diff --git a/client/src/components/Grid/GridList.vue b/client/src/components/Grid/GridList.vue
index 42ce5ca1e9cb..8c73ba0e5d44 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Grid/GridList.vue
+++ b/client/src/components/Grid/GridList.vue
@@ -82,7 +82,8 @@ const filterClass = props.gridConfig.filtering;
 const rawFilters = computed(() => Object.fromEntries(filterClass.getFiltersForText(filterText.value, true, false)));
 const validFilters = computed(() => filterClass.getValidFilters(rawFilters.value, true).validFilters);
 const invalidFilters = computed(() => filterClass.getValidFilters(rawFilters.value, true).invalidFilters);
-const hasInvalidFilters = computed(() => Object.keys(invalidFilters.value).length > 0);
+const isSurroundedByQuotes = computed(() => /^["'].*["']$/.test(filterText.value));
+const hasInvalidFilters = computed(() => !isSurroundedByQuotes.value && Object.keys(invalidFilters.value).length > 0);
 
 // hide message helper
 const hideMessage = useDebounceFn(() => {
@@ -221,8 +222,11 @@ function onSelectAll(current: boolean): void {
  * A valid filter/query for the backend
  */
 function validatedFilterText() {
-    // there are no filters derived from the `filterText`; return the `filterText` as is
-    if (Object.keys(rawFilters.value).length === 0) {
+    if (isSurroundedByQuotes.value) {
+        // the filterText is surrounded by quotes, remove them
+        return filterText.value.slice(1, -1);
+    } else if (Object.keys(rawFilters.value).length === 0) {
+        // there are no filters derived from the `filterText`
         return filterText.value;
     }
     // there are valid filters derived from the `filterText`
@@ -311,6 +315,15 @@ watch(operationMessage, () => {
                 <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="ui-link" @click="filterText = validatedFilterText()">
                     Remove invalid filters from query
                 </a>
+                or
+                <a
+                    v-b-tooltip.noninteractive.hover
+                    title="Note that this might produce inaccurate results"
+                    href="javascript:void(0)"
+                    class="ui-link"
+                    @click="filterText = `'${filterText}'`">
+                    Match the exact query provided
+                </a>
             </BAlert>
         </span>
         <BOverlay v-else :show="resultsLoading" rounded="sm">
diff --git a/client/src/components/Workflow/WorkflowList.vue b/client/src/components/Workflow/WorkflowList.vue
index 85b93caeb86f..45a1b9dee14d 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Workflow/WorkflowList.vue
+++ b/client/src/components/Workflow/WorkflowList.vue
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ const searchPlaceHolder = computed(() => {
         placeHolder = "Search workflows shared with me";
     }
 
-    placeHolder += " by name or use the advanced filtering options";
+    placeHolder += " by query or use the advanced filtering options";
 
     return placeHolder;
 });
@@ -72,13 +72,15 @@ const sortBy = computed(() => (listHeader.value && listHeader.value.sortBy) || "
 const noItems = computed(() => !loading.value && workflowsLoaded.value.length === 0 && !filterText.value);
 const noResults = computed(() => !loading.value && workflowsLoaded.value.length === 0 && filterText.value);
 
+// Filtering computed refs
 const workflowFilters = computed(() => WorkflowFilters(props.activeList));
 const rawFilters = computed(() =>
     Object.fromEntries(workflowFilters.value.getFiltersForText(filterText.value, true, false))
 );
 const validFilters = computed(() => workflowFilters.value.getValidFilters(rawFilters.value, true).validFilters);
 const invalidFilters = computed(() => workflowFilters.value.getValidFilters(rawFilters.value, true).invalidFilters);
-const hasInvalidFilters = computed(() => Object.keys(invalidFilters.value).length > 0);
+const isSurroundedByQuotes = computed(() => /^["'].*["']$/.test(filterText.value));
+const hasInvalidFilters = computed(() => !isSurroundedByQuotes.value && Object.keys(invalidFilters.value).length > 0);
 
 function updateFilterValue(filterKey: string, newValue: any) {
     const currentFilterText = filterText.value;
@@ -155,8 +157,11 @@ async function onPageChange(page: number) {
 }
 
 function validatedFilterText() {
-    // there are no filters derived from the `filterText`
-    if (Object.keys(rawFilters.value).length === 0) {
+    if (isSurroundedByQuotes.value) {
+        // the `filterText` is surrounded by quotes, remove them
+        return filterText.value.slice(1, -1);
+    } else if (Object.keys(rawFilters.value).length === 0) {
+        // there are no filters derived from the `filterText`
         return filterText.value;
     }
     // there are valid filters derived from the `filterText`
@@ -277,6 +282,15 @@ onMounted(() => {
                 <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="ui-link" @click="filterText = validatedFilterText()">
                     Remove invalid filters from query
                 </a>
+                or
+                <a
+                    v-b-tooltip.noninteractive.hover
+                    title="Note that this might produce inaccurate results"
+                    href="javascript:void(0)"
+                    class="ui-link"
+                    @click="filterText = `'${filterText}'`">
+                    Match the exact query provided
+                </a>
             </BAlert>
         </span>
 
diff --git a/test/integration_selenium/test_trs_import.py b/test/integration_selenium/test_trs_import.py
index 7d6f4395227a..d6031a805377 100644
--- a/test/integration_selenium/test_trs_import.py
+++ b/test/integration_selenium/test_trs_import.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ def trs_config_dir(cls):
         return cls.temp_config_dir("trs")
 
     def assert_workflow_imported(self, name):
-        self.workflow_index_search_for(name)
+        # surround name with quotes to consider case where name contains colons
+        self.workflow_index_search_for(f'"{name}"')
         assert len(self.workflow_card_elements()) == 1, f"workflow ${name} not imported"
 
     def test_import_workflow_by_url_dockstore(self):