Search and lists

How search works everywhere in FSMCore: the search at the top of each area, the search box above every list and the dropdown pickers. Plus how lists behave: table or cards, long text and the ⋮ row menu.

What it is for

FSMCore has three kinds of search:

• The search at the top of the page. It looks across several kinds of record at once.
• The search box above a list. It looks only in that list.
• Pickers: the dropdowns where you choose a client, a site, a person, a tax rate and so on. You type to find an option.

All three match in the same loose way. You do not need the exact spelling. That one set of rules is described under How search matches.

Who can use it

Everyone can search. Search never shows a record you may not open. It only looks through your own company's records.

How search matches

Type what you remember. FSMCore splits it into words and compares each word with the words of every record.

More detail on the rules:

• Typos. One wrong, missing or extra letter is forgiven in a word of four letters or more. Two are forgiven when the word has eight letters or more.
• Short words. A single letter only matches that same single letter: "c" finds "Block C", not "Canal". Two letters only match the start of a short word of up to four letters.
• Numbers are exact. "12" does not find "123" or "13". A typo in a number is not forgiven, so the digits of an invoice number have to be right. Four digits or more in a row are also found inside a longer number, like part of a phone number.
• Ignored words. These words are skipped when you type them with other words: the, of, for, at, and, in, on, to, an, please. If you type only such words, they are used.
• Half the words. A word typed exactly counts in full. The start of a word or a typo counts a little less, and a single letter counts half. So when you type two words and only one is found, it must be a whole word: "fitting blue" finds "Fitting", "fit blue" does not.
• Extra words in the record are fine. "canal" finds "Block C, Grand Canal".

Best matches first

The results come in order of how well they fit:

1. A record that matched more of the words you typed scores higher. An exact word counts more than the start of a word, and the start of a word more than a typo.
2. A record whose own name you covered more fully gets a little extra. Typing "vinyl fit" puts "Fit Vinyl" ahead of "Fit safety vinyl".

The two are added together, and the highest total comes first.

What search does not do

• It does not find a short piece from the middle or end of a word. Three letters or fewer must be the start of a word: "roc" does not find "Whiterock". Four letters or more are found anywhere: "rock" finds "Whiterock".
• It does not know other words for the same thing. "lino" does not find "vinyl".
• It does not look inside files, photos or PDFs.

The search at the top

The search field is in the top bar of the office, and of the crew app for a subcontractor. Type, and a list of results drops down, grouped by kind. Click a result to open it.

What it finds in the office:

Things to know:

• Document numbering is found by the words "estimate", "invoice" and "crew invoice". "Crew" is your company's own word from Wording: if you changed it, search for your word. "Subcontractor" finds the subcontractors' rows too. Each subcontractor has their own numbering row. It is titled with the type and the person, and it is found by the person's name or nickname.
• An estimate, invoice or crew invoice that has no number yet shows as Draft. Find a draft by the client's name, or for a crew invoice by the person's or the job's name.
• An empty detail is left out of the result.
• Because jobs are also found by their client and site, typing a client's name lists that client, its sites and its jobs together.
• Where a result opens:

Not in the search at the top: snags, calendar events, hours, payments, photos and files, contacts, and the lines of a document. Open the list of that kind and use its search box.

Crew invoices

In the office, owners and admins find a crew invoice by its number, by the name of the person who sent it or by the title of its job.

The result is titled with the invoice number, or Draft for a draft with no number. A draft that already has a number shows it followed by "(draft)". Under it: Subcontractor (the business name when the person has one, else their name), Job, Total and Status.

In the crew app

In the crew app the search at the top finds one thing: a subcontractor's own invoices, by number. A subcontractor never sees another person's invoice there.

Jobs and snags are not in the crew app's search at the top. Crew who are not subcontractors have nothing to find there, so the search field is not shown to them. Use the search box above My jobs, All jobs or My snags.

In the books

The books have no search at the top. Each list in the books has its own search box.

The search box above a list

Most lists have a search box above them. It looks only in that list, with the rules under How search matches.

