Spotlight: Search Settings

April 2023    Tags: Conflict of Interest, Contacts, Document Management, Indexes

When PracticeMaster performs a conflict of interest search, contact search, or document search, it searches the applicable index files for valid matches. Search Settings (In the Quick Launch, search for and select “Search Settings”) provide the ability to specify how and if indexes are updated, to rebuild indexes, and to specify words to be excluded from a search.

When accessing Search Settings, there are three tabs: Index Properties, Rebuild Index, and Exclude List.

Index Properties

To be included in a search, a field/file must be “indexed.” On the Index Properties tab, you have the option of selecting how to handle updating the Conflict/Contact Index, Email Attachments Index, and the Linked Documents Index.

• Select Automatic to update the index whenever records are added or changed.
• Select Manual to only update the index when the Rebuild Index program is run.
• Select Disable to disable search capabilities for that index.

The accuracy of PracticeMaster’s search options is dependent on the accuracy of the index files. We recommend using the Automatic setting to help ensure you have the most accurate index files, and therefore the most accurate search results.

Note: Changes made to a linked document are not automatically incorporated into the Linked Documents Index, even if it is set to Automatic. To incorporate changes to linked documents, you can update the index by manually rebuilding the Linked Documents Index, or by using a special startup option to manually rebuild the linked documents index file after hours (recommended). Alternatively, any changes made to the document management record itself, such as a change to a field, will automatically update the index.

When selecting Manual, it is recommended that you schedule times to rebuild the indexes.

Rebuild Index

Rebuilding an index updates Manual indexes, optimizes Automatic indexes, and optionally removes deleted records from the indexes. If you want to rebuild indexes, select the desired indexes and click the Rebuild Now button.

Although rebuilding the Conflict/Contact Index requires Exclusive access to the software in order to run, the Email Attachments and Linked Documents indexes can be rebuilt while users are working. For more information on rebuilding indexes via a startup option, see Knowledge Base Article R11659, “Rebuilding the PracticeMaster Search Index Files.”

Exclude List

The Exclude List tab provides a list of words that are excluded from all searches. For example, if the words a, of, and the are in the Exclude List, running a search with those words in it will display a message that the words will be excluded from the search and the search will ignore the words as it runs. This list can be edited via the Add Word and Delete Word buttons.

Make sure to take a moment and review your Search Settings to ensure your conflict of interest, contact, and document searches are optimized for your firm.