How to search, filter and save a view

Records in Tideswell live in Objects, and every Object has one list of its records, opened from the Objects group in the left sidebar. An Object is a kind of record your team defines, such as Repairs or Fabric trials, and What is an Object? explains where they come from. Above every one of those lists sit three controls: a search box, a Filter button and a Views button.

Between them they answer almost everything you bring to a list. Where is that one repair.

Which repairs came back from one particular mill. And can I get to that same list again on Monday without building it a second time.

Before you start

You need View access to the Object, and that is all. Searching, filtering and saving a view carry no permission of their own, so anyone who can open a list can narrow it. If an Object is missing from your sidebar altogether, that is an access question rather than a filtering one, and Working with records covers it.

Should I search or filter?

Search when you remember a word from the record: a customer's surname, a style name, a phrase somebody typed into a note. Filter when you know a value: this mill, this month, anything over 200.

Search looks across the whole record at once. A filter narrows one named field, and you can set several at a time.

The two controls take turns rather than stacking. While there is text in the search box you are reading search results; clear the box and your filters take over again. So if a list ever looks wrong, glance at the search box first, because that is the control that wins.

Search for a record by the words on it

Type into the Search box. Results replace the table about a quarter of a second after you stop typing, and clearing the box brings the full list straight back. Search matches words found anywhere on the record, not only in its title, so a repair turns up on the strength of a note as well as a name.

• Type words out in full. Fairgreen Golf Co.'s repairs desk finds the work sent to Portside Mills by typing "portside", not "ports".
• When a search matches a lot, a banner above the results tells you it is showing the first fifty matches and that nothing is missing. Treat that as a prompt to add a second word. "portside warranty" gets you there faster than scrolling ever will.
• Search is at its best when you are after one known record. When you want a group of records, filters are the better tool, because a filtered list keeps its shape as you press Load more at the bottom.

Narrow the list with filters

Press Filter, set one or more fields, then press Apply. The table redraws to just the matching records, and the button itself tells you how many filters are on by reading Filter · 2.

Clear filters puts everything back. Filters stay applied as you load more, so the fifty-first record obeys them too.

1. Press Filter in the toolbar above the table.
2. Fill in the fields you want to narrow by. Set as many of them as the panel offers.
3. Press Apply.

Each field takes one value, so a filtered list answers one question at a time. When nothing matches, the table says exactly that: "No repairs match these filters." That message is deliberately different from the one you get on an Object with nothing in it yet, so an empty filtered list is never mistaken for an Object nobody has started using. Both states are described in How to find and open your records.

Which fields offer a filter?

Five field types carry a filter control: Text, Money, Date, Options list and Linked record. Those are the ones that appear in the Filter panel, each with the control that suits it. So the fields an admin gave the Object in Settings › Objects decide what you can narrow by later, which is why it is worth thinking about early.

• Text gives you a Contains box. Type part of what you are after and the list keeps only records whose text contains it.
• Money gives you Min and Max. Either on its own is enough: a Min of 200 with no Max finds everything above 200. How amounts are displayed is in How to read Tideswell's numbers and dates.
• Date gives you From and To, and both ends are included. A From of 1 March with a To of 31 March gives you the whole of March.
• Options list gives you the choices an admin defined, plus Any. Fairgreen's repairs offer Warranty, Paid and Goodwill, which come from Choice lists and reference numbers.
• Linked record gives you a searchable picker, so you choose Portside Mills by name rather than typing it. Fields like that are set up in Link one Object to another.

Choosing field types with filtering in mind is the whole subject of Plan your fields before you add them, and the types themselves are described in Add a field and pick the right type.

Share or bookmark a filtered list

A filtered list has its own web address. Copy what is in the address bar and send it to a colleague, or bookmark it for yourself. Opening it lands on the same Object's list with the same filters applied and showing as active in the panel, as long as the person opening it can see that Object.

What travels in the link are the values you picked from a list: an option from a choice field, or a particular linked record. The boxes you type into, meaning Contains, Min, Max, From and To, are for narrowing on the spot, so set those again once the link is open.

A link is the fastest way to hand somebody a question. "Every repair pointing at Portside Mills, look at the last three" becomes one address you paste into chat.

Save a view and share it with your team

Filter the list the way you want it, press Views, type a name and press Save. Clicking that view later re-applies its filters instantly. A tick sits next to whichever view matches what is currently on screen, so you always know which list you are reading and whether you have wandered off it.

• On an Object with no views yet, the popover teaches you the order: "No saved views yet. Filter the list, then name it below."
• Name a view for the question it answers. "Warranty repairs from Portside" tells the next person what they are looking at; "Priya's view" does not. Names run up to 60 characters, and each of yours has to be different from your other views on that Object.
• A view keeps the choices you picked from a list, the same ones that travel in the web address. Set any Contains, Min, Max, From or To boxes again after you apply it.
• The lock and share toggle on a view's row makes it visible to everyone in the workspace who can see that Object. Switching it back to private is the same two clicks.
• Views other people have shared sit in the same list with a share icon. You can apply them freely; renaming, re-pointing, sharing and deleting stay with whoever made the view.
• Delete a view you own from its own row.

With the right list in front of you, opening and editing what is on it is How to add and edit a record, and moving a record along is How to move a record through its stages and set an owner.