If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes hunting for a document you know exists in NetDocuments, this post is for you.
Every minute attorneys spend searching for misfiled or hard-to-find documents is billable time lost — and in high-stakes matters, a missed document can have real consequences. NetDocuments has a powerful search engine, but most users rely on basic keyword searches when they could be getting far more precise results.
The secret is Boolean searching: a set of operators that let you control exactly what NetDocuments finds (and what it ignores). If you’ve used Google, Westlaw, or Lexis, you already have some intuition for this. NetDocuments uses the same logic.
NetDocuments’ official reference article on search operators is available here: NetDocuments Search Operators
NetDocuments Search Operators at a Glance
| Operator | What It Does | Example | What NetDocuments Finds |
| “” | Exact Phrase | “Motion for Summary Judgment” | Finds all instances of those words together in that exact order. Without quotes, NetDocuments finds documents containing all those words but not necessarily next to each other. |
| AND | Both terms required | Smith AND cancer AND diagnosis | Finds documents containing all three terms. Terms do not need to be near each other — only all present somewhere in the document. |
| OR | Either term | administrator OR administratrix | Finds documents containing either term (or both). Useful for legal terms with multiple forms. |
| NOT | Exclude a term | contract NOT draft | Finds documents about contracts while excluding any document containing the word “draft.” NOT must always be paired with another term. |
| * | Wildcard | terminat* | Finds documents containing any word starting with “terminat” — including terminate, terminated, terminating, and termination. Useful for finding all forms of a word in contract review. |
| w/# | Proximity | IBM w/4 HP | Finds “IBM” within four words of “HP.” Proximity searching is more targeted than AND — the terms must appear near each other, not just somewhere in the document. |
Combining Operators for Precise Searches
The real power of Boolean searching comes from combining operators. Here are two practical examples:
Example 1: Find a Settlement Document for a Specific Client
(“settlement agreement” OR “settlement offer”) AND Smith NOT draft
This search finds documents containing either exact phrase, that also mention ‘Smith,’ while excluding any drafts. Useful when you want final versions only.
Example 2: Use Parentheses to Control the Order
Just like in math, parentheses control which conditions are evaluated together:
(Smith OR Jones) AND (settlement OR verdict)
Without parentheses, NetDocuments processes operators left to right, which can produce unexpected results. Always use parentheses when mixing AND with OR.
Where to Use These Operators
Boolean operators work in the standard NetDocuments search bar, which searches document content and profile fields. For more targeted searches — filtering by client, matter, document type, author, or date range — use Advanced Search. You can customize the Advanced Search fields to match your firm’s profile attributes.
See our post on customizing Advanced Search for details on setting that up: How do I customize the Advanced Search in NetDocuments.
Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Even experienced users run into these:
Forgetting quotes around phrases.
Typing motion for summary judgment without quotes finds documents containing all four words — but not necessarily together. Always quote multi-word phrases.
Using lowercase operators.
NetDocuments requires AND, OR, and NOT in uppercase. Lowercase ‘and’ or ‘or’ is treated as a search term, not an operator.
Using NOT alone.
NOT must always be paired with another term. NOT draft by itself won’t work — you need something like contract NOT draft.
Overly short wildcards.
Using a* or t* returns an unmanageable number of results. Keep wildcards specific — terminat* is useful; t* is not.
Proximity searching with common words.
NetDocuments’ documentation notes that using wildcards with proximity searches alongside very common words may not always return expected results. Stick to specific terms in proximity searches.