Three small signs make a search exact: quotes for a phrase, a plus for a word that must be there, a minus for a word that must not. The question mark on the search line shows them in the app.
01 · The three signs
"gas station"PhraseThe words next to each other, in that order.
+receiptRequiredEvery result must contain the word. The other words still rank the results but are not required.
-screenshotExcludedDrops every photo that contains the word.
A sign counts only at the start of a word, and it works on a phrase too: +"gas station", -"boarding pass". The three combine freely in one search: receipt +"gas station" -screenshot.
02 · With the AI switch on
- A word or phrase with + or - leaves the search by meaning and becomes a filter: every result must have it, or must not, whatever the meaning says.
- A phrase on its own, without a sign, only weighs on the word side of the search. Turn the AI switch off, or put a + in front of it, to make it filter.
- When nothing is left to search by meaning, only signs, the search runs on the words alone.
Search by meaning can bring up photos that only look alike. A + on the one word that matters cleans them out.
03 · Good to know
- A search with signs gets no Did you mean: a correction would drop them.
- The signs travel as values, never as part of the query itself, like everything you type. See why nothing you type can change the query.
- The same three signs work on the hosted search page of Opensolr's site search.