Lesson 16-- Finding Records

This lesson shows you how to use the Find command to locate your business records.

Background

After you have used the Goldenseal small business software for a while, you will have hundreds or thousands of records. The Find command lets you locate specific records much faster than browsing. It shows you just those records that contain a particular value or a range of values in any field.

HINT-- you can also use the Skip and Sort commands to adjust the list of found items, and the Replace All command to fill data into multiple records.

Since the Goldenseal software keeps all of your business records in one place, you'll probably use the Find commands every day for lead tracking and general business management.

Basic Finds

To find a previous contact record, you need to know something about it. For example, if you remember its date, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Contact Log from the Income menu.
  2. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  3. You'll see a modified version of the data entry screen.
  4. Click in the Contact Date field, and enter 10/15/99.
  5. Click the Find button.
  6. You'll return to the regular data entry window, where you'll see all contact log records that have 10/15/99 in the date field.

Browsing Found Records

There are two numbers under the browse controls-- the total number of records and the number of records that are currently displayed. The Found number shows how many items were found by the Find command.

NOTE: We sometimes call the list of found items the 'found set'.

If the call you want is not showing, click on the right side of the browser 'book' to look through the other calls for that day.

Other Finds

You can use the Find command for many purposes. For example, to find all items that are still not completed, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Enter Still Needs Attention into the Action Taken field.
  3. Click the Find button.

To find all items handled by a specific employee, choose Find from the Edit menu, then enter the employee's name into the Contact With field.

Find All Command

To find all items again, choose Find All from the Edit menu. It will show you all records in the order in which they were originally entered.

Finding Text

You can use the Find command to locate records that have specific text in any text field. Goldenseal uses special search characters the determine how the text is matched.

  • If you enter text directly, you'll see all records that start with that text.
  • If you put a ! (exclamation mark) or * (asterisk) before the text, you'll find all records that contain that text anywhere in the field.
  • If you put an = (equal sign) before the text, you'll only find records that are an exact match with that text.

To find all calls that mention hogs anywhere in the description field, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Type !hog or *hog into the Description field.
  3. Click the Find button.

To find all calls that have a blank description field, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Type = (equal sign) into the Description field, with no text after it.
  3. Click the Find button.

Finding Ranges

Goldenseal lets you find records that are within a range of values in any text, clairvoyant, number, money, time or date field.

To find items compared with a single value, use > (greater than), < (less than), >= (greater than or equal to), or <= (less than or equal to). For example, to find calls made on or after October 10, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Type >=10/10/99 into the Contact Date field.
  3. Click the Find button.

To find all items between two values, type .. or ... (two or three periods) between the values. For example, to find calls made between October 10 and 14, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Type 10/10/99..10/14/99 into the Contact Date field (type two periods between the dates).
  3. Click the Find button.

Multiple Field Finds

When you get a call from someone, it is often helpful to see all of your previous contacts with them. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Click in the Account Type field, and choose Customer.
  3. Click in the Account field, and enter Milt McCree into the clairvoyant field (or click the popup button next to the field, and choose his name from the menu).
  4. Click the Find button.
  5. You'll see all records for the entered caller. Use the browse controls to view all of the contacts made with Milt.

You can use any combination of fields when finding records. For example, you might want to see all calls from a specific person on a specific date, or all calls on a specific date that have a specific action taken.

HINT: If you try to match too many fields at once, Goldenseal may find nothing at all.

Any Match

Turn on the Any Match checkbox to find records that match any of several fields. For example, to see every contact record that has been handled by a specific employee, turn on the Any Match checkbox, enter Employee into the Action Taken By field, and enter the employee's name into the Contact With and Account fields.

Using Omit

To find all records except those of a certain type, use the Omit button.

For example, to find all calls that did not come from customers, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Click in the Account Type field, and choose Customer.
  3. Turn on the Omit button.
  4. Click the Find button.
  5. You will see all records that do not have Customer in the Account Type field.

Find Also

Use the Find Also checkbox to add the currently found items to the ones you've already found. For example, to find all calls made and calls received, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  2. Enter Phone Call Received into the Contact Type field.
  3. Click the Find button.
  4. Choose Find from the Edit menu again.
  5. Enter Phone Call Made into the Contact Type field. Turn on the Find Also checkbox.
  6. Click the Find button.

Find Within

Turn on the Find Within checkbox to 'narrow down' a search. Goldenseal will only find records that are already within the current found records.

