Search Phrase
The text string entered by a user into Salesforce search, which the search engine tokenizes and matches against indexed fields across objects to return relevant records in the search results.
Definition
The text string entered by a user into Salesforce search, which the search engine tokenizes and matches against indexed fields across objects to return relevant records in the search results.
In plain English
“A Search Phrase is the text string a user enters into Salesforce search. The search engine tokenizes it and matches against indexed fields across objects to return relevant records. Understanding how search phrases work helps users write better searches.”
Worked example
A user at Springvale Software searches for "premium plan billing dispute." The Search Phrase is tokenized into terms - premium, plan, billing, dispute - and matched against indexed fields across all searchable objects (Cases, Knowledge, Accounts). The platform ranks matches by relevance and returns 24 results: 12 Cases mentioning the phrase, 8 Knowledge articles, 4 Account records with related notes. Quote-wrapped Search Phrases match exact strings; unquoted phrases match individual terms with stemming. Understanding how Search Phrases work helps users craft queries that find what they need.
Why Search Phrase matters
A Search Phrase is the text string entered by a user into Salesforce search, which the search engine tokenizes and matches against indexed fields across objects to return relevant records in the search results. The search engine breaks the phrase into tokens, applies stemming and other processing, and finds matching records across the search index.
Understanding how search phrases are processed helps users write more effective searches. Quotation marks force exact phrase matching; wildcards expand matches; multiple words are treated as OR by default. Mature search users combine these techniques for precise results. Admins can improve search effectiveness by ensuring the right fields are indexed and searchable.
How organizations use Search Phrase
Trains users on how search phrases are processed for more effective searching.
Documents search phrase techniques (quotes, wildcards) in their user productivity guide.
Treats search phrase understanding as part of user productivity training.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is a Search Phrase?
Q2. How does the search engine process phrases?
Q3. What technique forces exact matching?
Discussion
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