Synonym Rings

Have you ever tried searching for a word and you find that a word cannot be found because it is abbreviated? For example searching on the word company does not bring up co. Or you search on telephone, but the search does not find results because the word is, ph, phone, or tel:

Using Synonym Rings in ISYS Query will help you pin point your search criteria with one search word. So all you'll need to do is type tel: and you know that all words relating to this will be displayed.

What is a Synonym Ring?

Synonyms are words or phrases with a similar meaning. ISYS allows you to define similar words in a ring. A ring can contain words with a similar meaning, for instance the different types of Coffee; Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino, Mochaccino, Hot Chocolate, etc.

This ring name is called Coffee, so if you search for the word Coffee, using ISYS Query, ISYS will find all synonyms of Coffee. So it will find the following; Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino, Mochaccino, Hot Chocolate, etc.

Lets look at adding, deleting and editing a synonym ring. We will concentrate on the above example 'coffee'.

How to create Synonym rings in ISYS...

Start ISYS Query, by clicking on 'Start' - 'Programs' - 'ISYS Search Software 8' - 'ISYS Query'.

Select 'Synonyms' from the 'Tools' menu of ISYS Query.

You will then see the following window

Adding a new Synonym ring...

Click on 'Create' under the Ring window to start a new ring.

Type the first entry and choose 'OK'. Example 'Coffee' and click 'OK'

ISYS will automatically add this first entry in the Rings window and the Entries window.

To add synonyms to the ring click on 'Add' under the 'Entries' window and type the synonym entries, one at a time, to complete the ring. Example Latte, Cappuccino, Espresso and so on.

After adding each synonym entry click OK. Repeat process for each entry.

To edit a synonym in the Entries box, highlight the ring name in the Rings window you wish to edit.

Select the synonym entry you wish to edit from the 'Entries' box and click the 'Edit' button under the Entries window

Type in your changes and click the 'OK' button. You will see your changes in the Entries window

Deleting Synonyms...

To delete a synonym from the 'Entries' box, firstly highlight the ring name containing the synonym you wish to delete in the 'Rings' box.

Using our coffee synonym ring as an example, you may decide that 'Hot Chocolate' is not really related to coffee. So highlight the synonym that you want to delete in the 'Entries' box, in our case, select 'Hot Chocolate', and choose the 'Delete' button under the 'Entries' box. The synonym will be deleted.

To delete the Synonym ring (ie the ring and all of its entries), click on the ring name in the left screen, and click the 'Delete' button under the 'Rings' box.

Note: If you delete the last remaining synonym in the Entries box, the ring name will automatically be deleted from the 'Rings' box.

Don’t forget, if you have any questions regarding Tech Tips you can e-mail support@isys-search.com