Best practices for searching and filtering in large databases
Learn how to refine searches and apply filters to quickly find records in results-limited lists and large databases.
Wherever large lists of items are displayed in a screen or dropdown list, results are limited to a predetermined maximum size, and a
Results Limited
message appears. Use the following best practices to refine your search, apply filters, and more easily find the items you need.- Use theSearch Optionsfield pattern-matching rules:Exact,Begins with,Contains, orEnds with. UseContainsto quickly narrow a list to items whose IDs include a partial match. For example, if all clients in the Ann Arbor office containAAin the client ID, searching withContainsandAAdisplays items such asCLIENTAA01andCLIENTAA02.
- To maximize the usefulness of search, design searchable fields, especially IDs and sort names, so they sort logically in alphabetical order.
- Use a filter to display items that are not easy to find by entering a search term, or create a custom filter.
- The sort order of a screen grid or dropdown list affects which records appear in a results-limited list. Use sort order together with filtering to narrow the displayed records more efficiently.
- In the Review tab of Time and Expense Entry, select theSheet Datecolumn heading to sort by descending sheet date. This brings the most recent time and expense entries into the results-limited list.
- Filter onStaff ID,Specified Staff,<Staff ID>to display only the recent work history for a particular staff member.
