{"id":4202,"date":"2017-03-28T18:17:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T17:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=4202"},"modified":"2025-12-17T14:44:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:44:48","slug":"make-your-searches-more-effective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/make-your-searches-more-effective\/","title":{"rendered":"Make your searches more effective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Get more hits in the Digitalarkivet with more effective searches.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Knowing how many different ways Norwegian names were spelled, it can be frustrating to search the Digitalarkivet. To achieve more effective searches, there are some tricks that can be applied. These will speed up your search and increase the number of hits.<\/p>\n<p>As the number of hits increases, the number of irrelevant hits increases as well, so it is advisable to narrow the search in different ways.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4703\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/make-your-searches-more-effective\/screen-shot-06-11-17-at-12-50-pm\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?fit=926%2C727&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"926,727\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Screen Shot 06-11-17 at 12.50 PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?fit=800%2C628&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4703\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?resize=758%2C595&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"More effective searches\" width=\"758\" height=\"595\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?w=926&amp;ssl=1 926w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?resize=300%2C236&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?resize=768%2C603&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 758px) 100vw, 758px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is the &#8220;Advanced person search&#8221; dialog in Digitalarkivet <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalarkivet.no\/en\/search\/persons\/advanced\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found on this page.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Time:\u00a0<\/strong>It is likely that we have a rough idea as to in what timeframe the person we look for lived. Here you can narrow down the timeframe for more effective searching.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Category:\u00a0<\/strong>We can narrow down our search by choosing specific sources e.g. Church records, Censuses, etc., for more effective searches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geography:\u00a0<\/strong>In my opinion, the most effective and fruitful is to narrow down the search by geography. This will decrease the number of irrelevant hits. For this, you might want to have a look at this article\u00a0<a title=\"Find Norwegian place names\" href=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/find-norwegian-place-names\/\">Find Norwegian place names<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some tips about applying the filters can be found in my article <a href=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/digitalarkivets-find-source-feature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Digitalarkivet&#8217;s &#8220;Find source feature&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When searching for a name, choosing the right gender will also focus your search and lead to searches that are more effective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>And then, onto what is the main purpose of this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the June 2017 re-design of the Digitalarkivet, the search engine will show you name variants in\u00a0<strong>unfiltered\u00a0<\/strong>searches. However, if you apply a filter (e.g. specific source or geographical area), this feature is no longer in function. That is when you have to resort to<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>techniques I describe below.<\/p>\n<p>The Digitalarkivet has several symbols you can use to make your searches more productive. You can read about them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalarkivet.no\/content\/soking-spesialtegn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here.<\/a> (Page in Norwegian).<\/p>\n<p>I will look at the symbols I use the most and start with the asterisk\/star *. It is used as a wildcard, i.e. a\u00a0character that takes the place of any other character. It also represents a number of characters that are not known or specified.<\/p>\n<p>We can use the asterisk at the end of a word. If we write <strong>An*<\/strong>, this search will bring up all the names that start with <strong>An \u2192 Anne, Ane, Anna, Anbj\u00f8rg, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If we use the asterisk at the beginning of the word like <strong>*ls,<\/strong> this will give you all names that end with\u00a0<strong>ls \u2192 Nils, Niels, Truls, Truels, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You have to put in <strong>at least two letters or numbers<\/strong> in addition to the asterisk. If not, the search will be too heavy for the database to run.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4226\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/make-your-searches-more-effective\/keyboard-1628580_640\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/keyboard-1628580_640.jpg?fit=640%2C480&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"640,480\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;3.5&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;COOLPIX P610&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;5.4&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;125&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.033333333333333&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"keyboard-1628580_640\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/keyboard-1628580_640.jpg?fit=640%2C480&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-4226 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/keyboard-1628580_640.jpg?resize=236%2C177&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/keyboard-1628580_640.jpg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/keyboard-1628580_640.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px\" \/>The asterisk used in this way may produce a lot of irrelevant hits.<\/p>\n<p>A more fruitful approach is to use the asterisk in the middle of the word e.g.\u00a0<strong>An*e.\u00a0<\/strong>This gives you the names\u00a0<strong>Ane <\/strong>or<strong>\u00a0Anne.\u00a0<\/strong>A search for\u00a0<strong>Ni*ls\u00a0<\/strong>will produce all the persons named\u00a0<strong>Nils <\/strong>or\u00a0<strong>Niels.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next symbol I will look at is the vertical bar <strong>|.\u00a0<\/strong>This is found next to the number 1 on the top left of your keyboard. Used in a search the vertical bar works as the expression\u00a0<strong>OR<\/strong>. This means the search results will contain either one or several or all of the search terms.<\/p>\n<p>You can use the vertical bar to search for\u00a0<strong>Ane|Anne<\/strong> or\u00a0<strong>Nils|Niels.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can, of course, combine these symbols and search for e.g.\u00a0<strong>Kr*|Chr*\u00a0<\/strong>giving you results like\u00a0<strong>Kristoffer, Christopher, Kristian, Christian, Christine, Kristine, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The female name\u00a0<strong>Brit<\/strong> may have been recorded as\u00a0<strong>Brit, Brite, Brith, Berit, Beritte, etc.<\/strong> To cover these alternative spellings you can search for\u00a0<strong>Be*|Br*.\u00a0<\/strong>This will give you a few irrelevant hits like e.g.\u00a0<strong>Bergliot <\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Brynild,\u00a0<\/strong>but having narrowed down the search by geography I think it is worth it. As the search with wildcards may also pick up obvious misspelling of the names.