• It searches the list's searchable columns. They are read the way the list shows them. A column that the list does not have for you, for example because of your role or a feature that is switched off, is not searched. A column you switched off in the column chooser is not searched either. Switch it back on to search it. Each list's help page says which columns its search uses.
• Best matches come first. If you have sorted the list by a column, your sort wins and the matches stay in that order.
• Filters still apply. The search looks only in the rows the filters and tabs let through. If a record is missing, check the filters, for example the archive filter.
• Very long lists. In a list of more than 5,000 rows, a typo in the first three letters of a word is not forgiven. Type the start of the word correctly.

The search reads what the list shows. One list looks further: on Crew time a person with a nickname is listed under the nickname, and is found by the nickname and by their full name.

Pickers

A picker is a dropdown where you choose one record or option: Client, Site, Job, a person, a tax rate, a category, a status in a filter.

• Type in the picker to search. FSMCore answers about a third of a second after you stop typing.
• The same loose matching applies, and the best match is at the top.
• This is true for the pickers in forms and for the filters above a list.
• A picker with groups keeps its group headings. A group with no match is left out.

The description picker on an estimate or invoice line works the same way: while you type, a Best matches list shows the price list lines that fit.

Archived records in pickers

Archiving hides a record from pickers so that old records do not get in the way. It never breaks a record that already uses it.

So to pick an archived client on purpose, type its name. See Archive a client, Archive a person, Archive or restore a line and Archive.

The pickers for crew (assigned workers, Deploy crew) also leave out people who only have an office role. See Who shows in crew pickers.

Filters over past work are different from pickers for new work. The person filter on Crew time still lists archived people, so their old weeks stay findable.

Tables and cards

Every list in all three areas can be shown in two ways. A toggle button above the list switches between them.

Your choice is remembered in the browser you use. A phone starts on cards only until you press the toggle. After that it keeps what you chose. Another browser or device has its own choice.

On a computer

• The page never scrolls sideways. A table that is wider than the page scrolls inside its own box.
• The ⋮ row menu stays in view at the right edge, even while a wide table is scrolled.
• Long text wraps onto at most 2 lines. That applies to text of 28 characters or more, such as a description or a site name.
• Text of 60 characters or more may be cut. Hold the mouse over it to read it in full.
• Statuses, dates, numbers and money always stay on one line. Money is lined up on the right.
• In a few wide tables, some less important columns show only on a screen 1800 pixels wide or more.

On a phone

• Lists show as cards.
• The ⋮ menu sits at the top right of each card, on the same row as the card's title.

The row menu

The ⋮ at the end of a row, or at the top right of a card, holds the things you can do with that one record.

• A list with two or more row actions puts them all in one ⋮ menu.
• The order is always the same: View, Edit, Duplicate, then the actions that remove something, such as Archive or Delete, last.
• A list with only one row action shows it as a plain button, with no ⋮.
• The ⋮ only lists what you are allowed to do with that record. Two rows can have different menus.

Not in the ⋮ menu:

• Bulk actions. Tick several rows, then use the bulk actions menu above the list.
• The button that adds a new record. It is at the top of the page.

Common mistakes

I typed a few letters from the end of a name and nothing came up. A piece of three letters or fewer must be the start of a word. Type the start of the word, or at least four letters of it.

I typed a number with one digit wrong and it was not found. Numbers must be exact. Only leading zeros are ignored: "4" finds "INV-0004".

I typed "INV-0005" and got a list of other invoices. The letters matched every number that starts the same way. The one whose digits also match is at the top. If none has those digits, check the number.

The search at the top does not find a snag, an event or a payment. Those are not in the search at the top. Open their list and use its search box.

A supervisor cannot find an invoice in the search at the top. Estimates, invoices, crew invoices, the price list and the settings lists are found by owners and admins only.

A record is in the list but the search box does not find it. A filter or tab is hiding it, or the text you typed is not in one of the columns the search uses. Clear the filters, and check the list's help page for the columns its search uses.

The results are not in best-match order. The list is sorted by a column. Your sort wins. Clear the sort to see the best matches first.

An archived client is missing from the Client picker. Type the client's name in the picker. Archived clients are listed only when searched, marked "(Archived)".

A person is missing from a picker. The person is archived, or for crew pickers has only an office role. See Who shows in crew pickers.

My phone shows a table, or my computer shows cards. The toggle above the list was pressed in that browser, and the choice was remembered. Press it again.

A column I know is missing on my laptop. Some less important columns of wide tables show only on a screen 1800 pixels wide or more. Open the record to see the value.