Using desktop search for Notes

Before you begin

Windows users: The Google Desktop Search(TM) search tool needs to have been configured by an administrator in order for Google Desktop(TM) searching software to be an available scoping option in IBM® Lotus Notes® search. This tool is for use with Notes® on Windows® systems only.

About this task

The configured external search engine for your operating system (Google Desktop Search for Windows, Windows Search for Vista, Spotlight for Macintosh OS X, and Beagle Desktop or Tracker Desktop for Linux®) retrieves results by scanning local data repositories and displays them on a separate tab page represented by the magnifying glass.

Select the search tool for your operating system from the search scope drop-down menu available at the left of the search field in the IBM Lotus Notes tool bar. Windows users: You can also start the Google Desktop Search tool from a live name by right-clicking the name, highlighting the person's name, and then choosing Search > Google Desktop from the menu. The Google Desktop icon displays in the left of the search field and "Search Google Desktop" appears in the search field as ghost text until you click in it to begin typing.
Click in the search field to begin entering a search query.
Click the Search (magnifying glass) icon to launch your query. The results appear on a new tab page and a new search field and tool bar appear at the top of the Results tab page. Also, a Recent Searches navigator pane appears to the left of the results tab page.
To search within the current result set you can refine the search terms or select a scope to narrow the search from the scope drop-down menu, or both. If you select a scope, the scope name appears to the left of the search field. Click the magnifying glass to launch a query against the initial results.
(Optional) Rerun a search query from your Recent Searches list by choosing a query from either the drop-down or the recent searches listed in the navigator pane on the left. The Recent Searches list is not specific to desktop search tool searches.
(Optional) Click Search the web for ... (the first entry in the Results list) to expand a search beyond your desktop repositories to the Internet. If you launch a Web search, the results will display on a different tab from the desktop search results.
Re-sort the search results by relevance or date by selecting the appropriate option in the upper-right section of the search bar.
- The Relevance option sorts the most relevant items to the top of the list. Any result with all the search terms within close proximity of each other rises to the top of the results list. Documents with fewer search terms or lesser proximity, or both, rank lower in the results list.
- The Date option makes the most recent items appear at the top of the results list in descending order of recency.
Close the Desktop Search tab page to clear results.

What to do next

Windows users: The current version of the Google Desktop Search search tool has some search query syntax constraints that are different from Google(TM) Web Search and from IBM Lotus Notes; for example, it does not support the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT or conventional wildcard searches. Refer to the online help for the Google Desktop Search tool for query syntax guidelines and tips and for Advanced Search options.