You can search the database with or without using search operators and placeholders. Without placeholders, the search engine will only find identical terms.

After you have entered your search term or terms into the search box and started the search, the following fields will be searched for matches:

1. Number
2. Sign text (sign without a representation)
3. Verbal elements (sign with a representation which includes characters)
4. Remarks (descriptions, e.g. blazons)
5. Address of the authority or organisation
6. Vienna Classification
7. State

You will obtain results if the character string found matches what you typed exactly. For example, a search for ‘photo’ will only find results with the word ‘photo’ and not ‘photos’, ‘photograph’ or ‘photographer’. To search for alternative spellings or similar terms, please use the advanced search options.

If you use several search terms, the search results will contain at least one of these terms (the standard operator OR).

The search does not differentiate between upper and lower case letters.

Umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and diacritical marks (e.g. à, ô, ç) are not taken into account by the search. This is also the case for using quotation marks to search for exact phrases. It therefore does not matter if you type umlauts or accent marks – a search for ‘schön’ or ‘schon’ will find the same results. You cannot, however, use ‘ae’ ‘oe’ or ‘ue’ in place of ‘ä’, ‘ö’ or ‘ü’.

The search engine does not recognise special characters. This includes, for example, the characters +  -   /  & !  (  ). Full stops and commas are not recognised.

Because special characters function like spaces, the character strings before and after a special character (PC-Doctor) are handled as though they are separate terms (search for ‘PC’ and ‘Doctor’). Therefore, please place search terms with special characters in quotation marks – “PC-Doctor”.