Advanced search
At a glance
Advanced search combines multiple strategies to find the most relevant information in your knowledge base. It leverages both meaning comprehension (semantic search) and exact term matching (lexical search).
Semantic vs lexical search
| Semantic search | Lexical search | |
|---|---|---|
| Principle | Understands the meaning of the query | Matches exact words |
| Synonyms | Works ("car" finds "vehicle") | Does not work (only the exact word is found) |
| Typos | Tolerant | Sensitive |
| Proper nouns | Less precise | Very precise |
| Use case | Open questions, exploration | Precise references, codes, identifiers |
Example:
- Semantic search: "How to handle customer returns?" finds a document titled "Refund and exchange policy".
- Lexical search: "REF-2024-0042" finds exactly the document containing that reference.
Hybrid search
Ontologie automatically combines both approaches for every search. The system:
- Runs both types of search in parallel.
- Merges the results by weighting each source according to relevance.
- Ranks the results by overall relevance score.
There is nothing to configure: hybrid search is active by default.
Available filters
Refine your results using the following filters:
| Filter | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| By source | Limit to documents from a specific source | Only GitHub documents |
| By document type | Filter by file format | PDF, Markdown, web pages |
| Minimum score | Exclude results below a relevance threshold | Score above 0.5 |
| Graph context | Include related entities in results | Add ontology relations |
| Tags | Filter by tags assigned to documents | Tag "procedure" or "policy" |
Hybrid weighting
The system automatically adjusts the weight of each search strategy based on the type of query:
- Conceptual questions (e.g. "What is..."): semantic search is favored.
- Factual questions (e.g. "What is the number of..."): lexical search is favored.
- Mixed questions: both approaches contribute equally.
Practical examples
Finding a procedure
Query: "How to onboard a new supplier?"
The system finds relevant documents even if they are titled "Supplier onboarding process" or "Partner integration guide" thanks to semantic search.
Finding a specific document
Query: "Service note SN-2024-003"
Lexical search directly identifies the document with that exact reference, even if the document body does not mention those terms in the text.
Exploring a topic
Query: "What are the risks associated with outsourcing?"
Hybrid search combines documents explicitly discussing "outsourcing risks" with those covering related topics such as "contractor management" or "supplier compliance".
See also
- Knowledge base overview — Understand the module
- Sources and synchronization — Connect document sources
Need help?
Contact us: Support and contact.