Tips for Effective Global Searches

To enhance the effectiveness of global search, you can do the following:

• Use search prefixes. Narrow the search to records of one type by adding a prefix to the search string, to speed the search and eliminate the return of irrelevant records. A search prefix is made up of all or some of the letters of a record type plus a colon or a caret.

  • Enter cu:max or cu^max to search for customers with records containing the letters max.

  • Note that the colon (:) and caret (^) are special command characters for global search, used to separate a type specifier from keywords.

    • If you enter characters that end with a colon or caret, you receive an error requesting keywords. Avoid this problem by leaving off the colon or caret.

    • If you enter a hierarchical entity name such as 1000P:100SUB (where 1000P is a customer and 100SUB is a subcustomer), the text before the colon is treated as a type specifier and no results are found. Avoid this problem by adding a space before the colon, so that it is treated as a normal keyword separator instead of a type specifier. For example, enter 1000P :100SUB. You can add a type specifier as needed, for example, enter cu:1000P :100SUB.

  For more information, see Global Search Prefixes.

• Use keywords that are at least 3 characters long. Use more specific keywords that contain 3 or more characters. Searching by shorter keywords or keywords that are not unique may not return the results you expect when searching over a large amount of data.

• Search for multiple text strings at the same time. You can use OR as a separator in keywords, to search for multiple text strings.

  • Enter max OR macs OR machs to search for records containing any of these three strings in one search.

  • Note that OR must be uppercase for it to be recognized as a separator.

  Instead of OR, you can use a space or a hyphen. If a string includes spaces between words, each word is treated as a separate keyword and results return exact matches per keyword.

• Include inactive records. Append a + to your keywords to include inactive records in a global search. For example, if you enter cu:max+, the search returns both active and inactive customers with records containing the letters max.

  To always include inactive records, go to Home > Set Preferences, click the Analytics subtab, and check the Include Inactives in Global and Quick Search box.

• Go directly to a customer dashboard. Use the dash: prefix with a customer name to open that customer's dashboard. For example, if you enter dash:Acme Supply in the Search field, you can then press Enter or click Go to open that company's customer dashboard.

• Use % as a wildcard in numeric keywords. To avoid returning extremely large result sets for purely numeric keywords, global search returns exact matches only, unless you add the % wildcard.

  • If you enter inv:115, only an invoice with invoice #115 is returned.

  • If you enter inv:115%, all invoices with numbers starting with 115 are returned.

  • If you enter inv:%115, any invoices containing 115 anywhere in the invoice are returned.

• Use the SQL % wildcard to select columns that begin with a certain character strings. For example, if you would like to see Customers in the cities of Minneapolis and Minnetonka, you could use the SQL % wildcard as follows to return all cities beginning with “Minn”:

                SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE 'Minn%'; 
  
              

• Use the SQL % wildcard to select columns that contain certain character strings. For example, if you would like to see Customers in the cities of Dulles and Los Angeles, you could use the SQL % wildcard as follows to return all cities that contain with “es”:

                SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE '%es%'; 
  
              

• Use the SQL _ wildcard to select all customers with a City starting with any character, followed by "erlin":

                SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE '_erlin'; 
  
              

• Keep keyword length to 32 characters or less. Keywords with a greater number of characters may cause a failure to find matching results.

• Search for exact text matches only. Enclose the search string in quotation marks, or follow it with a backslash, to search for records containing only exact matches. For example, if you enter cu:"max” or cu:max\, the search returns customers named Max. Customers with names containing the letters max, like Maxam, Lomax, or Maximum Tires, are not returned.

  Quotation marks or backslashes are not required for numeric keywords, as these searches return only exact matches.

• Search for exact record type matches only. Use a prefix of the entire record type name and enclose it in quotation marks to search for records only of that record type.

  This capability is useful when your account includes custom record types that contain the names of other record types, for example a custom record type named Customer Survey. In this case, use of the “customer” prefix causes the search to return only customer records, not customer survey records. Without the quotation marks, both record types would be returned.

• Return a single result in edit mode. By default, a single record returned by a global search opens in view mode. You can override this default by capitalizing the first letter of a search prefix. (This prefix has no effect when the Show List When Only One Result preference is enabled.)

  • Enter Cu:“Maximum Tires” to open this customer's record in edit mode.

  • Enter In:115 to open invoice number 115 in edit mode.

  • Note that you can open a suggested matching record in edit mode by clicking Edit that appears at right when your cursor is over the record in the suggested matches list box.

• Return search results in a new browser window. Add an extra colon between the prefix and the search string to open a new browser window displaying the results list page, or the single result record in either view or edit mode.

  • Enter in::115% to open a new browser window displaying the list of invoices with invoice numbers starting with the digits 115.

  • Enter In::115 to open a new browser window displaying invoice number 115 in edit mode.

• Index custom fields to be included in global search. You can search for matches in custom fields as well as name/ID fields. See Including Custom Fields in Global Search.

• Edit fields directly on the global search results page. You can quickly modify records without moving to different pages. See Inline Editing of Global Search Results.

• Email a list of global search results. Click the Email button at the bottom of a global search results list page to open a popup window where you can select recipients, enter comment text, and choose a format for the results.

Note:

Also see Global Search by Email Address, Global Search by IP Address, and Global Search by Document Number.

Note:

Records for customers in all stages to be returned, including leads, prospects, and customers, when you use the cu global search prefix, enable the Global Search Customer Prefix Includes Leads and Prospect option, at Home > Set Preferences on the Analytics subtab.

Related Topics

• Global Search
• Global Search Overview
• How to Use Global Search
• Global Search Prefixes
• Including Custom Fields in Global Search
• Inline Editing of Global Search Results
• User Preferences for Global Search
• Notes about Global Search Auto Suggest

General Notices