Learning CenterWhat can you do with Cloud Search?
Search for content across Google products, find contact information for colleagues, prepare for today’s meetings, and access your recent work.
What you need:
account_circle G Suite account
schedule 10 minutes
Open Cloud Search
Open Cloud Search
Before you open Cloud Search, make sure you’re signed in to your G Suite account.
On a web browser:
Go to cloudsearch.google.com.
On Android devices:
- Tap Play Store
to open Google
Play.
- Install the Google Cloud Search app.
If you use an Android 5.0+ Lollipop device and your G Suite account is in your work profile, you’ll need to download the Google Cloud Search app from managed Google Play. For more information, see Learn more about work profiles and device policies or contact your G Suite admininstrator.
On iOS devices:
Install the Google Cloud Search app for Apple® iPhone® or iPad®.
Note: If you can’t access Cloud Search, contact your G Suite admin. They may have to turn it on in the Google Admin console first.
Perform your search
Looking for information on a team project or contact details for a team member? Just type your search query into Cloud Search to get instant results. You can also use everyday words to find contact information and content from your G Suite services.
Note: Search results match the permission sharing settings in place for your other G Suite services, such as Gmail and Google Calendar, Drive, Groups, and Sites.
In this section, you learn how to:
Search your G Suite services
Find the information you need by searching for words (or phrases) in your G Suite services, or searching for people in your organization.
Go to cloudsearch.google.com or open the Cloud Search app.
- In the Cloud Search search box, enter your search query, such as the name of a person or for any set of words in the document. Use everyday words in your search, such as docs jane sent last month. If the interpretation isn't quite right, click the Show results for the original query link.
- As you enter your query, customized suggestions display. Use the Down arrow to move through the suggestions and then select a suggestion.
- (Optional) To see results from the public web, click Search web.
- Navigate through the results and select the search result you want.
Use common phrases in your searches:
Use phrases related to people, documents, Google services, and more.
Search
Common keywords
Example search queries
Search
People
Common keywords
first name, last name, username
email address
address
phone number
job title
manager
reports to
teammates
info about
Example search queries
joe smith's email
title of joe smith
who reports to jane
who is jane’s manager
who are my teammates
Search
Google Calendar
Common keywords
agenda
meeting
schedule
Example search queries
today's agenda
my agenda on July 10
my agenda for next monday
next meeting
my next meeting
my meetings next monday
my schedule tomorrow
Search
Gmail
Common keywords
about
from
received
sent
to me
topic
Example search queries
mail about sales from jane
email received yesterday from smith
mail from joe smith last week
Search
Content/source
Common keywords
files*
documents
sheets
Slides
from
owned by
recently
last week
last year
before date**
after date
*Includes all file types, in Drive and attachments.
**When you use the before or
after operators in a query,
your results may include content that contains the before or
after date,
because of timezone differences.
Example search queries
slides from mary moore last month
documents from jane
files by smith last week
mail from joe smith before 06/01/17
docs owned by mary moore
docs about sales from Mary
Search
Document sharing
Common keywords
shared
shared but not viewed
mention*
mentions not addressed**
need attention***
*Documents shared with you that mention you in a
comment you viewed or didn’t view, or you've replied to.
**Documents shared with you that mention you in a
comment you haven’t replied to.
***Documents shared with you that you haven’t viewed
or that mention you in a comment you haven’t replied to.
Example search queries
documents that mention me recently
files shared with me in the past two weeks
sheets shared by audrey
docs that need attention
Find and contact people
With Cloud Search, you can find the person you’re looking for and instantly start a conversation or send an email. Search for a person’s name and their profile card appears.
- In the search box, enter the person’s name.
- At the top of the person’s profile card, select Start a Hangout hangout or Email email.
- Click Reports to to see the profile card of the person’s manager.
- On mobile, tap the phone number to call them.
- (Optional) You can also do a search using everyday words, such as jane’s phone number. You get an answer card with the phone number for your colleague named Jane. If more than one person has the name, click the Looking for a different name? link.
Note: You can see additional contact and manager information if your admin has added these profile details to user accounts.
See search results
When you enter your search query, Cloud Search searches across all your G Suite products.
Every search result contains these details:
Title
The first blue line of any search result is the title. Click the title to open the content.
Icon
In the top of each search result, an icon indicates the type of content. For example, email indicates that the result is part of an email.
Short description
Below the title is a short description of the item. Search terms are in bold to help you decide which results are relevant.
Privacy, date, and owner
At the bottom of the result, you might see the following details:
- Privacy setting of the content (who can see the content).
- Date the content was created or modified (Drive), received (Gmail), or posted (Groups).
- Name of the owner or sender.
Customize your search
Refine your search query using filters and operators to narrow your search.
