Table of contents: Jump to the section you need

• Manage Account
• Update Password
• Site Preferences
• Users & Roles
• User statuses
• User roles
• Update user info
• Activate, deactivate and remove users
• Add new user
• Resend invite email
• Request an invoice for an additional license
• Search results guide
• Search narrowing guide
• Sorting
• Documents
• Guide to search fields
• Advertiser/Challenger

• Product
• Issue/Claim type
• Date range
• Category
• Combining fields
• Connector rules for keyword searches
• Words and Phrases
• Wildcards (* and ?)
• Fuzzy Searching
• Stemming
• AND Connector
• OR Connector
• W/N Connector
• NOT, AND NOT and NOT W/N
• Numeric Range Searching
• Release Notes

The Manage Account tab offers options to update your password and set site preferences. If you are an admin for your organization, you will also have the ability to manage your users and their roles.

Selecting the Update Password option on the Manage Account tab will prompt you to enter your old password, your new password, and a confirmation of your new password. A strength indicator will help you select a strong password.

If you do not remember your old password, click log out, click log in, and then click the "Forgot your password?" link on the login page. This will send you an e-mail to confirm who you are, and then send a second e-mail that will allow you to select a new password.

The Site Preferences option on the Manage Account tab gives you three options to customize your experience with the Online Archive.

1. Default Page allows you to select the page you see when you first enter the Archive. Some users prefer to see Latest Cases, while others prefer to go directly to the Search Tab. Cookies ensure that the site remembers your preference even when you are not logged in This preference controls the page you see when you go to case-report.bbb.org. If you have a bookmark or browser history link that goes directly to an interior page of the Archive, this preference will not take effect.
    
2. Results View allows you to choose the way you see search results. Standard View will show you the complete search result, which is helpful for research. Compact View will collapse the search results to show only the case number and product name. This is helpful if you need to quickly scroll through results. While this setting determines what you see by default, you can always toggle between standard and compact views on any results page, or expand or collapse a single search result.
    
3. Excerpt Length lets you choose between shorter excerpts, with 10 words on either side of your search term; and longer excerpts, with 25 words on either side. Shorter excerpts are recommended.
    

If you are an admin for your organization, you will see the option on the Manage Account tab to manage Users & Roles. When you click this option, you will see all of the users in your organization, with options to update their information; activate, deactivate or remove them; and add new users.

The Site Preferences option on the Manage Account tab gives you three options to customize your experience with the Online Archive.

1. Default Page allows you to select the page you see when you first enter the Archive. Some users prefer to see Latest Cases, while others prefer to go directly to the Search Tab. Cookies ensure that the site remembers your preference even when you are not logged in This preference controls the page you see when you go to case-report.bbb.org. If you have a bookmark or browser history link that goes directly to an interior page of the Archive, this preference will not take effect.
    
2. Results View allows you to choose the way you see search results. Standard View will show you the complete search result, which is helpful for research. Compact View will collapse the search results to show only the case number and product name. This is helpful if you need to quickly scroll through results. While this setting determines what you see by default, you can always toggle between standard and compact views on any results page, or expand or collapse a single search result.
    
3. Excerpt Length lets you choose between shorter excerpts, with 10 words on either side of your search term; and longer excerpts, with 25 words on either side. Shorter excerpts are recommended.
    

All users that do not have a status of Inactive display with check marks in either the Licensed User column, the Org Admin column, or both. Licensed Users have permissions to open documents in the Online Archive, using one of your subscription's licenses. Org Admins have permissions to see the Users & Roles option on the Manage Account tab. A user that is inactive has no roles assigned. You set a user's roles when you add them, and you can update a user's roles by selecting Update User Info in the 3-dot menu next to each user's e-mail address.

Update User Info is an option under the 3-dot menu next to each user's name that allows you to update the user's first and last name and their roles. A user's e-mail address is not editable. If you need to change a user's e-mail address, remove the user and add them again with the new e-mail.

You can manage your subscription's licenses by activating, deactivating and removing users.

