Advanced search

Use advanced search to obtain highly relevant search results and ensure you find exactly what you are looking for on vLex.

Advanced search is available from the main menu. When minimised, look for the magnifying glass icon.

After you select Advanced Search, you will first be asked to specify which Jurisdiction(s) you wish to search across. It will be automatically set to your default jurisdiction, but you can choose to add more or Select All Countries at the top of the page to search everywhere.

Secondly, define the type of Content you want to find. It will be pre-set for All content, but you can choose to only search across particular types of information.

Enter your search terms in the Words search fields. You do not have to use them all; leave any that you do not need blank. Each field has a purpose:

  • All the words: can be used for broad searches. Enter relevant words and the service will search for them across the whole document.

  • The exact phrase: shows results containing the exact phrase you type here.

  • The words in proximity: expands the results to synonyms and other similar words.

  • Any word: will show results that contain all the words you have typed, or just some of them.

  • None of the words: the search will exclude any document containing the words you type here.

  • Advanced operators: allows you to write search operators like AND, OR, AND NOT, etc. You can find them explained in the Boolean operators article.

If you wish to, you can use Filters, which will amend the search fields based on the type of content you select.

Find out more about filters for specific content types:

If your results are still too broad, you can filter them further from the Results page.

If you want to create an alert, instead of clicking Search, click Save as an alert.

Video walkthrough

Short video, narrating the three ways to search.

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