"Expert Mode" can be used to manually create Boolean search strings to create your Topics, rather than using Agility's standard three fields of OR, AND, and NOT fields.  This allows you to enter long-form Boolean expressions which gives more flexibility when building your search queries.

Please note that Expert Mode is made for users who have experience and knowledge of creating Boolean search strings.  Those unfamiliar with Boolean search strings may find this feature difficult to use and may find the standard mode more user-friendly.

If you would like to learn more, please reach out to your Client Success Specialist or Support to learn more!

To switch to Expert Mode, simply click "Switch to expert mode" on the topic creation page:

Operators available are:

Please note all operators must be in capital letters.

AND combines words or phrases. When using this, a search will only display results that include both a AND b.
For eg: Flower AND Rose
Will bring you articles that contain both flower and rose.

OR adds words or phrases independently. This allows two or more terms to be searched, and will display results for any of the used search terms.
For e.g Flower OR rose
Will bring you articles that contain either the word flower or the word rose.

AND NOT excludes a word or phrase. When used in conjunction with other operators, you can exclude a specific word that commonly shows up among other results.
For e.g Flower NOT rose
Will bring you articles that contain the keyword flower but will exclude articles that contain the keyword rose.

Quotation Marks combine two words into a single phrase. When enclosed in quotes a phrase will be treated like a single word within a search.

Parentheses function as they do in mathematics.
Consider the equation 5 x 2 + 7. Depending on the use of parentheses, the end product will change. Compare: (5x2) + 7 = 17
5x (2+7) = 45
In this example, the parentheses determine which numbers should be combined into a single term before continuing with the rest of the equation. Where quotation marks combine two or more words into a single term, parentheses tell the system that the combines words or phrases should be searched as a whole, before inclusion of the following terms.

Proximity search:

We have added the ability to return results where multiple search terms appear close together rather than as a single phrase or consecutive words.

In this simple example, I am interested in online shopping, but I want to make sure that I see results that refer to things such as online grocery shopping, online food shopping, online clothes shopping, etc.

I construct my search to look for results that contain the words online and shopping within 2 words of each other:

One of the results I get is this article, which refers to “online grocery shopping”:

Boolean supports the use of wildcards.  Wildcard operators allow you to search for variations of a word without having to include each one as a separate search term.  Two wildcard operators can be used: a single-character wildcard (?) and a multi-character wildcard (*).

A single-character wildcard search looks for terms that match the input keyword with variations where the single-character wildcard is replaced with any alphabetical character.  You can use multiple instances of the wildcard in the same search term, either adjacently or not.

For example, "reali?ed" will return matches with realized, realised, etc.

The multi-character wildcard works the same way except it will find matches for any number of contiguous characters where the * is placed.

For example, " bio* " will match with biology, biometrics, biotechnology, biodiversity, etc.

Please note that wildcard searches may not work on mentions from Facebook or Twitter, nor can wildcards be used within quotes (phrases, multi-word keywords). As an imperfect example, instead of "media monitor*" you could use (media AND monitor*). If having multiple versions of the phrase or multi-word keyword is necessary, entering the various potential versions can accomplish that goal. Using this example, those variations may be ("media monitor" OR "media monitoring" OR "media monitored").

Consider the following search terms:
“chocolate cake”, sprinkles, “vanilla cake”
These can be combined in a number of strings, depending on the exact results you’re searching for.

“chocolate cake” AND (sprinkles OR “vanilla cake”)
This string would be effective, if you wish to prepare a ”chocolate cake” with sprinkles or a “vanilla cake”.
All items must contain “chocolate cake” AND either sprinkles or “vanilla cake”
​
(“chocolate cake” AND sprinkles) OR “vanilla cake”
This string will pull up any results for “chocolate cake” when combined in an article with the phrase “sprinkles.” It will also bring up any references to “vanilla cake”.
​
(“chocolate cake” AND sprinkles) NOT “vanilla cake”
More useful than the last string, this will bring up results mentioning both “chocolate cake” and “sprinkles” but exclude any using the term “vanilla cake”. This lets you zero in on specific information.
​
(“chocolate cake” OR sprinkles) AND (sprinkle OR “vanilla cake”)
This string simply adds another term to the first string. It will now search for: “chocolate cake” and sprinkle “chocolate cake” and “vanilla cake” sprinkles and “vanilla cake sprinkles and sprinkle
​
​((“chocolate cake” OR sprinkles) AND (sprinkle OR “vanilla cake”)) NOT cookie
​This stacks another set of parentheses onto the previous string. It will search all the same combinations as previously, but to each will append the instructions to leave out any results containing cookie.