You can search within the open specification. This article explains how this search function operates.

A screen capture showing the 'Search this specification' tab next to the 'Contents'.

Search my specification

'Search my specification' is available to all plans and content sets. It can be used by team members with 'Reader' and above permission on the specification.

About the search results

You will see one result per instance of your search term. When there is more than one instance of your search term in a single article or clause, you will see a search result for each instance.

The search results breadcrumb indicates the row number that contains your search term.

For example, in the screenshot below:

• There are 65 instances of 'to be confirmed' in clause 'Ss_25_30_20/218 Fire performance'.
• They are in rows 2.1 and 2.2.

A screenshot of the search results showing one result for every instance of your search term.

Which parts of the specification can be searched?

You can search:

• The specification articles, clauses, sections and systems.
• This includes:
  • Article and clause code, prefix, title and suffix.
  • Article and clause rows/ paragraphs.
    • Hyperlink display text.
    • Manufacturer and product chips.
    • Tables.
    • Variable values.

You cannot search:

• The Hyperlink target URL.
• Org notes.
• Spec notes.
• Variable names.

A screenshot of the 'Search this specification' interface.

Narrowing our search results

Show results from

Use the' Show results from' menu to narrow your search results by the location in the spec. 

A screenshot showing the 'Show results from' menu for Australian and UK content sets.	A screenshot showing the 'Show results from' menu for Canadian and USA content sets.

You can narrow your search by selecting:

'Titles' – returns results from the code, prefix, title and suffix fields.

'Rows' – returns results from the article or clause rows.

When both the 'Titles' and 'Rows' checkboxes are selected or unselected, the platform will search the whole article or clause.

Match

Use the' Match' menu to narrow your search results by your search term and article or clause status.

A screenshot of the 'Match' menu.

'Whole words' – check the 'Whole words' when you want results that match your whole search term word and avoid partial matches (known as stemming). 

For example, you want to find instances of the term 'plant' and want to avoid results for 'planted'. 

For an explanation of stemming, please see the section 'Stemming' below.

'Exact phrase' – check the 'Exact phrase' when you want results that match the sequence of words you have entered as your search term.

For example, you want to find instances of the phrase 'to be confirmed' and want to avoid results for instances of 'to', 'be' or 'confirmed'. 

'Case' – check the 'Case' when you want results matching your search term's case. 

For example, you'd like to find instances of 'LEED'.

'Complete' – check 'Complete' when you want results from articles and clauses marked as 'Complete'. This checkbox is checked by default so that results are returned for 'Complete' and 'Incomplete' items. 

Unchecking 'Complete' will stop results from completed articles and clauses.

Related: Marking articles and clauses as complete

'Parked' – check 'Parked' when you want results from parked articles, clauses and rows. This checkbox is checked by default. 

Unchecking 'Parked' will stop results from parked items.

Stemming

Search stemming is a technique used to reduce an inflected word down to its word stem. For example, the terms 'planted', 'planting' and 'plantation' can all be reduced down to the common word stem 'plant'.

When you search this spec, the platform will offer results from the first part of the root stem word. For example, if you search for 'plant' your results will have 'planted', planting', 'plantation' and so on. The exception is if you check the 'Exact phrase' in the 'Match' menu.

Stemming only applies to the root stem of the word and will not return results on the part of the word after the stem. For example, searching your spec for 'dom' will not return results of 'kingdom'.

This also includes when the words are hyphenated. For example, searching your spec for 'rated' will not return 'fire-rated'