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rthrech's avatar
rthrech
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago
Solved

Advanced search based on key phrases

I seriously need advanced searching.  Dropbox used to have these features (like search exact phrase) in 2015, but somehow removed them.  So how can I do advanced searching in dropbox? Like:  ...
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  • rhut's avatar
    rhut
    3 years ago
    Hi Dropbox community!  I'm a product manager at Dropbox working on the search experience on dropbox.com.
     
    We took your feedback to heart and are happy to announce that we're adding a few new operators to help you retrieve your files/folders more quickly:
    • title:(new lead) => See results with only the specific words in title of the file
    • title:"new lead" => See results with exact phrase match in title of the file.  Note that quotes only work with title searches and can't be used to match on content
    • type:image => Filter results by a certain types like image, video, document, spreadsheet, etc.
    • type:jpg => Filter results by a certain types like file extension like jpg, png, docx, etc.
    • before:2022-01-01 => Allows you to see all content before a certain date.  Uses YYYY-MM-DD format.
    • after:2022-01-01 => Allows you to see all content after a certain date.  Uses YYYY-MM-DD format.
    • lead AND new => AND operators will show results that contain both words.
    • lead OR new =>  OR operators will show results that contain either words.

    To use these operators, login to Dropbox.com, click on the searchbox at the top, and start typing your query.  You can learn more about our operators on our help center article here:  https://help.dropbox.com/view-edit/search

     

    Note that there are some limitations:

      - This feature is Web only (for now)

      - Searches may return inaccurate results for contents of a file, certain images, and Paper docs if you're using the old release of Dropbox Paper.

      - Quotes will only work on file titles, not matches on content (for now)

     

    Try it out and let us know what you think!

     

    Thanks for your patience as we ship new features to improve your overall Dropbox experience!

     

    Rhut

rthrech's avatar
rthrech
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago

Hi Hannah,

I do have a paid (business) account.

I know about your full-text search, but as I tried to explain: It is pretty much useless if you have many documents.

This issue is NOT related to the browser. 

1. I search for the date "20.03.2021"

2. I expect to get results that have the phrase "20.03.2021" either in the filename, or document contents

3. What I get is ALL files that have either 20, or 03, or 2021 in their filename or contents. 

(4. even worse: the documents that have the exact phrase, do not even get a high priority  in the matches)

Walter's avatar
Walter
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Hey rthrech, sorry to be jumping in here.

Could you please clarify for how long have you been seeing this behavior and if it happens with other search terms as well? 

If you'd like to, I'd be more than happy to send you an email to have a better look internally. 
  • rthrech's avatar
    rthrech
    Helpful | Level 6
    5 years ago

    The problem exists since you removed the "Advanced Search" feature in 2015!

    There are many people complaining about the search

     

    It seems like the logic is

    1. Split the user's input  at any non-alphanumeric character
    2. search for each result individually and return all results merged




    you need another example:

    search for: b1.pdf

    I get every match for "b1" OR "pdf"



    • rjsbtg's avatar
      rjsbtg
      Explorer | Level 4
      4 years ago

      I have the exact same problem and it is become frustrating enough that I am consider moving our company to another provider. 

      • bmabax's avatar
        bmabax
        New member | Level 2
        4 years ago

        It's insane that there's no advanced search anymore. I found a blog post where the "search team" brags that the new engine improved index time! Here are some ideas for improvement: don't index anything, return all documents for all searches. Index time drops to zero. Index size also drops to zero. Number of documents returned for each search shots through the roof. Everybody's happy! Except users of course, but who cares about those?

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