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BlueSpice provides three search modes for finding content: title search, full-text search, and search across all wikis.
Search options
The search interface provides the following search options:
| Search option | Description |
|---|---|
| Title search | Searches page titles and provides autocomplete suggestions. |
| Full-text search | Searches the content of wiki pages and indexed files. |
| Search in all wikis | Searches page titles and full-text content across all available wikis. |
By default, the search index includes:
- wiki pages, except pages in the MediaWiki namespace
- special pages in the **Special** namespace
- files uploaded to the wiki. For text-based files such as Word documents and PDFs, the file content and metadata are indexed.
- external files, if configured, from accessible storage locations such as mounted drives
Title search
The title search is available in the search field in the wiki header. It searches page names and display titles.
Enter a search term in the search field to display matching page titles. To start a full-text search, press Enter or select the full-text search option.
Recently viewed
When the search field is opened without a search term, it displays pages accessed through recent searches.
How title search works
The title search has the following characteristics:
- It is not case-sensitive. For example,
qualandQualreturn the same results. - Search results are limited to 10 page titles.
- Spelling errors usually do not return matching results. For example,
Qalitydoes not returnQuality. Depending on the wiki configuration, spelling suggestions may be displayed. - Multiple search terms can appear in any order. For example,
toc downloadanddownload tocreturn the same matching pages. - Search operators such as
",OR, andANDare not supported. - Results are sorted based on a combination of title relevance and the page's last edit date. The exact ranking can be affected by configuration in on-premise installations.
- The search can be limited to a specific context using search filters.
A title-search result can show the following information:
- the page title
- the wiki name in a colored pill
- the namespace in bold
- the parent page in regular text
- the original page title in parentheses if the result matches the page's display title
- a redirect indicator and target page if the result is a redirect
Namespace and subpage search
The search field supports namespace and subpage search using wiki syntax.
To limit a search to a namespace:
- Enter the namespace followed by a colon, for example
Controlled Document:. - Select Enter.
- The namespace is added as a search pill.
- Enter the search term after the pill.
The search is then limited to the selected namespace.
To limit a search to a subpage:
- Enter the parent page followed by a slash, for example
TestPage/. - Enter the search term.
- The search results are limited to matching subpages of the specified page.
For example, TestPage/Te matches subpages such as TestPage/Test and TestPage/TestSubpage.
When searching for a subpage in a namespace, include the namespace prefix in the search path. For example, a page with the path Minutes:JourFixe/2026-09-30 can be found with:
Minutes:JourFixe/20Minutes:JourFixe/Minutes:Jou
The page is not necessarily found with:
JourFixe/20Jour
Dates as search terms
The search recognizes certain date formats. In the Search center, recognized date formats are treated as search terms with surrounding quotation marks.
Full-text search
The Search center provides full-text search. It searches the rendered content of wiki pages as well as indexed file content and metadata.
To start a full-text search:
- Press Enter after entering a search term in the search field.
- Select one of the full-text search options.
The Search center provides filters and search options for refining the results.
Search filters
The available filters depend on the current search context and configuration. Use the filter options to narrow the search results. Active filters can be removed individually.
Search operators
Search operators are supported in full-text search. They are not supported in title search.
Search operators must be written in uppercase.
If a search contains consecutive words that must be searched together, enclose the words in quotation marks.
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| AND | Use AND to find results that contain both search terms.
A search without an operator automatically uses a wildcard search for each term. For example, |
| Quotation marks | Quotation marks can be used to search for all terms in a query. For example:
|
| NOT | Use NOT to exclude a search term. For example:
|
| OR | Use OR to find results containing either search term. For example:
|
| Wildcard | Use * after part of a word to search for words that begin with that character sequence. For example:
|
Search results
The Search center displays information and actions for the current search.
- Hit count shows the number of matching results. The count can be exact or approximate because permissions are checked dynamically. Some matching results may not be displayed if the current user does not have permission to view them.
- Add a filter opens the available filters for the search.
- Search options opens settings for the current search, such as the number of results per page and the sort order.
- Save as page collection opens a dialog with the current search results. Authorized users can deselect individual results and choose the list format. The page collection is saved as a subpage of
MediaWiki:Page collection/.- Plain text: saves page names only.
- Link: saves page names as links to the corresponding pages.
If a result exactly matches the search term, it can be displayed as a featured result. A featured result includes a preview image and a content snippet.
Search results show the wiki name in a colored pill. The color is assigned by the administrator. The namespace is shown in bold, followed by the parent page in regular text.
Favorite results
Logged-in users can mark search results as favorites by selecting the pin icon on a result.
Favorite results receive a higher ranking in future searches for the same user. The ranking change is applied after the background process updates the search preferences.
Favorites are user-specific. Marking a result as a favorite does not affect other users' search results.
To remove a result from favorites, select the pin icon again.
AI summary
In wikis configured for AI usage, an AI summary can be displayed before the search results. The display is controlled by the ChatBot configuration.
Search in all wikis
The search interface provides an option to search in all available wikis.
Search in all wikis includes both page titles and full-text content. Search results can therefore include matching pages and indexed files from multiple wikis.
Search results identify the wiki in which each result is located by displaying the wiki name in a colored pill. The wiki color is assigned by an administrator.
Configuration
In the BlueSpiceConfigManager, settings for BlueSpiceExtendedSearch are available for on-premise installations.
Search administration
The page Special:SearchAdmin provides information about the indexed documents, including their number and type.
