Context search: finding passages by meaning

What this does

Task menu ▸ Context Search

Unlike Word's own search, Context Search does not look for words but for meaning. You describe in your own words what a passage should be about – "rules on notice periods", say – and get the places where that is dealt with, even if they say "termination of the contractual relationship".

The three search methods

• Thorough – the AI reads the whole document. Finds things phrased entirely differently. Takes longer and goes to the AI service.
• Quick – find similar wording (without AI). Runs on your machine. Finds related phrasings but nothing named completely differently.
• Quick – find the same words (without AI). Essentially the classic search, just with a result list.

Additionally: Only the next passage after the cursor – for working through a document without needing the whole list.

The result list

You see how many passages were found, with a page number and a percentage match. Select all and None set the ticks.

Then you decide what should happen to the selected passages:

• add a comment – each passage gets a comment balloon.
• highlight in color – each passage is highlighted.

Mark carries it out. With no passage selected, or no action chosen, nothing happens; the add-in tells you which is missing.

When nothing really matches

If the search finds nothing convincing, it says so openly: "Nothing really matches '…'. These come closest:" – and still shows the best candidates. Take that heading seriously: what follows are approximations, not findings.

Both are reversible

Highlights and comments can be removed again through Word. If you run several searches in a row, tidy up in between – otherwise you will no longer know which comment belongs to which search.