Applies to: Version 5.0
For Version 4.0, please click here to download PDF instructions.
Searching by keyword is an efficient way of sorting through catalog records to find a particular word or words. When information is entered into a record, PastPerfect keeps track of each word and how many times it appears, creating a word list or search index. Because the Keyword Search is an indexed search, it is important to rebuild the keyword search index after significant data entry has been performed.
To customize the Keyword Search for your institution, click on Setup from the Main Menu, and then select Keyword Search from the drop-down menu. You may view which words are included in the word list, and the number of times they appear by clicking on the “View Index Keyword List” button.
You have the option to select which fields are included in a Keyword Search for each catalog. Next to Select Table, click the radio button to the left of the catalog you want to change. Double click on a field name in the Available Fields column to add it to the Fields to Include in Keyword Search column. If you would like to remove a field from Keyword Search, double click the field name in Fields to Include in Keyword Search column.
To be able to search for dates, you must add numbers to the “Valid Characters to Include in Keywords” field: 1234567890.
You may experience on occasion a message indicating that a word appears on the list more than 1,000 times and that you may want to add this word to the excluded words list. To view the word count, click the "View Index Keyword List" button and then click once on the gray column header labeled Count to sort by count. Click "Close" when done. To add words to the "Do Not Include These Words in Keyword List" field, type the word followed by a comma, with no spaces in between words.
When you are finished making changes, click on the "Rebuild Indexes Now" button. This may take several minutes to complete. If you are on a network, make sure that no other PastPerfect users are on the Setup Keyword Search screen. Other network users will not be able to do keyword searches while the rebuild is in progress