While Tailwind provides several methods to slice and dice the many list views that appear throughout the application – whether it's filtering on a Status, changing the Active Columns, or using the Quick Search bar – sometimes you need more. For example, if you need to filter on multiple terms, search a date range, or use more complicated operators, Tailwind provides an Advanced Search option to help you see exactly the data you want.
Accessing Advanced Search
Click on the 'Advanced Search' button directly above the List view to access the search. This will open a panel above the list with some additional options.
Building a Search - Basics
An Advanced Search is built one search term at a time. To begin building your search, select the Field Name you want to search by, the Operator you want to use, and the Value you want to search for. Then click the plus [ + ] button at the end of the line to add it to the search.
For example, if you wanted to filter the Orders list to only show Orders related to a specific Customer, you would select 'Customer' as the Field Name, 'Equals' as the Operator, and then type in the customer's name as the Value (or select it from the drop-down.)
When you click the [ + ], your parameter will appear below in the Current Search Items. You can continue to add parameters using the same method as above. The [ X ] button at the end of each line will remove it from the Current Search.
Once you have at least one item in the Current Search, clicking on the 'Search' button will run the search and filter the list accordingly. For example, clicking 'Clear All' will remove all the terms from the Current Search.
Building a Search - Operators
When you select the Field Name, an Operator will be selected by default, and most of the time, you do not need to worry about changing it. However, if you are building a slightly more detailed search, different Operators can help you find the information you are looking for more easily. Each has its specific logic.
Equals: Will only return data that matches the Value exactly.
Does Not Equal: Will exclude any data that matches the Value exactly.
Contains: Will return any data that includes the Value.
Does Not Contain: Will exclude any data that contains the Value.
Starts With: Will return any data that begins with the Value.
Greater/Less Than Will returns any data above or below the Value.
Between: Will return any data between the two specified Values.
Equals are generally used when you want to find exactly one thing, and you know what it is. For example, selecting Equals for a Field based on existing data in your system (e.g. Customers) will turn the Value field into a drop-down so that you can choose from the existing options.
Contains and Starts With can be helpful if you have multiple Customers, Vendors, or similar related by name, as several different branches of the same company.
Greater/Less Than is often used when filtering on a dollar or weight amount but can also be used to set a start or end date for a search. Between is used mostly for specifying a date range, e.g. the month of August or the previous year.
Building a Search - Enabling/Disabling Individual Parameters
All parameters in the Current Search can be temporarily turned on or off by using the toggle to the left of the terms. Then, only the toggled ON terms will be used when you run a search. This can be useful when using a Saved Search, where a single Search can be set up to serve several different purposes, depending on which terms are enabled or disabled.
Saved Searches
If there is a set of search parameters that you find yourself using repeatedly or a filtered view that might be useful to other people at your company, you can save that search to come back to it later quickly. To do so, start by building your search. Then, once you have the search in place, click on the 'Save Current Search' button (at the top of the Advanced Search area) and provide a name for the search.
When you open Advanced Search, you can select your search from the Saved Searches drop-down – doing so will immediately load the search terms and filter the list view automatically. Once the search has been loaded, you are free to modify the Current Search Items: you can change values or even toggle lines on and off. These changes will not be saved by default – if you want to change the saved search permanently, you will need to repeat the save process. Using the same name will overwrite the old version of the search.
Saved searches are available across the application for all Tailwind users in your system – this can be handy if you have multiple people working similar roles in the software who might want to use the same searches or quickly get new hires up to speed.
To remove a Saved Search from the list, select the Search and click the 'Delete Search' button. To clear an active Saved Search, you can click the 'Clear' button at the top of the Advanced Search or the 'Clear All' button in the Current Search area.
Advanced Search and Exporting a List
Once you have applied an Advanced Search filter, it is possible to export the resulting data set, allowing you to store the filtered data or move it into another application for further analysis. Start by running the search; then, once the list shows the data you want to export, click on the 'Export' button at the bottom right of the list.
This can be a helpful tool for supplementing Tailwind's existing reporting tools. However, we recommend naming your exported files carefully to ensure that you do not mistake them for a complete list export.