Search
The built in search system is used for:
- Content
- People
- Spaces
- Marketplace
- Third-party resources ("Advanced Search" - HumHub Professional Edition module)
Content Search - Index Rebuilding
If you want to rebuild the search index (e.g. after updating/restore backup), you have two methods:
Browser
Log in to your HumHub with an administrator account and go to the following section: Administration
-> Information
-> Database
.
On this page click on the button "Rebuild search index". The process can take several minutes.
Console
To start the rebuild job, you need to run following command:
cd /path/to/humhub/protected
php yii content-search/rebuild
File Content Indexing
In order to allow also indexing of file contents (e.g. PDF, Word or PowerPoint document) you can specify file parsers in your configuration.
We recommend Apache Tika as parser software which supports thousand of different file types.
Example configuration:
return [
// ...
'modules' => [
// ...
'file' => [
'converterOptions' => [
'humhub\modules\file\converter\TextConverter' => [
'converter' => [
[
'cmd' => '/usr/bin/pdftotext -q -enc UTF-8 {fileName} {outputFileName}',
'only' => ['pdf']
],
[
'cmd' => '/usr/bin/java -jar /srv/www/var/lib/tika-app-1.18.jar -maxFileSizeBytes=67108864 --text {fileName} 2>/dev/null',
'except' => ['image/', 'application/x-tar', 'application/zip', ]
],
]
]
]
],
],
];
Search Syntax Reference Cheat Sheet
This cheat sheet lists search operators and explains what they do. It helps you build search queries so you can filter, combine, or adjust your searches with more control.
-word
Exclusion Operator
Function: Excludes any result that contains the given word.
Example:
report -draft
Explanation:
Find results that contain report
but do not include draft.
+word
Required/AND Operator
Function: Forces the word to be present in the result.
Example:
+budget +2024
Explanation:
Find results that contain both budget
and 2024
.
NOT word
Exclusion / Boolean NOT
Function:
Same as -word
, excludes results that contain the term.
Example:
report NOT report
Explanation:
Find results that contain report
but not draft
.
word*
Wildcard
Function:
Matches any word that starts with the given characters, even if you don’t write the *
.
Example:
report*
Explanation:
Also matches: reports
, reporting
, reported
, etc. Typing report*
is the same as just report
.
"word"
Quoted Phrase Match
Function: Matches the exact phrase, in exact order, without partial or fuzzy logic.
Example:
"Annual Report"
Explanation:
Find results that contain Annual Report
exactly as-is. Will not match: "Report for the Annual Review", for example.
Example Combinations & What They Mean
Combination:
"Home Policy" "Remote Work"
Meaning:
Find results that contain both exact phrases Home Policy
and Remote Work
.
Combination:
+report -draft
Meaning:
Find results that contain report
and must not contain draft
.
Combination:
+Annual +Report -Draft
Meaning:
Find results that contain both Annual
and Report
, and must not contain Draft
.
Combination:
update +2025 -deprecated
Meaning:
Find results that contain update
and 2025
, and must not contain deprecated
.
Building Complex Search Queries
You can freely combine multiple operators to create precise search queries. Each operator acts as a logic block: required words (+
), excluded terms (-
or NOT
), exact phrases ("..."
), and implicit wildcards (report
matches reports
, reporting
, etc.). For example, a query like update +2025 +report -draft "annual report"
will find results that mention update
, must include 2025
and report
, must not mention draft
, and must contain the exact phrase annual report
. These combinations help narrow down results significantly and let you search with high precision.