# I can't find my document

A five-minute checklist that finds it: clear hidden search filters, search the right way for how the document was filed, and check the places documents wait.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: user · Time: 5 minutes · Last verified: 2026-08-30

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/search-and-find/cant-find-a-document

**Work through these five checks in order — the document almost always turns up by check 3.** Documents in Content Central are essentially never lost; they're filtered out by a search setting, not yet indexed, or waiting in a queue.

## 1. Clear your search scope — the #1 cause

Search remembers your last filters, and a leftover filter silently hides everything outside it.

1. Look at the **catalog selector**. If it names a specific catalog (or says "+2 more"), your search is limited to those. Open it and click **Clear All** to search everywhere.
2. Check the **Field Filters** button — a number badge means filters from an earlier search are still active. Remove them.
3. Look for an **"In [folder] and subfolders"** pill — that scopes your search to one folder. Click its **X** to remove it.
4. Uncheck **exact phrase** matching if it's on, and re-run the search.

*[Screenshot: The sneaky state: the catalog selector pinned to one catalog, one document type selected, and the collapsed Field Filters badge quietly holding 2 filters from an earlier search.]*

> **NOTE:** Fastest reset: the **⋯ menu > Clear search** wipes everything and starts fresh.

## 2. Search by a field instead of keywords

Type a value you *know* is on the document — an invoice number, a name, a date — as a **field condition** (in Power Search, pick the field and use "contains") rather than in the keyword box.

- **Found it this way?** The document is fine — it just isn't full-text indexed yet. New documents become keyword-searchable when their catalog's index next updates, which on many systems runs **once a day**. Field search works the moment a document is filed; keyword search catches up on the schedule. If it's still keyword-invisible tomorrow, tell your administrator (see below).
- **Scanned document?** A scan is a picture until text recognition processes it. If it was captured without "Make Fully Searchable," its *contents* will never match keywords — but its fields always will. Text added as a **PDF comment or annotation** is also invisible to keyword search, even though you can see it on the page — [here's why](/content-central/search-and-find/why-text-you-can-see-isnt-searchable).
- **Very broad search?** Keyword search retrieves a limited number of results for very broad queries — your document can exist and still fall outside a huge result set. Add a word or a field filter to narrow the search rather than paging deeper.

> **NOTE:** Searching for something with special characters, like `invoice #123` or `50%`? Characters like `#`, `%`, `*` and `?` have special meanings to search. Put the phrase in quotes, or search a field instead.

## 3. Check the places documents wait

A document can exist but live somewhere search doesn't look yet. Check each of these under **Work Areas**:

| Check | Why it hides there |
| --- | --- |
| **Coding Queue** | Scanned/captured but not yet filed — invisible to all search until someone completes its fields. If a coworker scanned it to their *personal* queue, only they can see it. |
| **Approval Queue** | Many systems hide documents from search while they're on an active approval process. |
| **Work Queue** | Same — in-process documents can be hidden from search until released. |
| **Checked Out** | Checked-out documents still appear in search with a lock icon — but if you're hunting for the *editable* copy, this is where yours are listed. |

## 4. Browse to it

Open the **Folder Browser** and navigate to where the document should live. Browsing and searching are separate permissions — if you can browse to a document but search never returns it (or the reverse), that's a permission setting only your administrator can fix, and now you can tell them exactly which one.

## 5. Still missing? Tell your administrator — with specifics

Send this exact evidence packet with a link to this article — it turns an hour of guessing into a two-minute fix:

- [ ] One document you **know exists** (or should), and one **exact value** that's on it
- [ ] The **exact search term** you typed, and where (keyword box vs. a field)
- [ ] Whether **field search found it** (check 2) and whether you can **browse to it** (check 4)
- [ ] The **catalog selector state** when you searched (all catalogs, or which ones)
- [ ] Roughly **when** the document was added, and when you searched
- [ ] A **screenshot or short recording** of the search returning nothing

## For administrators

Content Central never says "results were hidden" — permission filtering and empty results look identical to the user. So diagnose by elimination, in this order:

1. **Permissions.** For the document's type, check **Administration > Catalogs & Document Types > [type] > Permissions**: the user needs *search*, *view*, and *browse* as separate grants — and remember permissions merge from **all** the user's groups plus their own record (there is no deny; one missing grant, not one blocking grant, is the failure mode). Browse-but-not-search (or the reverse) exactly matches a user's check-4 report.
2. **The two "hide" settings.** **System Settings > Approval-Process Settings** and **> Work-Queue Settings** each have a *"Hide documents from Search & Catalog Browser…"* option. If enabled, in-process documents vanish for non-participants by design.
3. **Access-limiting field.** If *"Enable User-based Global Field for Limiting Document Access"* is on (**System Settings > Document-Properties Settings**), a document whose limiting-field value is blank or mistyped is invisible to everyone. This is the classic "it exists in the database but nobody can find it."
4. **Catalog index.** If field search finds what keyword search misses (a check-2 report): the catalog's index schedule may be too infrequent (the default is daily — check the catalog's update schedule), the Catalog service may be stopped, or the index needs a rebuild. Rebuilds run from the Catalog Manager on the server; contact Ademero support if prompted for an authorization code.
5. **OCR.** Scanned documents with no text recognition never match keywords. Check the document's **History** for a "make searchable" entry; verify the Capture service is running and your capture settings enable "Make Fully Searchable."
6. **Retention and deletion.** Check the document type's retention policy, and the document history/audit trail for a delete entry. There is no recycle bin: deleted files move to the **Deleted Content** system folder on the server, from which you can re-capture — or restore from backup.
7. **Moved by workflow.** Workflow actions can move documents to a different catalog or type — the user may be searching where it *used* to live.