The search engine allows a search to be as simple or complex as the user wishes, and should return only relevant items

To display the search panel click the Search button.

Type the search expression into the text field and click the  button below.

Composing a Search Expression

Either:-
Type a single word 
(such as "column", or "door", or "window",  or "entablature") 
Note: The search engine automatically recognises singular or plural, i.e. column and columns are identical.

Or:-
Type in  a detailed sentence (such as "corinthian columns in Edinburgh by Robert Adam between 1765 - 1792" ).

Searching by Area & Searching by Item type
To carry out a search and retrieve only items that you are interested in, the search engine needs at least two bits of information, a noun describing the item you are looking for (e.g "column"), and an "area of interest" which could represent a location (e.g. "Edinburgh") and also other types of areas of interest such as the author or designers name, or the media such as photographs or movies, or sound track.

Optional information to further filter a search can also be used, such as style (e.g. "Corinthian" "fluted"), and date (e.g. 1765 - 1792).

If a search expression is recognised but too vague,  the search engine will offer other words which will complete it.

So:-
Only typing in  the name of the item "column" and clicking the  button will cause the Style List to appear.

This displays an alphabetical list of all areas in this catalogue that include an item "column". Clicking on the relevant word will add that word to the search expression. If several words from the area panel are added, the word "and" should be included between them. "All" selects all the area keywords in the list.

Dates
A date for the required item can also be added, e.g. "1745".  A date filter can also be set to between dates, e.g. between 1745 and 1798. Dates can also include day and month e.g. "05/09/1745" or "between  05/06/1768 and 04/08/1778". You can also search by century, e.g. "18C".
If the date format is wrong the program will prompt and provide examples.

Having composed a search, click the   button to carry out the search.