• Because the search only returns results for pages you have access to see, you will want to log in before searching.
• This tool does not search the contents of forums or bulletin boards, however these portlets have a built in search function. Go to the forum or bulletin board you wish to search and click on the white letters in the title bar to maximize it so it fills the whole page. There is a search option in the menu bar right under the title.
• Continue to use the search engine built into every page on the public website to search the public website. Neither search engine works for both sites.
• Using multiple search terms yields more, not fewer, found pages. For example, Practicum Application finds pages containing either Practicum or Application. The only way to narrow a search is with fewer and more specific search terms or quoted phrases. For example, the search phrase “Practicum Application” (in quotes) finds pages with this exact phrase only. Using a short word or fragment as a search term will yield more pages being found if embedded instances of the term exist. For example, Form yields pages containing form, forms, formula, or even performance.
• Common words such as and, the, and of are excluded from the search. To force them to be included, put a + in front of them.

• Page names, subsection names and feature titles are NOT included in the search. To help people find your pages, be sure that the text of the page name is included in the static content of your page (for example in a custom content portlet).
• Many features show content specifically generated for the viewer, for example Grade Reports and Earning Statements. The contents of these features are made on the fly when the page is viewed and are not searchable. Page administrators can enter keywords on these features to be included in the search. In the search feature, click on setup. Navigate to the page and feature you wish to add keywords to. You can then add as many keywords as you wish.
• Not everyone who can change a page will have the setup option in the search feature to add keywords. For example faculty and group leaders are administrators of their own groups and courses, but do not have this option. If you can't add keywords, you can always add text to a custom content feature on the page to include the words you want to be able to search.

• Keywords manually added to any feature.
• The titles of features. For example, Tips is the title on this feature.
• The headlines of custom content and expandable content features. For example, What is Searchable? is the headline of this section.
• The text in custom content and expandable content features (but not the introductory text of expandable content features).
• The set names of handouts and bookmarks.
• The display names of handouts and bookmarks.
• The description of handouts and bookmarks (but not the actual file name of handouts or the URL of bookmarks).

No other text on the page is searchable. For example, page names, tab names, subsection names, quick links, header and footer text, announcements, blogs, calendar events, etc. It is often impossible for a viewer to look at a page and know if text is searchable or not.