separator, e.g. InboxImportant)

ReceivedDate:

(date)

condition on receiving date

RetentionTime:

(number)

condition on retention time (in months)

Sender | From:

(string)

condition on email sender

Date | SentDate:

(date)

condition on email’s sent date

Size:

(number)

condition on email’s size in bytes

Title | Subject:

(string)

condition on email subject

To:

(string)

condition on email’s recipient

Body:

(string)

search in the mail’s body text

Attachment:

(string)

search in mail’s attachment text

File properties
The properties below are applicable when searching in File archive

Property

Specificity

Description

CreationDate:

(date)

condition on file’s creation date

Title | Filename:

(string)

condition on file’s name

Folder:

(string)

condition on file’s path ( is the path separator as in Windows, e.g. c:documentsrfa)

Date | ModifiedDate:

(date)

condition on file’s creation date

Size:

(number)

condition on file’s size in bytes

SharePoint document properties
The properties below are applicable when searching in SharePoint archive

Property

Specificity

Description

CreatedBy:

(string)

condition on user who created the file

CreationDate:

(date)

condition on creation date

FileSize:

(number)

condition on file size

Date | ModificationDate:

(date)

condition on modification date

ModifiedBy:

(string)

condition on user who modified the document

Name:

(string)

condition on document name

Title:

(string)

condition on document title

VersionNum:

(number)

condition on document’s version number