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How can I set up a Topic using a Boolean search string?
How can I set up a Topic using a Boolean search string?
How to use "Expert Mode" to set up your topics.
James Green avatar
Written by James Green
Updated over a week ago

"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 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:

Some important tips when using Expert Mode:

Operators:

Operators available are:

  • OR

  • AND

  • AND NOT

Please note all operators must be in capital letters.

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 which refer to things such 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”:

Wildcards:

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, biological, biometric, biotechnology, biodiversity, etc.

Please note that wildcard searches may not work on mentions from Facebook or Twitter.

Other Key Points:

  • Check the case sensitive box to make search case sensitive.  This option can be found under "Other search settings" at the bottom of right-hand panel.

  • You will get real-time feedback to help guide you in creating the Boolean search in a bar along the bottom of the text box.  Please refer to this throughout the creation of your search string to ensure formatting is correct.

  • When switching from standard to expert mode, your keywords will carry over and be properly structured as a Boolean expression.  However, you cannot switch back to standard from export mode.

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