1. Deactivate User is an option on the 3-dot menu next to the e-mail address of every user that does not have an Inactive status. When you deactivate a user, you free up the license that is associated with them. They appear on the bottom of your list with a grey background and a status of Inactive. You can deactivate a user when they do not currently have a need to use the Online Archive, but they may need to access it again at a later time. In the meantime, you can assign the freed up license to another user if you need to.
    
2. Make Active is an option on the 3-dot menu next to the e-mail address of every user with the status Inactive. When you select Make Active and there is a license available for that user, the user's status will update to Invited and they will no longer appear at the bottom of the list with a grey background. If there is no license available, you will have the opportunity to request an invoice for an additional license. When you request an invoice, the user's status will update to Pending, and they will no longer appear at the bottom of the list with a grey background. Once the invoice has been paid, the user's status will update to Invited. When the user logs in for the first time, the user's status will update to Active.
    
3. Remove User is an option that appears on the 3-dot menu next to each user's e-mail address. When you remove a user, they no longer appear on your user list. Remove users who have left your organization or who will no longer need access to the Online Archive.
    

 

Use the link at the upper right of your user list to add a new user. You will be asked to enter their e-mail address, first and last name, and to select their roles -- licensed user, org admin or both.

When you add a user, they initially have the status Inactive. There is no limit to the number of users you can add to your list, however the number of active licenses is limited by your subscription. The current count of licenses in your subscription, licenses that are in use, and licenses that are available appears at the bottom of your user list.

Select Make Active on the 3-dot menu next to the user's e-mail address to associate a license with that user. See "Make Active," above, for additional details.

Users that you have made active who have a paid license will have a status of "Invited" until their first login. This means they have received their invitation e-mail, but they have not yet logged in to activate their account.

Users with "Invited" status offer an option in the 3-dot menu for you to re-send the invitation e-mail, in the event that they missed the initial invitation.

When you select Make Active on the 3-dot menu next to the e-mail address of an inactive user, and all of your current licenses are in use, you will have the option to request an invoice for an additional license. License costs are pro-rated to the day you requested them, and are valid for the remainder of the calendar year. The invoice will be generated automatically and sent to the billing contact for your organization's subscription. While the invoice is outstanding, the user's status will be Pending. Once the invoice is paid, the user's status will update to Invited. Once they log in for the first time, their status will update to Active.

You can request invoices for additional licenses up to a total of nine. Subscriptions with 10 or more licenses are eligible for bulk subscription pricing, which cannot be handled through the self-service account management page. If you request a tenth invoice, you will be prompted to contact ASRC staff.

The Online Archive brings you one search result per case, with all of the documents related to that case bundled together. Here are the elements of a search result:

 

1. The headline is made up of the division name, the case number, and the product name that the case was about. The headline will always link to the case report.
    
2. The case date reflects the date that the case report was published.
    
3. The parties involved with the case are listed in the format challenger vs: advertiser. If the challenger is an ASRC division rather than an outside company, the format is challenger re: advertiser
    
4. A keyword excerpt will appear in the search result if your search included one or more keywords. The excerpt displays roughly 20 words before and after the first occurrence of your search term in any document related to the case. Use the excerpts to scan through your results and determine which are relevant to you without needing to click into each document.
    
5. Most of the time, your keywords will be found in the case report. But if your search term matches any document related to the case we will bring you the search result, even if there is no match in the text of the case report. “Found in” will show you the document that the excerpt comes from. Remember, no matter what document produced the match, the headline will always link you to the case report.
    
6. The Issue/Claim types assigned by the attorney appear in the search result
    
7. Click Case Documents to open the list of all documents related to the case and their publication dates, and link directly to any document: Click again to close.
    
   
8. If you need to cite a case, click the Citation flag and a properly formatted citation will pop up. Click in the citation window, highlight and control-C to copy the citation, and then control-V to paste it into your document. Click the citation flag again to close.
   

1. The Division box will show you how your search results are distributed between NAD, CARU and ERSP cases. If you are only interested in CARU for example, click the checkbox next to CARU and click Apply Filter. You can always remove the filter later to get back to your complete result set.
    
