The Lens does not track or record your search history unless you give permission to do so. If you enable the search history, the contents you browse on The Lens is tracked and recorded in your private search history page. This history is viewable by only you and we will never access or otherwise use it. You can use your search history to go back to searches you made in the past and these search history can be used to save queries for future use. The user must be logged in for the Lens to save the searches (if recording of the search history has been enabled). Searches done by guest users will only be saved till the duration of their session with the Lens.
Locations
Work Area Sidebar
You can see the “Search History” menu on the work area sidebar. You can view all your searches after you enabled search history by merely clicking on the menu.
Main Menu
Clicking on the “Search History” from the main menu under work area will lead you to the search history tab on the work area. Here you can see all the information on your searches.
Work Area Tabs
Clicking on the “Search History” from the work area menu tabs available in the Work Area will lead you to the search history tab on the work area. Here you can see all the information on your searches. Please note we have different history options for our suite of apps, including PatCite and PatSeq Finder.
How to Use
Enabling Search History
The Lens asks if you want to record your search history at the time of registration. You can also enable this feature anytime from your account settings. You can opt in or out of recording your search history using the checkbox available in the privacy pane on the account settings page.
Saving Query
You can use search history to save the queries you have made for future use. Clicking on the cog on the right of the search history table will show you the option to save your query which will further lead you to the “Save Query” dialogue. You can give the title, description and email alert preference and save the query. The accessibility of the saved query can also be managed before saving the query.
Retrieving Search history
Clicking on the “Search History” option available on any location will lead you to the work area search history tab where you can view all your search details after you opted in to record search history. Here you can see the list of search queries along with the date, search type (patent or scholar) and no of items associated with the query. Clicking on the query will take you to a new search result page corresponding to the query.
Merge Set
You can see the “Merge Sets” option on the “Set Actions” pane. Merge Sets will take you to a new result page with combined search results from the selected saved query set. For example, if you have two saved queries “DNA” and “DNA Sequence” then the result set after you merge would return a new result set with the query “DNA OR DNA Sequence”.
Intersect Set
With the “Intersect” option available on the “Set Actions” pane you can view a new search result page with the results that are common to the selected saved queries set. For example, if you have two saved queries “DNA” and “DNA Sequence” then the result set after you intersect would return a new result set with the query “DNA AND DNA Sequence”.
NB : Set actions(Merge/Intersect) are Beta and may not work on queries with filters applied.
Clear Search History
You can clear your browsing history with the Lens if you require. Click on the “Clear All History” button on the set action pane to delete all search queries at once. The Lens will ask for you confirmation before clearing the history permanently. You can also delete only the desired search query by clicking on the “Delete” button.