Searching
Using Search History
Searching from the Main Search page will post statements and the number of results found to the Search History.
Viewing the Searches in the History Search panel:
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Type your search text. | |
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(Optional) Select the Limit(s) you want to apply for your search. | |
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Click the Search button. | |
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(If Search History is collapsed) Click the "+" sign in the Search History title bar. | |
| For your convenience, you may wish to reposition or relocate your Search History above the search bar. It also has the ability to sort the searches within Search History by either ascending or descending search number. | |
The Search History panel (opened) or tab (closed) may be repositioned by clicking and holding it above the Main Search panel. Once this is done, Search History will be located above the Main Search but underneath the header to allow you to view the most recent searches while searching. |
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As the list of your Results Sets become longer, you may just want to close the panel and display it as a plain bar. You may easily expand it, as the need arises, by clicking the triangle beside Search History as shown in the image.
Opened Search History
Your display results may be sorted by either ascending or descending search number. Click on the small triangle where "#" is currently displayed to sort your results.
| OvidSP remembers the state (ascending or descending) of the search history and maintains that state upon your next login. |
With the search history open, you may review your search results sets. You may do the following options within your Search History:
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You may find it useful to combine the results of two or more sets from your search strategy. To do so, select the boxes of the results sets you want to combine, then choose a Boolean operator from the search history.
- Select the OR operator to combine records that contain results from either of the selected selected
- Select the AND operator to combine records that contain results from all the selected sets
OvidSP combines the selected sets using the operator indicated and displays the new results set.
| If Basic Search is currently in use, all Boolean operators are grayed out. No search results from a Basic Search may be combined with any results from another search option such as from Advanced Search. |
See details in Boolean Operators to learn more.
As you develop your search, certain statements may become obsolete to your overall strategy. To delete unnecessary search results, tick the box(es) preceding the search(es) and click Remove Selected button.
| To select all sets at once, click the box on the top left-hand corner. OvidSP automatically selects all sets for you. |
| Make sure that what you tick are the searches you no longer need. Once deleted, the action is irreversible. |
By default, OvidSP displays the last results set of the search history in the record titles display. Click the View Saved to display the records of a different set. This action brings you to another window that displays the My Searches & Alerts.
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Icon for displaying the selected search history item. |
OvidSP displays the records of the set you selected and highlights it in your search history.
As you develop search strategies, you may want to save them for later use or for further development.
Saving the Current Search History
Save a search by clicking the Save History button in the Search History window. In saving your searches, the name is required and must not exceed 80 characters. |
OvidSP opens the Save Current Search page. Refer to Save a Search History for details.
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