Streamline your Help searches in Lotus Symphony

Added by Gayle Thiel | Edited by IBM contributor

Gayle Thiel on July 2, 2010 | Version 11

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Abstract

In Help, you can use the Search Scope dialog to choose which subject, or combination of subjects, to search on, thereby screening out search results not relevant to your query.

Tags: how do i, Help

Because Help in Lotus Symphony includes sections on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, charts, macros and programming, and more, the number of search results your query returns can sometimes seem a bit daunting. Fortunately, search filtering capability is available right from the Help window and only takes a minute to adjust for your current search.

Tip: Before you construct a help search, try pressing the F1 key. Pressing F1 opens Help and usually takes you straight to a topic that is relevant to the current Lotus Symphony window you are working in.

Streamlining your Help search

Let's say you have a question about table columns in your document and you want to filter out any results related to columns in the spreadsheets or programming sections. Perform these few steps before you start your search:

Click your document (to move the cursor there), and press F1. If the Help topic that displays does not contain what you need, go to step 2.
From the menu, click Help > Search.
In the Help pane that opens at the right of the screen, expand the Search scope section and click Advanced Settings.
In the Search Scope - Default dialog box, click Search only the following topics.
Expand IBM Lotus Symphony to show all of the sections in the Help, and select the sections you want to search. For example, if your question is about how to resize columns in Symphony Documents, you would select both "Documents" and "Common Tasks" (refers to tasks that apply to all three Lotus Symphony applications: Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations). You might also want to select "IBM Lotus Symphony preferences," since preferences are sometimes the way a task is accomplished.
Click Apply and then OK to save your settings and close the dialog box.
Now, in the search field, enter the word or phrase you want to search on, for example "resize columns," and click Go.

Your search scope settings are saved for future sessions. You can change them anytime you begin a search by clicking the Advanced Settings link again and selecting or deselecting the check boxes.