Below is an excerpt from the PBWorks Support Manual.  For the complete manual, click here.

Basic Searching 

Every page has a search bar in the upper right region which allows a basic search of works pages and files.  Everyone who has access to the wiki has access to the search bar, however, the results will be tailored to their permission level.  So, if you put custom security on a restricted-access page, then that page won't appear in search results performed by users who haven't been granted access.

Using search

To use the search bar, simply type in the search (replacing the gray "Search" text), and hit Enter or Return on your keyboard.

Searching inside files

All the content of all the pages will always be fully searchable. 

Note:  Unfortunately, there is a technical limitation of 5 MB for searching of uploaded files.  If your file is larger than 5 MB, it may not be fully indexed.  Also, in order for PDF files to be searchable, they must either be created in Adobe or scanned as text not images.

Autocomplete

The search field also has an autocomplete feature installed which automatically suggests content on your workspace as you type. 

When you first enter a letter all the pages which start with that letter will automatically appear.  If you see the page you want in this list, these pages can be clicked on directly.		As you type, the field gets smaller because the more you type, the less possibilities there are.  The list was shortened when the search went from just "m" to "me".

Autocomplete can also find words that are within a file or page's name. For example, as a search was typed out for "Trends," the file "Market Trends.xls" was suggested.

Next to each autocomplete result is an icon, which lets you determine what kind of content it is:

Icon	Type of Content
	Workspace page
	PDF
	Document
	Video
	Spreadsheet
	PowerPoint
	Audio
	Text File
	Image (small thumbnail of image content)

Tags

Tags are words and phrases that can be associated with workspace pages to make searching easier.  If a page is tagged with a keyword, and that keyword is searched for, the pages with that tag will appear at the top of the list. 

Here's how to put tags on pages:

1. Click the "Add Tags" link on the side of each workspace page.  If you can't see this link, then you don't have sufficient permission to create tags.

   

2. When you click the Add Tags link, you should see an input box appear.  It will have some gray example, text, but once you click inside the box, the example text will disappear.

   

3. Add the words you want associated with the page.  Tags should be separated by commas, but if you want two words to be one tag, simply leave the comma out.  

   

4. Click OK, and the tags will be added to the page.

   

Search Tips

Your workspace offers you a robust search engine. Use these search tips to fine-tune your results:

• A plus sign (+) before a word means it must be included in search results (eg: brown +cow returns pages that may contain "brown" but must contain "cow")
• A minus sign (-) before a word means it must be removed from search results. (eg: brown -cow returns pages that contain “brown” but not “cow”)
• Quotes ("") around a phrase returns that exact phrase (eg: "brown cow" returns pages that include the exact phrase “brown cow")
• Also, search results are sorted by weight, which means that a page with a lot of the mention of the keyword will show up at the top of the list.
• The order of search keywords does not affect score / output.
• Adding "tag:foo" anywhere in the search box will constrain the search to only look at pages tagged "foo" (and their comments). You can't yet perform a search that will only look at pages tagged with both "foo" and "bar". (I.e., you can only search with one tag restriction at a time)
• Adding "folder:foo" anywhere in the search box will constrain the search to only look at pages in folder "foo" (and their comments). This doesn't yet apply to files in that folder.
• Searching across attachment content (.DOC, .PDF, .XLS, .PPT, .TXT) is a feature currently available only to paying users.
• Add "type:file" to your search inquiry to search just files, "type:user" to search for just users, "type:pages" to search just within pages, or "src:" to search within the source code.