Use Classic search to generate a list of sessions that match specific criteria or visitor scenarios that you want to analyze. By querying the captured session data, you can locate sessions for further analysis or replay.

1. Click Session Search from the navigation panel.

   If search does not open to Classic search, click Classic search in the Search | Classic search switcher in the upper right corner of the user interface.

2. Specify the search scope and criteria by setting values for Session status, Application profile, and Session end time.

   Refine your search by selecting the Include or Exclude filter and by defining your search conditions.

   The Include and Exclude filter can help eliminate unwanted hits from search results. For example:

   • Apply the Exclude filter to view only those sessions that do not include the specified data in the search criteria
   • Apply the Include filter to view only those sessions that include the specified data in the search criteria. Include is the default filter setting.

   Note: As an Administrator, you can pin conditions to the drop-down lists so that the most commonly searched conditions can be found at the top of the lists. Both regular users and the Administrator can view the list of pinned favorites, but only an Administrator can add and modify the list of favorites.

   To pin or unpin search conditions, enter a value or select a value from the list and click the pin icon.

   For events and session attributes that are counted as numeric, search operators are provided:

   For example, you might want to search for sessions that contain:

   • Events with Session Duration > 60
   • Events with Session ScreenViews < 100
   • Events with Cart Values between 500 and 1000

   For example, you might want to search for sessions that contain:

   • Screen view count
   • Client duration
   • Duration
   • Hit count
   • Event count
   • Fact count

   You can select from the following parameters to create the conditions of your search.

   Search parameters	Details
   URL	1. Select URL from the drop-down menu. 2. Enter a full or partial URL as the second condition.
   Session attribute	1. Select Session attribute from the drop-down menu. 2. Select a Session attribute name, which is either an event that was provided or a custom event that you created. 3. Select or enter the Session attribute value.
   Dimension	1. Select Dimension from the drop-down menu. 2. Select a dimension name 3. Select or enter the dimension value. The Include and Exclude filters for dimensions are based on the filter for the associated event and are locked by the system. Example: If you apply the Include filter for events in a session search, and you add a search condition for a specific dimension, the system sets the filter for the dimension to Include.
   Query string	1. Select Query string from the drop-down menu. 2. Enter the query string as the second condition.
   HTTP headers	1. Select HTTP header from the drop-down menu. 2. Enter the full HTTP header text as the second condition.
   URL fragment	1. Select Fragment from the drop-down menu. 2. Enter the fragment text as the second condition.
   Events	1. Select Event from the drop-down menu. 2. Select and Event name, which was either provided for you or an event you custom created. 3. Select the Operation. 4. If available, select the Event value.
   Cookies	1. Select Cookie from the drop-down menu. 2. Enter the name of the cookie. 3. If available, enter the Cookie value.
   Text string	1. Select Free text from the drop-down menu. 2. Enter the text string to search for. 3. You can check the Exact match box if you want to search only exact matches to your entered string. If you came to the Session Search results page by way of a free text search on the landing page, the search results include sessions that match any portion of the text string you entered. For example, if the Text to Search field includes "Shoes on Sale" and you select Exact Match, only those sessions that include the exact string of "Shoes on Sale" are returned in the search results. Sessions with the string "Shoes" or "Sale" only, are not returned in the results. The following items are indexed for free text searches: Text that is extracted from full DOMs/Hybrid/Akamai HTML hits Text that is extracted from full DOMs/Hybrid/Akamai HTML hits that are extracted from every DOM Diff (type 14 messages) Text that is extracted from native mobile screen layouts (type 10 messages) Text that is entered into form fields (web or mobile) Event values Only Non-Building Block Events or Events that update Session Attributes (which covers session attributes). ScreenView Name ScreenView URL Reference values from hybrid hits TLT_URL TLT_SERVER TLT_HOST_NAME TLT_APPLICATION_NAME
   User ID	1. From the lists in the view area, select Include > Free Text. 2. Enter the user ID in the Text to Search field and click Search.
   Struggle score	1. Select Struggle score from the drop-down menu. 2. From the Operation dropdown list, select an operator. For example, if you want a list of sessions that include pages that have struggle scores less than 90, select the > operator and specify 90 in the Value field. 3. Enter a numeric value for the struggle score in the Value field.

