How can I set up a Topic using a Boolean search string?

"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: Apple AND Iphone

Will bring you articles that contain both Apple and Iphone.

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 Apple OR Samsung

Will bring you articles that contain either the word Apple or the word Samsung.

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 Apple AND NOT Samsung

Will bring you articles that contain the keyword Apple but will exclude articles that contain the keyword Samsung.

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: (5 x 2) + 7 = 17
5 x (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.

You can return results where multiple search terms appear close together, rather than as a single phrase or consecutive words.

For example, if you’re interested in product launches, you may want to capture results that include variations such as product launch, launch future product, or new product launch.

To do this, construct your search using the proximity operator. For instance:

"product launch"~3

This tells the system to return results where the words product and launch appear within three words of each other.

One of the results in this example might include the phrase “launch future product.”

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").

Special characters are non-alphanumeric characters that can be used in your searches. These are the plus sign (+), the ampersand (&), and the dash (-). These characters allow you to search keywords such as Disney+, Ben & Jerry's, or Coca-Cola, and receive the resulting mentions you expect to see.

Consider the following Boolean search string:

This example uses multiple Boolean operators to create a precise and targeted search:

This Boolean expression would retrieve media content discussing press releases or coverage related to sustainable or innovative event launches and campaigns—while filtering out irrelevant job postings.

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