The Winter ’11 release of Salesforce brought us a new Global search with advanced search functionality and content. Salesforce Global Search gives you instant results and suggests terms using auto-complete for records that you’ve recently viewed, edited, or looked up.
From the header search box you can search more records, including articles, documents, products, solutions, and Chatter feeds, files, groups, and people. You can also search more fields, including custom fields, and long text fields such as descriptions, notes, and task and event comments. You can use wildcards, operators, and filters to refine your search.
Over the next few blogs, we’ll be giving you tips on how to optimize your Salesforce global search experience.
How Search Works
Search uses custom algorithms that consider the following:
- Your search terms.
- Ignored words in search terms (for example, “the,” “to,” and “for”).
- Search term stems (for example, searching for speaking returns items with speak).
- Record ownership.
- Most recently accessed records.
You might not have the same search results as another user performing the same search because searches are configured for the user performing the search. For example, if you recently viewed a record, the record relevancy increases and the record moves higher in your search results list. Records you own also move higher in your search results.
How Salesforce Global Search Works
- How your Global Search works depends on your search options, search terms, and the use of wildcards and operators.
- Global Search searches more record types, including articles, documents, products, solutions, and Chatter feeds, files, groups, and people. Global Search also searches more field types, including custom fields and long text fields such as descriptions, notes, and task and event comments.
Search Options
- Search options let you choose one or more items, including tags and specific objects, by which to limit your search. You can also restrict your search to records for which you are the owner and to divisions, if your organization uses them.
- The search options you select are saved until you change them.
- Chatter feed searches aren’t limited to your selected search options; Chatter feed search results include matches across all objects.
In the next installment of Salesforce Search Tips: we’ll cover changing your Salesforce Global Search options and search terms.
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