Boolean Searches (2000 / XP)

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I’d like to be able to use the Advanced Find feature to look for an item in the notes field, and exclude another item. On the Advanced Tab I can add multiple lines, but these are treated as an “OR” statement, not an “AND”.

On the KB (208336), Microsoft lists as a problem – the fact that you can enter in criteria on the first tab, and then with additional criteria on the Advanced Tab it actually runs an AND search. This “bug” actually works perfectly for what I’m doing! But the fields on the first tab are limited. Is there any way to construct search criteria do find say the word “test” but NOT the word “tests” in a specific field. (without using the first tab trick) Or, a search to find the word “TEST” AND “TEST2”?

Ideally I want to then merge these results into Word. Sure, with the find results I can move the contacts to another folder and merge from that folder. The ideal solution would be a VIEW with the boolean search results. Customizing the view with the Filter button gives the same results as the advanced find – I cannot enter in Boolean “NOT” criteria. The KB (262294) indicates that you cannot programmatically create or modify views.

Any direction would be appreciated. THANKS in advance.

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On the advanced tab you can use AND or OR operators within the same criteria.
Name contains Mary or John
When searching some fields you’ll need to use a comma for OR:
Subject contains outlook, windows
i never tried it with Name contains Mary not John
(This may only work for some fields.)

what you can’t do is OR criteria together:
Name contains Mary
or
Email address contains @smith.com

These filters work on views, advanced find, automatic formatting and in Ol2003, search folders. some of the tricks, like the comma one, work in Find too.

Outlook 2003 (and i thought 2002) do have the Query Builder for at least some folder types, as well as SQL.

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Mary

In XP, the SQL tab is available when only when filtering a view, not when doing a find. But this worked nicely and provided a solution! Thanks.

Regarding advanced searching, when you add two or more criteria on the advanced tab, it is an OR search. For example, if I search for
Notes contains Mary
Notes doesn’t contain Maryland

I get Mary plus all the contacts that don’t have Maryland. (this is an OR statement)

David

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that’s because they both use the same field name.
if you want notes contains mary or state does not contain maryland, you’ll get differnet results.

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that’s because they both use the same field name.
if you want notes contains mary or state does not contain maryland, you’ll get differnet results.

Reply | Quote

Mary

In XP, the SQL tab is available when only when filtering a view, not when doing a find. But this worked nicely and provided a solution! Thanks.

Regarding advanced searching, when you add two or more criteria on the advanced tab, it is an OR search. For example, if I search for
Notes contains Mary
Notes doesn’t contain Maryland

I get Mary plus all the contacts that don’t have Maryland. (this is an OR statement)

David

Reply | Quote

On the advanced tab you can use AND or OR operators within the same criteria.
Name contains Mary or John
When searching some fields you’ll need to use a comma for OR:
Subject contains outlook, windows
i never tried it with Name contains Mary not John
(This may only work for some fields.)

what you can’t do is OR criteria together:
Name contains Mary
or
Email address contains @smith.com

These filters work on views, advanced find, automatic formatting and in Ol2003, search folders. some of the tricks, like the comma one, work in Find too.

Outlook 2003 (and i thought 2002) do have the Query Builder for at least some folder types, as well as SQL.

Reply | Quote