2. Show cases that include NARB panel documents or Compliance Reports by selecting one of the checkboxes in the second filter box.
    
3. The quantities in the Division, Show Cases That Include, Advertiser and Challenger boxes show the number of cases for each item listed in your current result set.
    
4. The Advertiser and Challenger boxes each show the 5 companies with the most cases in your current result set. To narrow your results to one company, click the checkbox next to the name and click Apply Filter. You can select multiple checkboxes. You can always remove the filter to return to your complete result set.
    
5. Click See More to expand the Advertiser or Challenger box to show up to 15 companies with the most cases. If If you don't see the Advertiser or Challenger you are looking for, we encourage you to search. Click See Less to collapse the Advertiser or Challenger box back to its original size.
    

If your search includes one or more keywords, your results will come back sorted by relevancy. In our search engine, relevancy is determined by the number of occurrences of the word in the document, and how close those words are to the top of the document, among other factors.
Click "sort by date" to see the most recent results at the top. If your search does not contain a keyword, your results will always come back sorted by date.

When you view a document, to the left you will see a column that has some useful features.

1. For those times that control-F does not work with PDFs in your browser, the Find in Document feature will allow you to get to the part of the document you are looking for. The word you search will be highlighted in the document, and you will be able to see how many times it appears and navigate between them just like regular search highlighting.
    
2. Links to all documents related to the case are listed to the left of the PDF. The case document you are currently viewing will appear highlighted.
    
3. If you need to cite this case, click the Citation flag and a properly formatted citation will pop up. Click in the citation window, highlight and control-C to copy the citation, and then control-V to paste it into your document. Click the citation flag again to close.
    

1. Keyword searches - The Keyword search will find the text you entered if it appears anywhere in the text of any case document. When you search by Keyword, your results will include excerpts, and will be sorted by relevancy. The Keyword search supports boolean searches, see below for the connector rules used by our search engine. If you don't get the results you expect from a keyword search, think about whether the words you entered would appear in a document the way you entered them.
    
2. Advertiser/Challenger - The Advertiser and Challenger fields search against the lists of all company names identified in case reports as Advertisers or Challengers. You will see type-ahead selections of company names in the lists as you begin to type. You may see multiple versions of a company name. Whichever version you select, the search will return results for all versions of that company name. So don't worry about which name you should pick, or whether you need to do multiple searches. Because this is not a keyword search, you will not see excerpts in your results, and your results will be sorted by date.
    
3. And/Or Connector - You can use the And/Or connector to support specialized search needs. Search an advertiser AND a challenger to see all cases where one company has challenged another. The OR connector is useful if you want to see all activity for a single company, whether it was an Advertiser or a Challenger. Select the company name in both fields, and select the OR connector.
    
4. Product - The product field will find the words you enter if they appear in the product name of a case -- the part that acts as the headline in a search result. When you are looking for particular products, this is a good way to get a smaller, more relevant result set than the Keyword search, which will find your word anywhere in the text of case documents. There is no type-ahead in the product field. You do not need to exactly match the name of a product as it appears in the case to get a result. Because this is not a keyword search against the complete text, you will not see excerpts in your results, and your results will be sorted by date.
    
5. Issue/Claim Type - This field provides a list of the Issue and Claim Types assigned by attorneys as they author a case. Use this field when you want to limit your results to only those Issue and Claim types that were considered critical factors in a decision. For example, many cases mention puffery in the document text but were not considered puffery cases by the attorneys who authored them. If you need to see all cases classified by the authoring attorney as puffery cases, select puffery in this field. If you need to see all cases that refer to puffery anywhere in the document text, search by the keyword puffery. Because this is not a keyword search against the complete text, you will not see excerpts in your results, and your results will be sorted by date.
    
6. Date Range - use the date field to limit your results to cases that were published between the set of dates that you select. Because this is not a keyword search against the complete text, you will not see excerpts in your results, and your results will be sorted by date.
    
