It is possible to upload or paste a list of terms to search using Search Assist. This method keeps the search bar cleaner, and Search Assist provides the option to automatically quote individual terms. Your terms will need to be a single column in an Excel spreadsheet, or you can paste a list of terms into Search Assist, so long as they are separated by a space. Note: The spreadsheet should not have a header. Click on Paste terms or upload to use this functionality. Read more about Search Assist(ance).
Option 1: Uploading a file
1. Set up a CSV or Excel file with the terms or phrases you wish to use for your search. Remove any headers or additional columns. See the screenshot of PMIDs below as an example.
2. In iSearch Analytics, select Search Assistance, then type in the field you wish to search in Search Assist, and select it from the drop-down menu.
3. Click on Paste terms or upload then toggle to Upload. (Note: The text box to type in keywords is only for individual terms/phrases.)
4. Select the file you wish to upload then click on Include (or Exclude if appropriate).
5. Select Save and Search at the bottom of the Search Assist window or Save and Continue if you’d like to add more criteria.
6. If your file has been imported into iSearch Analytics successfully, the records you expected to see will populate in the Topic Explorer and Results table. Notice that the Search Assist breadcrumb in the search bar will populate with your uploaded file name; ensure that the file selected is the one you intended to upload.
Search assist upload file (Appl IDs) example
Option 2: Paste terms
Alternatively, you can paste search terms (e.g. keywords or IDs) into the Search Assist search box. Again, click on Paste terms or upload to use this functionality. Follow the steps above, but stay on the Paste Terms toggle when prompted.
Important: When using this method, you must separate individual terms with spaces and enclose multi-word phrases in quotation marks (e.g., “heart transplant").
Alternatively, when pasting from a spreadsheet with entries separated by line breaks, select the "Treat each line as a separate term/phrase" checkbox to ensure each line is processed as its own term or phrase.
Select Save and Search once you have pasted the terms to be included and checked the box to treat each line as a separate term/phrase.
Notice the Search Assist breadcrumb will populate with your terms; ensure that the number of terms pasted matches the breadcrumb.
Similarly, you can paste terms into the search bar and find records without using Search Assist. You need to be careful if doing this, as several criteria need to be checked: separators between the terms, quotes around terms containing multiple words, the OR Boolean operator (AND is the default), and appropriate search field selection using the Search Fields button. Using Search Assist alleviates the need to change these settings, as it walks you through performing the search in the most correct manner.
Manual query example search for Appl IDs (outside of Search Assist)
See more in the Searching IDs tutorials