---
title: "Full-Text Search for Documents: Finding by Content"
description: "Full-text search finds documents by what's inside them – not by file names. How this works and why it replaces folder structures."
type: "wissen"
product: "documents"
slug: "full-text-search-documents"
source_language: "de"
target_languages: ["de", "en", "es", "pl", "tr"]
published: "2026-06-10"
status: "publish"
faq_json: [{"q":"What is full-text search for documents?","a":"A search that scans the complete content of documents – not just file names or keywords. So you find an invoice by the supplier name or a line item in the text."}, {"q":"Does full-text search also work with scanned documents?","a":"Yes, if the scans were processed with text recognition (OCR). Modern systems handle this automatically when adding them to the archive."}, {"q":"What's the benefit of searching by amount or document type?","a":"You can narrow things down quickly without knowing the exact wording: for example, all invoices between 500 and 1,000 euros from the last quarter – handy for accounting queries."}, {"q":"Does full-text search replace the folder structure?","a":"Largely: when content is searchable and documents are classified, you no longer need to memorize filing paths. The structure emerges from the document attributes."}, {"q":"Does the archive stay searchable?","a":"In good systems, yes: even long-term archived documents remain findable by content, type, date, and amount – important for audits and queries years later."}]
language: "en"
source_id: "wissen/volltextsuche-dokumente"
source_hash: "a0835223dea20a9dea3daa6e8d5cafd684e1b5d611d58d014d25168dea5f128e"
---

Full-text search means: you find a document by what's inside it – not by its file name or the folder it sits in. The system read every document during processing; that's why a supplier name, a contract number, or a keyword from the text is enough to find the right receipt in seconds. For scanned paper documents, text recognition (OCR) ensures that they too are searchable.

## Why File Names Fail as a Search System

"2024-03-12_Invoice_Mueller_final_v2.pdf" – file-naming discipline is the attempt to create searchability by hand. It reliably fails in three places: everyone names things differently, no one renames retroactively, and the name can only carry a fraction of the content. If you're looking for the invoice about the "heating system maintenance" but only have the company name in the file name, you click through folders. Full-text search solves this structurally: the content itself is the index.

## More Than Text: Searching by Attributes

The search becomes truly powerful when the system not only reads documents but also understands them. In [webRichtung documents](https://www.webrichtung.de/module/documents/), every document is classified during processing – which lets you combine:

- **Content:** a keyword, a name, a line item from the text
- **Document type:** only invoices, only contracts
- **Time period:** by document date or upload period
- **Amount from/to:** for example all receipts between €500 and €1,000

This changes typical everyday situations: your tax advisor asks about an incoming invoice from the spring? Type "invoice", time period, rough amount – found. A customer disputes an agreement? A keyword from the contract text is enough.

## The Archive Stays Searchable Too

Searchability must not end at the archive boundary. In audits in particular, it's about receipts dating back years. In documents, the archived holdings remain just as searchable as the workspace – long-term archived documents sit in the GoBD archive with Object Lock, meaning they are stored unalterably and yet still findable in seconds. Search time during a tax audit is therefore no longer a stress factor.

## What This Means for Your Filing Structure

When content is searchable and documents are classified, folder depth loses its purpose: you no longer need to know where something is – just something about it. Instead of a maintained hierarchy, you only need two zones: the workspace for what's active and the archive for what's completed. The article [Building Digital Document Storage](/en/wissen/digitale-dokumentenablage.html) shows how to build such a filing system from the ground up.

## Three Everyday Situations

1. **Complaint:** A customer claims a delivery commitment was different. Enter a keyword from the order confirmation – the case is in front of you in seconds.
2. **Annual financial statement:** The tax advisor needs three specific incoming invoices. Type "invoice", time period, amount range – instead of an hour of folder searching, a minute of filter work.
3. **Contract check:** You want to know which contracts contain a certain clause. The wording as a search term is enough – across the entire holdings.

## Prerequisite: Clean Capture

Full-text search is only as good as the processing behind it. So make sure all entry paths – scanner, email import, upload – run through the same text recognition and classification. You can read what OCR delivers for invoices today in the article [OCR Text Recognition for Invoices](/en/wissen/ocr-texterkennung-rechnungen.html).