Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that uses a rendered form as a search template. During operation, the system obtains a form template for a form, wherein the form is not associated with predefined search fields. This form template includes presentation information specifying how the form is to be presented, and type information specifying data types for fields in the form. Next, the system uses the presentation information to generate a rendered form, and then allows an end-user to enter search criteria into fields in the rendered form. The system then generates a query based on the entered search criteria, and runs the query against a set of forms to identify forms matching the search criteria. Finally, the system generates a list of the matching forms.