Searches using the Record Type fields are exact match searches by default. This means that if you enter "john smith" (no quotes) in a name field then the system will only find records where the name "john smith" is found exactly. It will not find "john smithson" or any variation. 


  • WILDCARDS - If you want to search for Records where the value you enter is not an exact match in the field you can use % as a wild card. Here are some examples:
    • If you want to find all the names that start with “JOHN” you use “JOHN%”
    • If you want to find all the names that end with “SMITH” you use “%SMITH”
    • If you want to find all the names that contain “SMITH” you use “%SMITH%”
    • If you want to find all the names that start with “JOHN” and end with “SMITH” you use “JOHN%SMITH”
    • If you want to find all the names that DO NOT start with “JOHN” you can use “!JOHN%”

PLEASE NOTE that by using the % symbol at the beginning of the search field the search will be slower. However, if you use it in the middle or at the end of the value the search will still be relatively fast.


  • IN - Separate multiple search values with "-IN-" (no quotes) to match on more than one value. For instance, if you have a field called LASTNAME you can search for anyone with the last name of Smith or Jones by using "Smith -IN- Jones" (no quotes) in the search field. The -IN- variation is faster and more efficient than the -OR- variation described below. However, -OR- is more flexible in that it can also include records that are NOT a value, are LIKE/NOT LIKE a value, and are blank. This is very useful in conjunction with the [DMGETIN()] variable that will search for Records and return values structured with the -IN- syntax.


  • NOT IN - Add ! to the beginning of an IN search (above) to make it a NOT IN search. For instance, "!Smith -IN- Jones" will return records where the last name is not empty and not Smith or Jones. PLEASE NOTE that this will only find Records that have a value for the field but it is not in the list. It will NOT find records without a value in that field.


  • OR - Separate multiple search values with "-OR-" (no quotes) to match on more than one value. For instance, if you have a field called LASTNAME you can search for anyone with the last name of Smith or Jones or where the last name does not start with 'Ada' by using "Smith -OR- jones -OR- !Ada%" (no quotes) in the search field. This is more flexible (albeit more taxing on the system) than the -IN- variation. However, there is a limit. You may get an error if you search for too many values with -OR-. However, if you use -IN- you can search for a lot more values.


  • OR MULTIPLE - You can also perform OR searches by using the 'Toggle Multiple Value Search' option to the right of each field in the search form which supports this action. For text fields you enter one OR value per line. For option fields you can use the SHIFT and CTRL keys to select more than one option for which to search.


  • EMPTY - To search for Records where the LASTNAME field is empty you can use # in the field.


  • NOT EMPTY - To search for Records where the LASTNAME field is NOT empty you can use !# in the field.


  • DYNAMIC DATE -To search for dates that are relative to "today" you can use variables. For instance you can use [DATE] to represent the current date and time. You can also use [DATE(-3|Y)] to represent the date 3 years ago today. This is handy for saving and re-running searches that are always date relative. You can read about "variables" in here.


  • WORKFLOW - When using the "Currently assigned to me in workflow" option in the Advanced search, clicking on a Record in the search results will load that Record as if it was loaded from the workflow item list.


  • VALUE COMPARE - If you want to find Records where values in the same record are equal to each other, you can use the ={} syntax. For instance, to find all Invoices where the Due Date  (DueDate) equals the Invoice Date (InvoiceDate) , you can search the Due Date field for ={InvoiceDate}. This tells the search system to find where those values are equal. This method should be used only on smaller searches since there is no way to use an index to help speed up the search. Usually you can limit the search for invoices created in a date range or similar to keep the search from running to slowly.