# Where is advanced search?

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/where-is-advanced-search/1750>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/where-is-advanced-search/1750 "2019-09-24T20:50:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rikland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Rikland](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Rikland)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/where-is-advanced-search/1750/1 "2019-09-24T20:50:24Z")

</div>

Hi!

I am a new user and Jabref is exactly what I need, but I’m having trouble.

In the docs an advanced search mode is mentioned to allow you to enter regex. In Jabref 5, I cannot find it anywhere. What am I missing?

I tried Jabref 4.3.1 but it crashes on import endnote xml. I’m on MacOS 10.12.06

Any hints are welcome.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/where-is-advanced-search/1750/2 "2019-09-25T12:56:16Z")

</div>

Hi,

Edit// Enable autocompletion in the settings and when you enter a search term, there should be a drop down with the options then. The star icon button enables the regex mode

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rikland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Rikland](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Rikland)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/where-is-advanced-search/1750/3 "2019-09-25T15:49:55Z")

</div>

Thank you Christoph!

I had to restart Jabref in order to get it working.

There is an uncaught exception when typing in a backslash.

I’m guessing this has been up for debate already, but it seems wrong me that the search toolbar is dependent on autocomplete.

Btw. Now I’m using today’s snapshot.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/where-is-advanced-search/1750/4 "2019-09-25T16:30:30Z")

</div>

Yeah, I noticed that as well. The problem is the search is triggered whenever you enter a value.

> <https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/5349>
>
> Enable regex mode in search.
> Start typing F\[
> Search triggers and results in regex error:
> 
> Idea would be to only trigger regex search if...

I reported that as bug already. Will think of an idea how to best fix this