Global Search Prefixes

You can use record type prefixes in global search keywords, to narrow search results to records of a single type. A search prefix is made up of some or all of the letters of a standard or custom record type name plus a colon or caret, for example: cu: or cu^ for customer searches, em: or em^ for employee searches, bu: or bu^ for budget searches.

Important:

The global search prefixes that work for you may vary from the prefixes listed on this page, depending on the language you have selected at Home > Set Preferences and renaming of records in your account by your account administrator.

The system provides “keywords starts with” matching for record type prefixes, meaning it returns results with record type names that either contain or start with the letters in a prefix.

For example, to search for an inventory item, you could use any of the following prefixes:

However, some of the above prefixes would return extra results, because they match more than one record type. For example, a prefix of inv: could return results for both inventory items and invoices.

For more details, see Example Global Search Prefixes.

For example, to search for results with a record type of plain text file, you could use any of the following prefixes:

However, some of the above prefixes would return irrelevant results, because they are not unique matches to one record type name. If the letters entered as a prefix match more than one record type name in your system, the search may return records of more than one type. So for example, a prefix of p: could return results with record types of plain text file, phone call, promotion code, partner, page, and others.

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.

You can 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.

By default, the cu prefix returns records only for customers, not for leads or prospects. To cause records for customers in all stages to be returned when you use the cu global search prefix, including leads, prospects, and customers, enable the Global Search Customer Prefix Includes Leads and Prospect preference, at Home > Set Preferences on the Analytics subtab.

Note:

You can use the dash: prefix with a customer name to go directly to that customer's dashboard.

Example Global Search Prefixes

The following list of example global search prefixes is based on a language setting of English (U.S.) and default record names. This list is intended to provide examples, not a reference of prefixes that work for you.

Prefix

Record Type

cam

Campaign

cash

Cash Sale

con

Contact

cust

Customer

emp

Employee

est

Estimate

ev

Event

exp

Expense Report

fi

File

invo

Invoice

iss

Issue

it

Item

opp

Opportunity

par

Partner

ph

Phone Call

sales

Sales Order

You do not need to select a global search prefix from this list. You need to use the first few letters of the record type name as a prefix, enough to be unique so that other record types are excluded.

Using Global Search to Find Help Topics

The NetSuite Help Center has its own search capability. In addition, global search enables you to search help for a topic directly from your NetSuite page.

To search the NetSuite Help Center for a match, use the help: prefix in the Search field in the upper right corner. For example, to search for help topics about dashboards, enter help:dashboards.

Related Topics

Global Search
Global Search Overview
How to Use Global Search
Tips for Effective Global Searches
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