You can find exactly what you’re looking for with Google Cloud Search by using symbols and special words called search operators. Search operators deliver more relevant results by matching certain attributes in your query. For example, you can search based on the content owner or last modified date.
For non-Google Workspace data sources, your organization can set up custom search operators. To learn more, contact your administrator.
Use operators in your search
For example, to find content created by a particular team member, after a certain date, use the owner: and after: operators in your search query. For more details and other examples, see the lists of operators below.
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- In the search box, enter your search terms, leaving a space at the end.
- Add the operator and its value after your search terms. Don't put any spaces between the operator and its value.
List of search operators
Use all capital letters for standard operators or they're treated as search terms instead of operators.
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| “ “ (quotes) | Find content that includes the exact words in the same order as what's inside the quotes. Letter case is ignored.
Example query: |
| - (minus) | Find content that does not include the specific word or operator term.
Note: Use this operator with a search term or another operator, it doesn’t work alone. Example queries: |
| AND | By default, only pages that include all of your search terms are returned. You don’t need to include AND between the terms.
Example query: |
| OR | Find content that includes at least one of the words or operator terms.
Example queries: |
- Use lowercase for operator names.
- When entering more than one value for the same operator, group them together in parentheses; for example, from:(username1 OR username2).
- For non-Google Workspace data sources, your organization can set up custom search operators. To learn more, contact your administrator.
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| source: | Find content from a particular source. For Google Workspace sources, values are Mail, Drive, Sites, Groups, or Calendar. For non-Google Workspace sources, contact your administrator for the custom values set up by your organization.
Example query: |
| contenttype: | Find Google Drive or Groups content or attachments; for example, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF, image, video, drawing, folder. Available for Google Workspace content.
Example query: |
| filetype: | Find Groups content or attachments with a particular file extension; for example, .doc, .html, .jpeg, .pdf, .xlsx. Find Google Sites content with type .html. Available for Google Workspace content.
Example query: |
| site: | Find Google Sites content. Available for Google Workspace content.
Example query: |
| owner: | Find content you own or content that’s owned by a particular person and shared with you.
Example queries: |
| from: | Find emails or calendar events:
Example queries: |
| to: | Find emails or calendar events:
Example queries: |
| before: | Find content created or edited before a certain date (using the date format YYYY/MM/DD).
Example query: |
| after: | Find content created or edited after a certain date (using the date format YYYY/MM/DD).
Example queries: |
| inurl: | Find content from a particular URL. Not available for Google Workspace content.
Example query: |
| mimetype: | Find content based on the original MIME type. Not available for Google Workspace content.
Example query: |
Tip: You can also refine your results by using the search filters at the top of the results page.