Searching for text

One of the simplest kinds of analysis in Analyst's Notebook is to search for specific words or phrases in item information. For example, you can find all the chart items that contain a specific street name or telephone number.

Procedure

To search for text in chart items, you specify the text to search for, how and where to search for it, and what to do with the items that contain it:
  1. Click the Analyze tab, and then in the Find group, click Find Text.
    Tip: Alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut: Press Ctrl+F.
  2. Type the text to search for in the Find box.
    Note: Searching is not case-sensitive. A search for "smith" finds "SMITH", "Smith" and "smith".
    You can then select any of the following options:
    OptionDescription
    Complex Searching Define a search by using wildcards or a regular expression.
    Find Items Not Matching Searches for items that do not contain the text in the Find box.
    Search Cards Enables card properties for searching in the Coverage list.
    Note: By default this option is selected.
    Note: If you choose not to select any of these options, the same properties that are searched by the Search pane are enabled in the Coverage list.
  3. Select the item properties that you want to search in the Coverage list.
  4. In the Search Area section:
    1. Select whether to search for text on both entities and links, entities only, or links only
    2. To include hidden chart items in the search, select the Reveal Hidden checkbox.
    3. To apply the search only to the chart items currently selected, select the Selection Only checkbox. This option is only available when items are selected on the chart.
  5. In the Action area, specify the action that you want to use on the items found:
    OptionDescription
    Edit First Opens the Item Properties window for the first matching item at the page that contains the search term. The text is highlighted. Press F3 to find any further matches within this item and then move to the next item.
    Select First Selects the first item that is found that contains the search term. Press F3 to find the next matching item.
    Select All Provides a count of the number of matches. Selects all matching items, and clears any currently selected items that do not match the search result.
    Note: Background items that contain the search term are included in the count, but cannot be selected on the chart surface.
    Add to Selection Provides a count of the number of matches. Adds any matching items to the current selection. Only available when items are selected on the chart.
    Note: Background items that contain the search term are included in the count, but cannot be selected on the chart surface.
    Remove from Selection Provides a count of the number of matches. Removes any matching items from the current selection. Only available when items are selected on the chart.
  6. Check Select Sibling Links.
    This option selects all the links between two entities when one link matches.
    Note: This option applies when you are using Select First, Select All, or Add to Selection as an action.
  7. Click OK to run the search.