Does anyone know of a detailed guide to searches esp. Boolean ones?

Hi,

I'm a newbie making slow progress in setting up my Zotero database.

I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking. One thing I've come to realize is that a key to a successful database is being able to search/extract reports/tables. I further suspect doing this successfully depends upon structuring the Zotero database correctly in the first place.

I've Googled quite extensively and found discussions of searches, including Boolean ones. What I've not found is a detailed guide to the Zotero search function and its relation to the Zotero database structure. There are, of course, lots of basic guides to the Zotero search function, but I'm looking for something much more detailed (e.g. the Zotero documentation section on 'search' seems very brief; see: https://www.zotero.org/support/searching).

My concern is that I might structure and populate my Zotero database that will preclude the kind of searches I anticipate running and which I think my database successfully functioning is predicated.

I'm particularly interested in how to use the Boolean 'Not' to exclude tags from a search. Boolean 'Near' would also be interesting in terms of arranging tags.

Basic question: does Zotero search support all Boolean operators?

So, if anyone can recommend a detailed guide to the Zotero search function and its use of Boolean operatives, I would be most grateful.

My thanks and appreciation in advance.
  • edited April 1, 2019
    The answer to the basic question is no, Zotero does not support all Boolean operators. Technically speaking, Zotero doesn't support _any_ Boolean operators (writing NOT, AND, OR, etc. doesn't do anything), though the combination of advanced search and saved searches allows you to construct most operations possible with Boolean operators, albeit with some degree of tedium for more complex constructs (this is described in the page you link to).
    I'm pretty sure Zotero search does not contain any notion of Boolean NEAR, certainly nothing explicit.
    Boolean NOT is specified in the search condition, as in "Tag -- is not -- XYZ" (or for strings: "[Field] -- does not contain -- XYZ")

    I don't think any guide to search with any more details than the one you link to exists.
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