David,
How does PM+ deal with the 'status' field in the metadata?
'status' is not a searchable field. It is not indexed at all and it is not listed in the list of Searchable Fields.
I have a number of fields with a specific term in that field. Media Pro finds these files but PM+ gives odd results. The catalog has 300k images. If I search for 'status is not empty' I get 0 results. If I search 'status is empty' I get 5. There are 80 files with 'paul' in the status field but a search 'status paul' finds none.
Since 'status' is not a searchable field, the search is defaulting to searching for the words that you've entered, treating 'status' like an ordinary word.
"Status" or "Edit Status" is a deprecated field and its use is discouraged by the IPTC (Metadata Working Group).
-Kirk