7. Category - This field provides a list of categories assigned by attorneys as they author a case. Ust this field to limit your results to cases on a particular topic, as determined by the attorney. Because this is not a keyword search against the complete text, you will not see excerpts in your results, and your results will be sorted by date.
    
8. Combining fields - Combine fields as needed to construct a search that will return the results you need. When any field is combined with a Keyword search, excerpts will appear in your results and your results will be sorted by relevancy. Use caution when combining fields -- only cases that match all of the parameters you selected will be returned as search results. The more parameters you use, the higher the odds that no documents will match everything that you entered.
    
9. Clearing the form - The search form will remember your last search when you return to it, so that you can easily modify your search parameters if you need to. If you need to start a new search, click Clear to empty all fields of previously entered contents.
    
10. Connector guidelines - The link to help with search connectors is directly above the Keyword search box, for reminders as to the exact syntax supported by our search engine
     

A full-text search is performed using what is called a boolean search request. A boolean search request consists of a group of words or phrases linked by connectors such as and and or that indicate the relationship between them. Examples:
 

Treasure and Island	Both words must be present
Treasure or Island	Either word can be present
Treasure w/5 Island	Treasure must occur within 5 words of Island
Treasure not w/5 Island	Treasure must not occur within 5 words of Island
Treasure and not Island	Only Treasure must be present

if you use more than one connector, you should use parentheses to indicate precisely what you want to search for. For example, Treasure and Island or Adventure could mean (Treasure and Island) or Adventure , or it could mean Treasure and (Island or Adventure) . Noise words, such as if and the, are ignored in searches. Search terms may include the following special characters:
 

?	Matches any single character. Example: dis? matches dish or disk
*	Matches any number of characters. Example: dis* matches dishes
%	Fuzzy search. Example: ba%nana matches banana, bananna.
~~	Numeric range. Example: 12~~24 matches 18.

You do not need to use any special punctuation or commands to search for a phrase. Simply enter the phrase the way it ordinarily appears. You can use a phrase anywhere in a search request. Example: Treasure w/5 gold dubloons If a phrase contains a noise word, full-text Search will skip over the noise word when searching for it. For example, a search for statue of liberty would retrieve any document containing the word statue, any intervening word, and the word liberty.

Punctuation inside of a search word is treated as a space. Thus, can't would be treated as a phrase consisting of two words: can and t. 1843(c)(8)(ii) would become 1843 c 8 ii (four words).
 

Fuzzy searching will find a word even if it is misspelled. For example, a fuzzy search for apple will find appple. Fuzzy searching can be useful when you are searching text that may contain typographical errors, or for text that has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR).
You can add fuzziness using the % character. The number of % characters you add determines the number of differences full-text Search will ignore when searching for a word. The position of the % characters determines how many letters at the start of the word have to match exactly. Examples:

• ba%nana Word must begin with ba and have at most one difference between it and banana.
• b%%anana Word must begin with b and have at most two differences between it and banana.

Fuzzy searching will find a word even if it is misspelled. For example, a fuzzy search for apple will find appple. Fuzzy searching can be useful when you are searching text that may contain typographical errors, or for text that has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR).
You can add fuzziness using the % character. The number of % characters you add determines the number of differences full-text Search will ignore when searching for a word. The position of the % characters determines how many letters at the start of the word have to match exactly. Examples:

• ba%nana Word must begin with ba and have at most one difference between it and banana.
• b%%anana Word must begin with b and have at most two differences between it and banana.

Stemming extends a search to cover grammatical variations on a word. For example, a search for fish would also find fishing. A search for applied would also find applying, applies, and apply.

Stemming is applied automatically to your search. If you want to remove stemming from your search, enclose your word in quotes. color Will find colors, colored, coloring

"color" Will find only the word color; no variations.

Use the AND connector in a search request to connect two expressions, both of which must be found in any document retrieved. For example: Apple pie and poached egg would retrieve any document that contained both phrases.

