1. In a computer system, a method comprising: searching for an instance of a search term in a set of target data, the search term comprising at least one word unit, and the target data comprising at least a first target stream that includes at least one recognized target word unit that has been recognized from handwritten input and has a plurality of alternates associated therewith, the searching including: individually comparing each word unit in the search term against a corresponding word unit in the first target stream until each word unit in the search term matches each corresponding word unit in the target stream or at least one word unit in the search term does not match a corresponding word unit in the target stream, wherein if the corresponding word unit in the target stream has alternates, the comparison uses at least some of the alternates to determine whether the word unit in the search units matches its corresponding word unit in the target stream; and returning information indicative of a successful match if each word unit in the search term matched each corresponding word unit in the target stream.