3. Click Search. The search function performs a check on the search condition and presents an Invalid Value message for the following cases:
   • The field is blank.
   • A numeric field contains a non-numeric value.
4. Work with the search results
   1. Optional: The search is populated with conditions that you set, with the first two fields of the Search by condition disabled. You can select different search condition variables, enter different values and rerun the search.
   2. Optional: You can remove the search by clicking the X at the end of the Search by.
   3. Optional: Share the search condition with other users.
   4. Click the Share icon in the upper right corner of the user interface.
   5. Enter a name for the search and select how you want to share the search. You can share the search with a user group, individual users, or all the users (Public) in your organization.
   6. Click Share.

      The users with whom you shared the search can access the search from the Shared with me section of the Session Search navigation panel. The individuals with whom your shared the search, can:

      • Replay sessions from the shared search results page
      • Download sessions from the shared search results page
      • Save sessions from the shared search results page to the Event Tester.
      • Run the search and analyze the sessions returned.
      • Save the search, which adds the search to the user's own list of searches.

        Once a search is saved from Shared with me to the user's list of searches, the user can share the search with others.

5. If you search for the same conditions repeatedly, you can save the conditions as a template. Click Save > Save as new search in the upper right corner of the user interface.
   1. Enter a name for the search.
   2. Click Save.
6. Optional: Share your saved searches with other users or user groups.
   1. In the Session Search navigation panel, expand Saved searches.
   2. Select the saved search condition.
   3. Click the share icon.
   4. Modify the users or user groups with whom you want to share the saved search.
   5. Click Share.

      The individual users and those users in the user groups that you selected can access the search from the Shared with me section of the Session Search navigation panel.

7. Optional: You can export the session search results to Digital Analytics or to a file on your desktop in .pdf, .xls, or .csv format.

When you search for older sessions, a search can take longer to complete. The table displays results for each day as it is retrieved beginning with the most recent day of your search criteria. You can check the status of your search above the table on the left and you'll get a notification in the Activity list when the search is complete. Return to your search at any time by clicking Activity list and selecting your search. 

Your subscription has a limit on active searches for each user. If you try to begin a session search after that limit is reached, you'll have to either wait for one of the active searches to finish, or pause an in-progress search to begin your search immediately. 

What to do next

From the Session Result page, you can:

Note: As an Administrator, you can pin conditions to the drop-down lists so that the most commonly searched conditions can be found at the top of the lists. Both regular users and the Administrator can view the list of pinned favorites, but only an Administrator can add and modify the list of favorites.

To pin or unpin search conditions enter a value or select a value from the list and click the pin icon.

Control the number of sessions that display on the search results page

By default, the number sessions that Search (formerly Session Search BETA) displays for matching your search criteria is 100.

If you want to display the maximum allowed number of sessions (2500) for your search criteria, select All sessions as the Display option.

The option that you set for the number of sessions displayed persists for the duration of your login. For example, if you change the number of search results displayed from 100 sessions to All sessions, and then you go to the Event Manager feature and then go back to Session Search, the session list shows All sessions by default. However, if you change the number of search results displayed from 100 sessions to All sessions and log out, when you log back in, the default reverts to 100 sessions.

The ability to control how many sessions are displayed in the search result is available in Classic Search and Search (formerly Session Search BETA).

• Change the criteria and conditions that are specified in the Search by fields, and then rerun the search. Click Edit Criteria, change or add conditions, click Search.
• Select a predefined view from the View list.
• Replay the session by placing your cursor on the row where the session is listed and clicking the "play" icon.

  If a screen or step in the session contains a match of the search conditions you specified, it is marked with a blue flag in the navigation pane of Session replay.

• Download the session by clicking the "download" icon in the row that contains the session you want to download.
• Double-click any session in the list to open it for viewing.

  The user interface provides access to Replay, Raw data, and Timeline views. The view that opens for you depends on what is set in the field Always open session to this view in your user profile.

To continue learning about session search, visit our Acoustic Academy learning course, Session Search.