Proximity Search
I think proximity search would be very useful for full-text search, as well as time saving. While the "plus" + feature is great, some cases require a lot of dancing around with combinations that proximity search would handle more efficiently.
Proximity search is particularly helpful when I have the first and last name, but know that the middle name may or may not be present, misspelled, or abbreviated. (I'm sure there are other applications as well.)
Searching "John Smith" might show a middle initial, but won't find variations like:
"John William Smith" OR "John Wm Smith" OR "John Willem Smith"
It also doesn't find maiden name listings like "Mary nee Smith" OR "Mary Jacobson Smith".
Entering "John Smith"~3 is easier and much more efficient than having to put + searches individually. It's also great for when names are listed in reverse order like "Smith, John".
Best Answer
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@GFre I could be misinterpreting your suggestion as I took a look and the query I built found "John William Smith"
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Answers
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Hi @Mark McKenzie_1. Thank you. I had used exact search a while back and had trouble with middle names, so it's good to know the search is more expansive now.
More recently, I had a difficult search for someone who kept flipping their middle and first name back and forth, so I thought a restricted proximity search might be helpful or faster. I guess not, though. 😅
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@GFre I can't say for sure… but I think at some point a change was made as to how a keyword phrase [e.g. "John Smith"] search functions. As I recall, the words within the quotation marks needed to be in 'close proximity' to each other, but the 'order' didn't matter. "John Smith" Keyword search would return
John Smith,
John F Smith, or
Smith John
Could be wrong on that, but that's my recollection…. Anyway, I've found that 'Name' search is a bit more 'forgiving' and will return 'Smith John' results.
Here's a Name search I did for "justin mccarty" and although it's not highlighted as it should be, "McCarty Justin" does appear
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