Contents
Overview
Administrate’s global search allows you to quickly find records across the system.
Tip:
Press Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar to focus the search box from any page.
What you can search
Search covers these entity types. For text fields like names and titles, matches are order-insensitive — "smith john" finds John Smith — and every entity can also be found by its Display ID.
- Accounts
- By name, email, billing email, phone, or website
- By company registration number, VAT number, or DUNS number
- By town or postcode
- By external or legacy import ID
- Contacts
- By name, email (any of the contact's addresses), or phone
- By job title or department
- By external or legacy import id
- Courses (Course Templates)
- By code or title
- Events
- By title or code
- Learning Paths
- By title
- Resources
- By name
- Bookings
- By name
- Achievements
- By number
- Documents
- By name
- Registrations
- By number
- Sales invoices and purchase invoices
- By number
Characters like % and _ are treated literally, so you can search for values that contain them.
Search behavior
- Your search term must contain at least three characters (Display ID searches excepted).
- Each entity type returns up to 200 matches; when a type is capped, its count shows as 200+ rather than an exact total.
- Results are ordered consistently, so repeating a search returns the same records.
If you don’t see what you’re looking for, refine your search — add a second word (word order doesn't matter) or use a more specific reference like an invoice number or email address.
The results page
Search results are grouped by entity type:
- A rail lists each entity type with its match count; select a type to filter the results to it.
- Your query and any selected type are part of the page URL, so a filtered result set can be bookmarked or shared, and survives reload and the browser's back and forward buttons.
- Each result shows what the record is, where it sits (such as its account or location), and an identifying reference, so similar records can be told apart at a glance.
- Contacts, accounts, resources, and course templates show the same columns as their list views, so search results and browsing agree.
Tips and best practices
Avoid duplicates: Always search before creating new Accounts.
For example, check for variations such as Company Ltd and Company Limited.
If you are certain the account does not already exist, select Create Account from the search results.