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4229\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/make-your-searches-more-effective\/question-mark-1421013_640\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/question-mark-1421013_640.png?fit=617%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"617,640\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"question-mark-1421013_640\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/question-mark-1421013_640.png?fit=617%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-4229 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/question-mark-1421013_640.png?resize=218%2C226&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/question-mark-1421013_640.png?w=617&amp;ssl=1 617w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/question-mark-1421013_640.png?resize=289%2C300&amp;ssl=1 289w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 218px) 100vw, 218px\" \/>We saw that the asterisk took the place of <strong>one or a number of unknown characters<\/strong>. We can use the <strong>question mark?\u00a0<\/strong>to define the number of unknown characters to search for. The search engine will replace the number of question marks you put in, with the same number of letters.<\/p>\n<p>If we search for\u00a0<strong>Ann?<\/strong> we get all the persons named\u00a0<strong>Anne\u00a0<\/strong>or\u00a0<strong>Anna.\u00a0<\/strong>More productive searches can also be achieved with queries like <strong>Ni?olai<\/strong> to capture variants such as\u00a0<strong>Nicolai\u00a0<\/strong>or\u00a0<strong>Nikolai.\u00a0<\/strong>To fully utilize the question mark in a search it is useful to know what alternative spellings you are looking for. You might want to have a look at my article <a href=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/alternative-spellings-of-norwegian-names\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alternative spellings of Norwegian names<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you read the information from the Digitalarkivet linked at the beginning of this article, you will see that there are other ways to modify your search. I have, however, \u00a0found the symbols I mentioned above to be the most useful for crafting searches that are more effective.<\/p>\n<p>I have not used the\u00a0<strong>caret ^,<\/strong>\u00a0but I see how it can be used to single out double name returns in a search. Neither have I used the\u00a0<strong>dollar sign $. <\/strong>It\u00a0does have its uses, but I believe that in many cases a search with the asterisk will give you the same result.\u00a0Please comment and disagree if you have experienced it differently.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"mceItemHidden\">After having <span class=\"mceItemHidden\">narrowed<\/span> down my search, often to the parish, and chosen the correct gender, I hardly ever spell out the names completely and instead use the asterisk and the vertical bar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>To conclude, these methods should lead to searches that are more effective in your quest for ancestors. I hope this article is of help to you in your search for ancestors. The search feature in the Digitalarkivet is a great tool.<\/p>\n<p>If you have questions or comments, comment below of send me a word through the<a href=\"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> contact page.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get more hits in the Digitalarkivet with more effective searches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-norwegian-sources"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - 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Also when filtering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Genealogy (general)&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy (general)","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/genealogy-general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?fit=926%2C727&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?fit=926%2C727&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?fit=926%2C727&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-06-11-17-at-12.50-PM.png?fit=926%2C727&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4624,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/the-norwegian-digitalarkivet-with-new-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":4202,"position":3},"title":"The Norwegian Digitalarkivet with new design","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"June 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Norwegian Digitalarkivet - \"The Digital archive\", today launched their newly re-designed website. \"Why do they have to keep changing this all the time\", you may say. \u00a0According to the Digitalarkivet blog, one of the main reasons is that the Digitalarkivet has been integrated with the National archives website. These\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Norwegian Sources&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Norwegian Sources","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/norwegian-genealogy\/norwegian-sources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-06-06-17-at-06.08-PM-e1508596598656.png?fit=612%2C445&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-06-06-17-at-06.08-PM-e1508596598656.png?fit=612%2C445&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-06-06-17-at-06.08-PM-e1508596598656.png?fit=612%2C445&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4673,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/digitalarkivets-find-source-feature\/","url_meta":{"origin":4202,"position":4},"title":"Digitalarkivet&#8217;s &#8220;Find source feature&#8221;","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"June 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an edited and expanded look at the re-designed Digitalarkivet's \"Find source feature\" After the re-design, it seems like the \"Find source\" feature has a more important role as an entry point for searches in the Digitalarkivet. \u00a0I, therefore, decided to edit and expand my article \"I'm totally stuck\".\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Norwegian Sources&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Norwegian Sources","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/norwegian-genealogy\/norwegian-sources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Find-source-2-e1508597570935.jpg?fit=470%2C445&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10976,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/the-eiendom-sources-in-digitalarkivet\/","url_meta":{"origin":4202,"position":5},"title":"The \u201cEiendom\u201d Sources in Digitalarkivet: A Complete Guide for Genealogists","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"March 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"If you research Norwegian family history, you already know the \u201cpeople records\u201d: baptisms, confirmations, marriages, burials, and censuses.\u00a0But serious genealogical research in Norway eventually leads to something even more revealing: Eiendom sources in Digitalarkivet (Digitalarkivet, n.d.-a). Understanding Eiendom in Digitalarkivet: A Cornerstone Guide for Genealogists Serious Norwegian genealogy eventually reaches\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Digitalarkivet and other Archives&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Digitalarkivet and other Archives","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/norwegian-genealogy\/norwegian-sources\/digitalarkivet-and-other-archives\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Eiendom-Digitalarkivet.jpg?fit=685%2C457&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Eiendom-Digitalarkivet.jpg?fit=685%2C457&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Eiendom-Digitalarkivet.jpg?fit=685%2C457&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4202"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10581,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202\/revisions\/10581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}