Search tips
Our top search tips
- There are both Quick and Advanced Search options:
Quick Search enables you to search using keywords, and you can also choose a date range from the drop down list. Advanced Search allows you to specify exact criteria, such as regiment number.
- To search for exact matches, put words in "double
quotes".
- To widen your search, use the wildcard symbol * to replace one or more characters. For example, a search for br* will bring up all words beginning with br.
- If you know the Catalogue reference of a document
and would like to search for it directly, type it into the Quick
Search box using "double quotes".
- Be flexible- remember that place names may have been spelt differently in earlier centuries and your ancestor's name could have been spelt differently too.
- There is no need to use capital letters and you only need to separate the words with spaces.
- You can enter up to 200 characters into Quick Search, which equates to between 20 and 30 search terms. For Advanced search, you can enter 40 characters in the "first name" field, 40 characters in the "last name" field and up to 80 characters in the "other keywords" field.
- Not having any luck? If you are searching for a person, try using just the surname and add one additional piece of information at a time to narrow down your search.
The Advanced Search form has specific fields for searching the following:
- First Name or initial
- Last Name
- Place (this is normally place of birth)
- Other Keywords (for example occupation, rank, regimental number or corps)
- Date (if using this field you must enter both a "From Date" and a "To Date")
Yes, you can use the following Boolean operators:
Operator |
Effect |
| * |
An asterisk * is used to replace a letter or letters |
| AND |
If you are using Quick Search, the default settings mean that search
results will return items that contain any one of your keywords. If
you want to only be shown items that match all of your keywords you
should write e.g. Elizabeth AND Copenhagen |
| NOT |
If you want to find someone from Copenhagen, but do not wish to
know about people living Copenhagen Street you should write Copenhagen
NOT Street |
| OR |
Or is the default value for Quick Search, so you do not have to
type it in yourself |
| "quotes" |
If you wish to find an exact match to your keyword query (i.e. matching
the words and the order in which they are written) write your keywords
in double quotation marks e.g. "James Robert Smith" |
When you search using the Catalogue, you can locate
a whole file or volume. However, the images available on DocumentsOnline
might only contain a small part of that record - or several images. That's
why you have to narrow down your search when you get to DocumentsOnline.
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