Search help

There are two search functions in Suomi.fi:

• the quick search is a basic search function that can be found at the top of every page
• the e-services search is a specific search for the e-transactions and forms section only

You can also search using the A-Z index.

Suomi.fi searches are restricted to information that is actually on Suomi.fi. The search covers:

• texts on pages within the portal
• e-services and forms found in the portal
• links within the portal (service information, organisations, bodies)
• local authority information in Suomi.fi
• public sector news and Suomi.fi bulletins in the news archive
• acts, decrees and decisions chosen for inclusion in the portal.

Suomi.fi searches cover the headings and descriptions of content in the portal, the names of organisations and the keywords defined for content. In the quick search, contact information for public servants can only be searched for by surname.

The search always focuses on content in the language in which the search is conducted. For example, no pages in Finnish will be returned for a search in English.

Quick search

The quick search function can be found at the top of every page on Suomi.fi and in the middle section of the start page. Enter one or more search terms in the text box and click Search or press Enter.
The Suomi.fi search is not case-sensitive. The search terms suomi, Suomi and SUOMI will all produce the same result.

You can truncate a search term with an asterisk (*). This is useful for searching different inflected forms and compound words. For example, the search term student will only return pages that contain exactly that word, whereas the truncated search term stud* will return pages with any word that begins with those letters, such as student, studying, studio, and so on.

You can enter several search terms. The Suomi.fi quick search will return pages that contain all of the search terms. For example, the results page for the search terms jobs government will return only the pages containing both those words.

If you want to search for several words in a specific order, enter them in quotation marks. For example, the search term “European Union” will only return the pages containing that specific phrase in that form.

Search operators (AND, OR, NOT) can also be used.

E-services search

There is a separate search for e-services and forms on the e-services and forms front page. It works like the quick search but only covers e-services and forms. 

You can search for e-services and forms in Suomi.fi on the basis of the title of the form, the form code or the name of the organisation, for example. To make your search easier, there is also a list of the most popular e-services and forms on the page, as well as the most recent additions to e-services and forms.

A-Z index

The A–Z index contains an alphabetical list of all Suomi.fi keywords, public-sector organisations covered in Suomi.fi, and all municipalities in Finland.

1. You can browse the A-Z index alphabetically.
2. By clicking on a letter, you will see a list of the keywords, organisations and municipalities beginning with that letter
3. You can restrict your view of the A-Z index to keywords only, organisations only or municipalities only. You can also further restrict a keyword search to keywords in a specific topic.

Search results

Conducting a search will return one or more pages of search results, with a maximum of 25 results displayed per page. If there are more than 25 results, you can browse through the results pages using the page number links or the Previous and Next links.

Results page contains this information:

1. At the top of the page you will see the search terms you entered and any search restrictions you made. You will also see how many results your search returned. Search result present all relevant results as default. After this you can restrict the search by content type or region.
2. Up to 25 search results will be displayed per page.
3. The result list is based on relevance - the results that are the most relevant to your query are shown first. A search result reference shows the title, description and the organisation responsible for its content.
4. You can restrict the search by content type: e-services and forms; service links; suomi.fi pages; acts and decrees; or news.
5. You can also restrict the search regionally. The options are to show all, only national or only municipal information.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for:

• check the spelling of your search term(s)
• reduce the number of search terms entered
• have you chosen a municipality in the “Show services in the municipality” bar? Please note that once you have done so, the search will give results only from your chosen municipality along with nationwide information.
• search the A-Z index for a keyword that best matches your search term.

If too many search results are returned, use more search terms or restrict the search in some other way.