Help - Search tips
Here are our top 10 search tips, covering the basics to get you started
- if you need more detailed information about the Quick Search or Advanced
Search there is more detailed information further
down the page.
- There are both Quick and Advanced Search options:
Quick Search finds matches in free text across the whole document description,
while Advanced Search allows you to specify more exact criteria and
search within categories.
- To search for exact spellings only, put the word or phrase in "double
quotes".
- To widen your search, you can use the wildcard symbol
* to replace one or more characters.
- Start by just entering basic information, for example
the last name of the person you are looking for. You can then add more
search terms to narrow your search.
- If you are searching for a last name that is also a place
name, for example, "Durham", you can use the Advanced Search
to specify this as a last name only and not a place.
- You can use Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to
include/exclude keywords when searching.
- Too many results? Try using the Advanced Search,
using "double quotes" to search for an exact phrase, or adding a date
range.
- Too few results? Try searching with fewer criteria,
using wildcards or removing the date range.
- If you know the Catalogue reference number of a document
and would like to search for it directly, just type it into the Quick
Search box using "double quotes".
- And lastly, be flexible. Don't forget that the spelling
of a name may have changed over time, so try using variant spellings
or the * wildcard symbol.
Quick Search enables you to search using one or more keywords across
the whole document description in free text, as well as the catalogue
reference of a document. For example, a search on the term "Churchill"
will bring up all documents with the word "Churchill" in the description
in any category.
You can also choose a date range from the drop down list - this is particularly useful for searching Wills, as the collection spans 6 centuries (there is no need to enter a date range for the WWI Campaign Medals as they all have the same range of 1914-1920).
Click on the "Go" button and if there are documents that match your search criteria, you will be presented with a list of matching items. If your search did not bring back what you expected, you can try the Advanced Search - or just enter new key words in the Quick Search box.
Tip: If you want to find documents in the categories under Other Records,
you might find it easier to use the Advanced Search or to browse the records by category.
Quick Search will search across all the text in the document description,
so to make best use of it, you should chose keywords that relate to the
type of document for which you are searching. For example if you are searching
the Wills category, your keywords might include last and/or first name
(or initial), as well as other keywords such as place or occupation. If
you are searching the WWI Campaign Medals category, your keywords could
include last and/or first name (or initial), as well as corps, rank or
regimental number.
You can enter up to 200 characters in the "Quick Search" box. This equates to between 20 and 30 search terms (depending on the length of the words you enter).
If too many records are returned, try to narrow down your search, by
adding more keywords, or by enclosing a phrase in "double quotes" or using
Boolean terms such as AND, OR and NOT (see below). You can also choose
a date range from the drop-down menu.
If too few records are returned, you can widen your search using the * wildcard to bring back a wider variation of spellings. Alternatively try reducing the number of keywords you enter.
Remember that place names may have been spelt differently in earlier centuries
and your ancestor's name could have been spelt differently too.
Yes, you can use the following boolean operators in any combination:
Operator |
Effect |
| * |
An asterisk * is used to replace a letter or letters |
| AND |
If you are using Quick Search, the default settings mean that search
results will return items that contain any one of your keywords. If
you want to only be shown items that match all of your keywords you
should write e.g. Elizabeth AND Copenhagen |
| NOT |
If you want to find someone from Copenhagen, but do not wish to
know about people living Copenhagen Street you should write Copenhagen
NOT Street |
| OR |
Or is the default value for Quick Search, so you do not have to
type it in yourself |
| "quotes" |
If you wish to find an exact match to your keyword query (i.e. matching
the words and the order in which they are written) write your keywords
in double quotation marks e.g. "James Robert Smith" |
| |
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When you search using the Catalogue, you can locate
a whole file or volume. However, the images available on DocumentsOnline
might only contain a small part of that record - or several images. That's
why you have to narrow down your search when you get to DocumentsOnline.
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Advanced Search
The Advanced Search form allows you to tailor your search so that you
only search in the specific area you are interested in. It uses separate
fields for entering "first name", "last name", "place", "other keywords"
as well as a date range. You can use the "other keywords" field to search
by occupation (for Wills) and corps, rank or regimental number (for WWI
Campaign Medals). You can select a topic-based category in which to search,
for example Wills, New Year's Openings, WW1 Campaign Medals or Society
& Law. In addition you can search by media type, that is the original
format of the document, such as photographs, maps or text.
You can enter 40 characters in the "first name" field, 40 characters
in the "last name" field and up to 80 characters (including spaces) in
the "other keywords" box. You can also enter a date and then choose the
specific area you wish to search.
If too many records are returned, try to narrow down your search by adding
more search terms, such as first name, place and other keywords such as
occupation (if you are searching for a will). You can also add a date
range - remember, that the date of probate may have been several years
after the date of death.
The Advanced Search form lets you be very specific about the data you
wish to search by. There are specific fields for searching the following:
- First Name (or initial)
- Last Name
- Place
- Other Keywords (for Wills, this will search occupation, and for WW1 Campaign Medals, this searches rank,
regimental number and corps)
- Date (you must enter both a "From Date" date and "To Date")
The "Other Keywords" field will search on a variety of data: for Wills,
it will search occupation, and for WW1 Campaign Medals, it searches rank,
regimental number and corps.
If you are searching for a will or medal card, try using just the surname
and add one additional piece of information at a time to then narrow down
your search again. Surnames and places may have been spelt differently
in years gone by. You can try using wildcards to find
alternative spellings, or if your ancestor had an unusual first name,
just search using that.
If you are searching Other Records, try using wildcards for alternate
spellings or try using the OR operand between your keywords to give the
widest possible search. Alternatively you can browse the categories.
Yes, you can use the following boolean operators:
Operator |
Effect |
| * |
An asterisk * is used to replace a letter or letters |
| AND |
If you are using Quick Search, the default settings mean that search
results will return items that contain any one of your keywords. If
you want to only be shown items that match all of your keywords you
should write e.g. Elizabeth AND Copenhagen |
| NOT |
If you want to find someone from Copenhagen, but do not wish to
know about people living Copenhagen Street you should write Copenhagen
NOT Street |
| OR |
Or is the default value for Quick Search, so you do not have to
type it in yourself |
| "quotes" |
If you wish to find an exact match to your keyword query (i.e. matching
the words and the order in which they are written) write your keywords
in double quotation marks e.g. "James Robert Smith" |
The material on DocumentsOnline has been divided into various topic-based
categories to help you locate documents of interest to you. These are
not the same as the categories used in the Catalogue. We have tried
to sort the documents by subject area, rather than by government department
as in the catalogue. For large categories, such as Wills and WW1 Campaign
Medals, we have created a tailored search form with fields relevent to
each category which will search the only content in that category.
You can find more information on categories on the About DocumentsOnline page.
What is a media type?
The media type refers to the original format of the document. You can
specify whether you want to only search photographs, text, artwork or
maps, plans and technical drawings. "Text" covers all written material,
whether it was ink on vellum or type-written documents.
If you do not have anything specific that you want to search for, you
can browse the content by category. Select a category from the Browse
Categories menu (beneath the Quick Search box) from any page and then
you can scroll through the items in that category. Or, go to the
browse page now.
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Help section 