For example, to find calls made and calls received on a specific date, follow these steps:

  1. Follow the steps described under Find Also on the previous page.
  2. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
  3. Enter a date into Contact Date. Turn on the Find Within checkbox.
  4. Click the Find button.

Partial Finds

When you search through a large number of records, Goldenseal shows a progress window that tells you how many records have been found. Click the Stop button at any time to find only what has already been found.

From End

Turn on the From End checkbox to start looking at the end of the record list instead of the beginning.

HINT: This option is useful if you have a large number of records and want to find something recent. Click the Stop button as soon as Goldenseal finds what you are looking for.

Finding Duplicates

The Find Duplicates command shows you just those records that have identical values in a field. It will help you to find duplicate check numbers or other duplicate records that may have been created accidentally.

To find all duplicate records, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find All from the Edit menu.
  2. Choose Find Duplicates from the Edit menu.
  3. You'll see a list of fields in this type of record. Choose the field you'd like to check for duplicate values, then hit OK.
  4. You'll see a list of all records that have a duplicate value in the selected field. The duplicate records are sorted into ascending order, so duplicates will be next to each other.

Skipping Records

The skip command allows you to remove some items from a found set. Use it to 'tidy up' when a find gives you more items than you want to see.

To skip one item, follow these steps:

  1. Scroll to the item that you'd like to temporarily remove.
  2. Choose Skip from the Edit menu, then choose This Item from the submenu.
  3. The item will be removed from the found set.

HINT: When you skip an item, the item is not deleted. You will see it again when you use the Find All command.

To skip several items, follow these steps:

  1. Scroll to the first item you'd like to temporarily remove.
  2. Choose Skip from the Edit menu, then choose Multiple Items from the submenu.
  3. Enter the number of records you'd like to skip.

To skip all of the found items and show the items not found, choose Skip from the Edit menu, then choose All Found Items from the submenu.

HINT: To get just a few assorted items into a found set, you can skip each of them, and then skip All Found Items. You can also use the Flag box to put unrelated items into a found set (see page 16).

Unique Records

To find unique (non-duplicate) records, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find Duplicates from the Edit menu.
  2. Choose a field, then click OK.
  3. Choose Skip from the Edit menu and choose All Found Items from the submenu.

Using the Flag Box

The Flag box is a good way to mark just a few items that are otherwise unrelated. The flag box is located in the lower left corner of each transaction and account window (see page 16).

HINT: Before you use the flag box, use the Find command to see if some records are already flagged. If they are, use the Replace All command to un-flag them.

Using Replace All

The Replace All command puts a value into all the found records. It is a convenient way to enter the same data into many records at once.

WARNING: You cannot Undo after using the Replace All command! Be very careful when you use it. You may want to make a backup copy before you replace many records.

To change the status of several calls to Urgent, follow these steps:

  1. Use the Find commands to find the items you want to change.
  2. Enter Urgent into the Status popup field in the active record.
  3. Choose Replace All from the Edit menu.
  4. You'll see a list of all fields that can be replaced. Choose Status. HINT: Hold down the Shift key to select a block of items. The Control key lets you select or deselect individual items.
  5. Click OK.

Replacing Text

To substitute text in the Comments field, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Replace All from the Edit menu.
  2. Enter Field Text into the Replace popup menu. Select Comments.
  3. Enter the text you want to remove in the Find Text field, and enter the text you want to replace it with in the Replace With field. HINT: To remove text entirely, leave the Replace With field blank.
  4. Click OK.

Sorting Records

The Sort command arranges the current list of found items into numerical or alphabetical order. The sort can be based on the contents of any field.

To sort records, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Sort from the Edit menu.
  2. Choose the field to use as a sorting criteria, and use the Order popup menu to determine the sorting order.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Goldenseal sorts the found records into the order you selected.

The records will stay in sorted order until you do a different sort, or until you use the Find or Find All command.

Finishing Up

This lesson has covered a variety of ways to find and display a set of records. The Find commands are especially useful when you need to see a specific account or transaction after you have entered many records.

The Find command is an extremely useful part of the Goldenseal business management software. After you've entered a few hundred records, you may want to come back to this lesson and try it out with your own business data.

Before you move on to the next lesson, you may also want to use the Find command to locate the best Thai restaurant in town. Though before you do that, you may first need to use the Find command to locate your car keys. Or locate your glasses, so you can start to look for your car keys.

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