Using full-text search in GN4 CHM Help

Narrow the search by adding more words

If a query with a single word returns too many hits, try to narrow the search by adding more words to the query.

Narrow search by searching only in titles, or in the previous results

On the Search tab, under the results, tick Search titles only, or tick Search previous results.

Narrow search for exact phrase

Put words between double quotes, e.g. "auto-crop". Note that when searching for composite terms, such as auto-crop, CHM viewer, unlike the Web full-text search, locates topics containing auto or crop at any position.

Expand search by turning on the stemming

On the Search tab, under the results, tick Match similar words.

•Wildcard searches: use word*, or word?, or *word*. It is recommended always to include an asterisk.

•Phrase searches: surround words in double quotes for exact searches.

•Boolean searches: to improve the search results, combine multiple words or phrases with AND, OR, NEAR, and NOT.

•Title searches: on the Search tab, select Search titles only.

•Stemming: on the Search tab, select Match similar words to turn on the stemming.

See also Using Locate button after finding a topic.

The CHM help uses for the full-text search the built-in Microsoft Windows algorithm, while the Web help uses the mini version of the Zoom indexer, therefore, the list and the order of the search results are unavoidably different. Two search engines treat the relevance/rank in slightly different way, therefore, some results may appear on top in the full-text search results of the CHM help, but somewhere in the middle in the full-text search results of the Web help. Moreover, the Web help may display less results than CHM help. On the other hand, Web help displays a short summary, the number of terms matched, the relevance score (the highest is better) and the last editing date, while more spartan CHM help results display only a title, location (always GN4 help) and the rank number (the lowest is better). You can sort the Web help full-text search results by date or relevance, but in the CHM help, the rank is the only choice.