Search tips
You can search for words and phrases contained in almost any field, search in one container or in multiple containers, and search for specific tickets by ticket number.
Only fields that are designated as Searchable by your administrator can be searched using the Search field that appears on any Home page that lists records. The Searchable option is available for text, selection, and hyperlink field types. For example, you cannot search Created By or Updated By fields by entering search values in the Search field, but you can still search these fields and most others by selecting the Advanced Searches option in the Search menu.
Search is case-insensitive. You can use asterisks (*) as wildcards and search for multiple values and for phrases. However, the search runs more quickly when you enter terms that you know are in the system, because it does not have to search every field entry in the entire database to find matching items.
For complex searches, you may want to create an Advanced Search where you can limit the search to the most likely places (containers and items) where the information you seek will be found. You can build multiple logically connected search parameters using almost any field, with different operators. You can create a shared or a private search to search for records that are assigned to your team or search for records that need approval of a specified user. For more information, see Using-Advanced-Search-and-saving-searches.
The following topics are provided:
- Searching with wildcards
- Searching for multiple values
- Searching for dates
- Searching for contacts
- Searching for ticket numbers
- Related topics
Searching with wildcards
You can search with a wildcard from any Home page as long as the wildcard character is at the end of the word. However, in address books, you can also search using wildcards in other positions. For more information about searching in address books with wildcards, see Searching for contacts.
The Search function looks at the beginning of words to find a match. This means if you add an asterisk (*) after your search term, the search is quicker than if you add an asterisk before or within your search term. Where you place the asterisk also affects which words are returned.
Searching for multiple values
When searching for multiple values, you must separate the values with spaces or commas, which function as OR operators. You can also use the AND operator to create search terms.
Searching for dates
You can search for dates only by using Advanced Search. When you search for dates, the date that you enter (for your selected time zone) is transformed into UTC format and saved. When a user in another time zone opens the same Advanced Search they see the same date value but interpreted for their time zone.
Searching for contacts
When you search from the Address Book Home page, an additional operation Equals is available. If you use the default operator Contains to search, any contact record that includes the search string in any field is returned. If you use the Equals operator, only exact matches are returned. Wildcard characters are taken into account but partial matches are not returned. You must enter the exact value that is in the system.
To search with wildcards for all contacts that include a certain value, insert asterisks to represent the unknown values. You can use an asterisk before, after, or within a search string.
Searching for contacts with included spaces
To search for a term that includes spaces, place double quotes around the entire string.
When you search for terms that include numbers within an alphabetical search string, use the Contains option to find the term within other strings (the term and its forms) and the Equals option to find only exact matches for the term (not strings with additional character before or after the term).
Searching for ticket numbers
When you search for ticket numbers, select ID operator and type only the number in the Search text field, or you can include the prefix and a dash before the ticket number.
Related topics