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We’ve upgraded the search algorithm in the Foods and Ingredients tabs to better understand what you type and what you actually mean.

This delivers more accurate matches, smarter filtering, and better-ranked results for reference foods across all workspaces. Search for your custom resources remains unchanged.

You don’t need to learn a new system, but understanding how search works can help you get even better results.

How your search is understood

When you type a search, we break it into meaningful parts and look for the best matches.

1. Search looks at:

• What the product is e.g. bread, yoghurt

• Brand names 

• Tags e.g. organic, gluten free, soy, flavours

Product type and brand matter more than tags so the most relevant items rise to the top.

2. What about plurals, spelling, punctuation and synonyms?

The search is designed to be forgiving:

• Plurals are handled automatically → biscuits and biscuit return the same results

• Common misspellings still work → mistyping zuccini will still find zucchini

• Punctuation is ignored → banana! will find banana

  • Percent symbols are preserved, so 100% juice works as expected

• Regional synonyms are supported → searching for cantaloupe will surface rockmelon

Tip: If a rare plural doesn’t match, try the singular.

3. How results are ranked:

Results are ordered by:

1. Relevance — best match first

2. Intent match — correctly interpreting terms like no sugar

3. Specificity — clearer phrases rank higher

4. Shorter names — used as a tie-breaker when multiple results are similar

This helps surface the most useful options faster.

Excluding ingredients & nutrients

Search now understands intent, not just keywords. This means you can exclude things by typing:

• -sugar

• no sugar

• low fat

• without salt

• sugar free

These all tell search you don’t want those things and results that don’t match your intent are pushed down or excluded. 

When you combine these modifiers with a food description, for example, gluten free cake — all cake options tagged as gluten free will rise to the top of the results.

Smarter phrase matching

Search recognises when words belong together:

• peanut butter

• fish fingers

• free range

These are treated as specific phrases, not just individual words, so results are more accurate and relevant.

Searching for an exact phrase

If you put words in double quotes, search looks for that exact text. This behaves the same way search worked previously.

Examples:

• "no sugar" → finds products with the exact phrase no sugar in the name

• no sugar → finds products without sugar

Use quotation marks when you want exact wording rather than filtering logic.

Quick tips for best results

• Use natural language → low fat crackers

• Use hyphens or “no” alongside the attribute with the food name to exclude things → no sugar lemonade OR -sugar lemonade

• Use quotation marks around the words for exact phrases → "99% cocoa" vs "99% cacao"

• Try simpler words if results don't match your expectations

• Use whole words → full cream milk instead of ful cre mil

Get started with Foodworks.online! This quick overview will guide you through the free trial and familiarise you with the app's features. During your 14-day trial, you'll have access to Foodworks.online Duo, allowing you to create and edit resources in both Professional and Nutrition Labelling workspaces.

This article steps you through linking a Professional client with an Easy Diet Diary user. This article is also available as a video tutorial, click to play below. 

Video Tutorial

Linking Foodworks Professional Clients with Easy Diet Diary users

You can seamlessly access your client's Easy Diet Diary food records in Foodworks Professional. This integration saves you time and allows you to access valuable and accurate insights into your clients' dietary habits and progress.

Key information available:

• Profile details: Date of birth, current weight, height
• User activity: Acceptance of your invite, latest and historical diary update times
• Daily food diaries: Detailed food intake records and nutrient analyses
• Exercise tracking: Logged exercises and energy expenditure
• Meal times, photos, and notes: Additional context for dietary habits
• Weight history and goals: Progress tracking and weight targets set by the user
• Energy goals: Calorie or kilojoule target set by the user

Linking a Foodworks Client to an Easy Diet Diary user

First, create a client in Foodworks. To create a client: 

1. Open Foodworks, then open or create a Professional workspace. 
2. In the navigation pane, click + Create new resource or client and select Client.
3. Enter the client's name and click Create. 

In this first step, consider adding other profile details like age, sex, weight, height, physical activity, or pregnancy status. You can also come back and edit these details later. 

For more information about creating a client, see Create a client – Overview. 

Link to Easy Diet Diary user: 

1. Open the client and click Link with EDD user. 
2. Enter the user's email address. 
3. Optional - Check Enable food-only mode to limit the information the Easy Diet Diary can see. For more information see About food-only mode for Easy Diet Diary.
4. Click Send invitation. 

• Existing user: If the email is associated with an Easy Diet Diary account, the user will be prompted to connect upon the next app launch.
• New user: The user will be prompted to connect upon creating an account with this email address.

View connection status:

• You can see if the user has accepted the invite in the client's activity logs on the Client Dashboard.
• The Easy Diet Diary user can manage their connected organisations in Easy Diet Diary in the Manage connections page of the Settings.

Unlinking a Foodworks Client from an Easy Diet Diary user

Unlink in Foodworks

1. Open Foodworks and select the workspace containing the client. 
2. In the navigation pane, select the linked client. 
3. Click Unlink with EDD user.
4. Click Remove link. 

Unlink in Easy Diet Diary

1. Open Easy Diet Diary. 
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Manage connections. 
4. Tap X next to the linked organisation name.
5. Tap Remove link. 

You can create reports for Nutrition Labelling resources, including raw materials, sub recipes, and recipes.
The new reports provide improved formatting, more information, and the ability to customise and brand your reports to suit your company or project needs.

Customisations are managed in your Workspace settings → Reports. These allow you to:

• Apply company branding (e.g., colours, logos)

• Decide which sections and fields are included

• Save custom report templates for your team or projects

To create and save a report

1. Open the resource
   Open the raw material, sub recipe, or recipe you want to generate a report for.

2. Click the ellipsis (…) menu in the top-right corner, select Generate report.

3. Select the report type
   Choose from the available options listed below.

4. Click Generate report

5. In the Report dialogue, choose your preferred output format:
   - Download Word Document (.docx)
   - Download PDF

Report types

Recipes and Sub Recipes

Raw Materials

To create a custom report template

You can create a custom resource report, as defined in your Workspace settings. Your custom report allows you to set your own choice of reports settings. 

You can also set report styling on the workspace level, this means all your reports will reflect the styling selected. 

1. Open Workspace settings.
2. Select the Reports tab. 
3. Select the resource type
   Choose between raw material, sub recipe or recipe. 
4. Select the report sections 
   Select the sections you wish to include in your custom reports for the selected resource type. Optional: Apply any relevant nutrient filters.
5. Apply the workspace report styling
   Apply your brand colour and choose to display your organisation logo (as set in Organisation settings), the date and page numbers. 

Your custom report will be saved automatically. To use this report type, select Custom when generating the report on the resource. 

Note for mobile and tablet users

If you’re using Foodworks.online on a tablet or mobile device, report generation may not work correctly due to operating system differences.
We recommend generating and printing reports from a laptop or desktop computer for the best results.