(apple or banana) and (vine w/5 grape) would retrieve any document that (1) contained either apple OR banana, AND (2) contained vine within 5 words of grape

Use the OR connector in a search request to connect two expressions, at least one of which must be found in any document retrieved. For example, apple pie or poached egg would retrieve any document that contained apple pie, poached egg, or both.
 

Use the W/N connector in a search request to specify that one word or phrase must occur within N words of the other. For example, apple w/5 pie would retrieve any document that contained apple within 5 words of pie. The following are examples of search requests using W/N: (apple or pie) w/5 banana

(apple w/5 pie) w/10 banana

(apple and pie) w/10 banana

Some types of complex expressions using the W/N connector will produce ambiguous results and should not be used. The following are examples of ambiguous search requests: (apple and banana) w/10 (vine and grape)

(apple w/10 banana) w/10 (vine and grape)

In general, at least one of the two expressions connected by W/N must be a single word or phrase or a group of words and phrases connected by OR. Example: (apple and banana) w/10 (vine or grape)

(apple and banana) w/10 orange tree

full-text Search uses two built in search words to mark the beginning and end of a file: xfirstword and xlastword. The terms are useful if you want to limit a search to the beginning or end of a file. For example, apple w/10 xlastword would search for apple within 10 words of the end of a document.
 

Use NOT in front of any search expression to reverse its meaning. This allows you to exclude documents from a search. Example: apple sauce and not grape NOT standing alone can be the start of a search request. For example, not grape would retrieve all documents that did not contain grape.

If NOT is not the first connector in a request, you need to use either AND or OR with NOT:

apple or not sauce

not (apple w/5 sauce)

The NOT W/ ("not within") operator allows you to search for a word or phrase not in association with another word or phrase. Example: apple not w/20 sauce Unlike the W/ operator, NOT W/ is not symmetrical. That is, apple not w/20 sauce is not the same as sauce not w/20 apple. In the apple not w/20 sauce request, full-text Search searches for apple and excludes cases where apple is too close to sauce. In the sauce not w/20 apple request, full-text Search searches for sauce and excludes cases where sauce is too close to apple.

A numeric range search is a search for any numbers that fall within a range. To add a numeric range component to a search request, enter the upper and lower bounds of the search separated by ~~ like this: apple w/5 12~~17 This request would find any document containing apple within 5 words of a number between 12 and 17.

Numeric range searches only work with positive integers. A numeric range search includes the upper and lower bounds (so 12 and 17 would be retrieved in the above example).

For purposes of numeric range searching, decimal points and commas are treated as spaces and minus signs are ignored. For example, -123,456.78 would be interpreted as: 123 456 78 (three numbers).

2/1/2019

• Manage Account Tab allows you to reset your password and set site preferences
• New Org Admin Role allows an organization admin to manage your subscription's licenses and users
• Search Results Compact View allows you to collapse search results to an easily browseable view. You can set this as a site preference as your default view, or you can toggle between compact and standard views on any search results page. You can also use the plus and minus signs next to each search result to expand or collapse any single item.

12/19/2017

• Self-serve forgotten password. If you forget your password, you will now be able to re-set it yourself without an ASRC staffer's assistance. Just click the "Forgot my password" link on the login screen. Keep in mind that the system-generated e-mail that provides you the link to the page where you can make the change MAY go to a spam or junk folder, depending how your organization handles no-reply e-mails.
   
• Show cases that include NARB Panel or Compliance Report documents. Use the new filter box on the search results page to limit your search results to only those that have these key documents attached. Note that selecting both checkboxes will bring you all documents that have either of those documents, rather than those that have both.
  ? 
• Support for "up to" searches. We have removed the words "up" and "to" from our search engine's noise word list, meaning that you can now search phrases like savings up to and get results.
   
• This release also includes some behind-the-scenes tidying-up that will not be visible to users;
• Citation formats have been improved to reduce the need for users to make edits after copying and pasting the citation;
• Video of pre-launch demo webinar is now available on the help page;
• Fixed a publishing issue that caused error messages uploading Abstracts;
• And other small cleanup items that will not be visible to users.