Using the Advanced Search

What is it?

The Advanced Search page offers many options for performing targeted searches of member profiles based on selected criteria. This search allows you to obtain highly targeted search results.

How to Access

The Advanced Search can be accessed as an Administrator in the bottom lefthand corner of the Admin interface.

You can also add a shortcut to your Admin Home page using the steps listed in this article.

Using the Advanced Search Page

When you navigate to advanced search you will see a page like the example below.  Each of the links on the page will open or close a section of the page when clicked. A single set of Search and Clear buttons exist for all searches, no matter what criteria you are using.

Keep in mind that you can combine all the areas of this page. For instance, you can use the attribute search to narrow your search to profiles that match a specified attribute and then select a form in the form receipts section to find users that match both sets of criteria.

Below is an explanation of the different sections and examples of how they can be used.

Search For Profiles By Attribute Value


This section will allow you to select what information you want to include or exclude from your search results.

• AND / OR - This will allow you to choose whether to use only results that match both criteria by selecting “AND” or results that match either criteria by selecting “OR” from the new drop-down menu on the left.
• Select An Attribute - Use the drop down and select the attribute you want to search on.
• IS / IS NOT - This drop down allows you to set whether the selected attribute "IS" or "IS NOT" what you want to search on. 
• Search For - Here you enter the text you want to search for or exclude from a search.

Below are a couple of examples of how this section can be used.

• If you wanted to search on everyone who has the first name of 'Ben' use the drop down under Select An Attribute and choose First Name.  Under Search For enter the text "Ben".

When the Search button is clicked all the profiles with "Ben" in the First Name attribute will be displayed.

• To show profiles with the first name of "Ben" that do not have the last name of "Smith" you would change the criteria to look like the example below.

This search would only show only profiles that had the first name of Ben and do not have the last name of Smith.

• You can use a wild cards in this area to do a partial match.  The “*” character can be used to replace part of a word. For instance, if you wanted a search to display all profiles with the first name beginning with "ben" you would enter "ben*" under Search For.

This search will display all profiles with the first name of Ben, Benjamin, Benson, or any other first name starting with "ben".
The “?” character can be used to replace a single letter of a word.  In this case, a search for “Jo?n” would return both John and Joan.

Search For Profiles With Form Receipts

In the Search For Profiles With Form Receipts section, you can find members who have or have not submitted specified forms. Select a form from the drop-down menu and choose whether you want to return users who have or do not have a receipt for the form from the buttons to right. As with the attribute search, you can search through multiple forms and use the “AND / OR” drop-down menu to specify whether to return users who match both criteria (“AND”) or either criteria (“OR”).

Following is an example of how this section can be used.

• To search on users that have registered for a conference choose the form from the drop down and select "Profiles contain a receipt for this form".

This will search for all profiles that have registered for the Fall 2009 Conference.

• Below is an example of what you would select if you wanted to find all users who have not taken either the Fall 2009 Conference or the Fall 2009 Conference Sponsor form.

Search Using Filters

This section allows you to choose what items from your selection sets that you would like to search on.  You can select multiple items in the same selection set by holding down the control(Ctrl) key on a PC, or the command key on a Mac.

• If you wanted to find all the users who selected Yes for Professionally Certified you would choose Yes under the filters area for Professionally Certified.

Note: The filters which are available on the Advanced Search page can be customized by navigating to Database > Attribute Management > Edit the selection set attribute you wish to add to the Advanced Search > Under Search filter options, check the Display as Advanced Search criteria box > Save.

Search by Date

Here you can select a date or expiration date type attribute you would like to search on.  In addition to expiration and date attributes, you can also search by form submit date by selecting it from the Select date attribute drop-down menu.  This search is a true "between" search.  If you wanted to search on people who expire on one particular day you would need to set the from and to dates one day before and one day after the actual day you want to find.

This Form Submit Date is very powerful when used in conjunction with the Search For Profiles With Form Receipts area.  If you wanted to see all users who submitted a particular form between May 2nd and May 15th you would setup your search terms like the example below.

• Under the Search For Profiles With Form Receipts section choose the form from the drop down and choose Profiles contain a receipt for this form.

In the Search by Date section choose Form Submit Date and enter 05/02/2008 and 05/15/2008 in the date boxes.

The combination above will show only profiles that submitted the Fall 2009 Conference between 05/02/2008 and 05/15/2008.

Search For Special Profiles

Under this area you can select if you would like to search on status settings of profiles.  This is the only way, other than from the Admin Home, where you will be able to find users that are set to invalid, inactive, or deleted.  This section also contains a check box where you can search for users who opted to not receive emails sent to multiple recipients.  Users who created a Basic Contact profile by taking part of a form, but not submitting it can also be search for here.

Use Customized Display Options

This section contains no search criteria, but allows you to customize the way your search results display.  You can set the order of the profiles, the template you would like to use or you can select Custom under the View Template drop down.  When you choose Custom you can select fields under the Custom Template Information for what you would like to have displayed.

Use a Saved Search

This section allows you to select a saved search you would like to run.  To perform a saved search select it from the drop down and click Search.  Using a saved search will disregard any other settings on this page.

Quick Tip:

The Advanced Search is a great way to find exactly the profile(s) you are looking for.  It's also a great way to pull up an email recipient list based on form submissions or attributes.  If you use the Advanced Search often, why not add it to your admin home control panel? To learn more about personalizing your Admin Home, click here.