In this section, you learn how to:
Use search filters
Refine your search queries by using filters. For example, you can filter your search to show content created in Docs or within a certain time period.
- In the search box, enter your search query.
- Above the search results, select a content source to filter by, such as Mail or Drive.
- Choose an option to open search tools:
- On the web, click Search tools.
- On a mobile browser, tap More > Search tools.
- On the Android or iOS app, tap Any time or Everything.
- From the search tools lists, choose one or more filters. You can filter by time, ownership, or file type.
- To remove filters, select Clear.
- To return to all results, select All.
Use search operators
- In the search box, enter your search terms and leave a space at the end.
- Add the operator and its value to the end of your search text and press or select Enter.
Operator
Examples
Description
Operator
" " (quotes)
Examples
"market analysis"
Description
Find content that includes the exact word, or set of words, in the same order as what's inside the quotes.
Operator
-
(hyphen)
Examples
payroll -reports
inventory -owner:me
sales contenttype:doc -owner:me
Description
Find content that does not include the specific word or operator term.
Note: This operator doesn't work alone. You need to use it with a search term or another operator.
Operator
AND
&
Examples
sales reports
sales & reports
Description
By default, only pages that include all of your search terms are returned. You don’t need to include AND between the terms.
Operator
OR
|
Examples
sales OR marketing
sales | marketing
sales from:(marysmith OR johndoe)
Description
Find content that includes at least one of the words or operator terms.
Operator
NOT
Examples
sales NOT marketing
Description
Find content that does not include the specific word or operator term.
Operator
source:
Examples
training source:mail
Description
Find content from a particular Google product, including Gmail, Drive, Sites, Groups, Calendar.
Operator
contenttype:
Examples
training contenttype:doc
Description
Find particular types of content, such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, folders, and attachments.
Operator
filetype:
Examples
training filetype:(doc OR pdf)
Description
Find content with a particular file extension.
Operator
owner:
Examples
reports owner:me
reports owner:marysmith
Description
Find content you own or that’s been shared with you.
Operator
from:
Examples
reports from:me source:drive
reports from:(marysmith OR johndoe)
Description
Specify the person who sent or who created the content you’re looking for.
Operator
to:
Examples
reports to:me from:marysmith
reports to:golf-club-members
Description
Specify the person who received the content you’re looking for.
Operator
before:
Examples
orders before:09/30/2015
Description
Find content created or edited before a certain date (MM/DD/YYYY).
Operator
after:
Examples
orders after:09/20/2015
orders after:09/20/2015
before:09/30/2015
Description
Find content created or edited after a certain date (MM/DD/YYYY).
Get help with files and meetings
Use assist cards to find out where you left off in your file or access your upcoming meetings. Assist cards, such as Pick up where you left off, and meeting cards appear on your Cloud Search homepage to help you organize your day. You can see timely information and recommendations.
Note: Assist cards aren't currently supported on mobile browsers.
In this section, you learn how to:
Use a ‘Pick up where you left off’ card
If you’ve done work recently in Drive or if someone commented on one of your files, a Pick up where you left off card appears on your Cloud Search homepage. The cards automatically update throughout the day as you work on different files.
- Go to the Pick up where you left off card.
- If there are more than 3 items, click Show More. Or, in the app, swipe to the left.
- Click or tap a card to open the file in Drive.
- To return to the homepage:
- On a web browser, click Back arrow_back
- On the Android or iOS app, tap Close close.
Use meeting cards
If you have upcoming meeting scheduled in Google Calendar, meeting cards appear on your homepage. You can see a schedule of all the meetings you’re planning to attend, any attached files, open appointment slots, and more.
Choose an action from a meeting card:
Email guests
Join the video
call
Change your
response
Edit in Calendar
See today’s meeting schedule:
- Open a meeting card and then click Show More
or tap Today’s meetings.
You'll see a timeline of all the meetings scheduled for today. You'll also see any open time of an hour or more. - (Optional) To see details about a meeting, select the meeting.
- To return to the homepage:
- On a web browser or the Android app, click or tap Back arrow_back.
- On the iOS app, tap Back arrow_back_ios.
Manage account activity
Keep your Cloud Search account activity turned on if you want to receive customized suggestions from Google.
Note: If you can't turn on your account activity, contact your admin. They might need to turn on the Web History service for your organization.
In this section, you learn how to:
Get customized suggestions
Turn customized suggestions on or off:
- In a web browser, go to cloudsearch.google.com or open the Android app.
- In your iPhone or iPad web browser, such as Chrome or Apple® Safari®, go to cloudsearch.google.com.
- At the top, select More more_vert > Settings > Account Activity.
- Turn Web & App Activity On or Off to change the setting.
- At the bottom of the page, select Turn On or Pause to change the setting.
