Saved searches (ad hoc reporting)

One of the most common methods for reporting in FileHold is the search tool. This can be done completely ad hoc when your permission allows and you can take advantage of searches with predefined critiera created by an administrator or for your own personal use. On the FDA, search results can be grouped and exported to a CSV file up to 1000 results.

Every time you complete a search, you can save the search criteria for later use. This is called a "Saved Search". By saving the search criteria you can easily recall it for later use and have an effective reporting platfrom that allows for customization of columns and inline editing of metadata and system values.

Using saved searches is much more flexible than using folders to find documents you need often.

All users can save their own personal searches. Administrators have the option of of saving public searches that can be used by other users. Public saved searches can be made available to all users or can be made visible to specific users by assigning security rights by user or group.

Permissions associated with a saved search do not affect the documents that the user can find using the search. For example, a user might see a saved search listed in the library panel and click on it but see no documents because the search would only return documents they have no permission to see.

Personal searches saved by the user are called My Saved Searches. These personal saved searches can only be seen or used by the user that created them. Even an administrator cannot see personal searches for other users.

There are three types of saved searches. All types of searches save the operators and operands used for the search.

Static saved search – The search template is saved with the search criteria values. The search is initiated immediately when the user runs it.
Quick search – The search template is saved with all but one value. When a user runs a quick search, they are prompted to enter the missing value.
Empty search – The search template is saved with no values. The user is prompted to enter the values prior to running the search.

Saved searches can be further configured to provide a specific set of metadata and system columns in the results using a default view.

Static saved searches

A static saved search repeats a pre-defined search when invoked. All of the set values and operators in the template are used in the search.

To save a static saved search

After performing an advanced search, click Save as Saved Search or Create saved search.
In the My Saved Searches window, enter a Name for the search.
If you want to make the search accessible to other users, select the Make this saved search public check box (available to administrators only).
If this is a public saved search, click Next. Select the groups and/or users that can use this public Saved Search and click Add. Public saved searches can only be created by Library Administrators or higher roles.
Click OK. The Saved Search name is now in the Library hierarchy under Search > My Saved Searches or My Public Saved Searches with an icon .

To use a static saved search

Click on the named of the saved search in the My Saved Search or My Public Saved Searches area.
The results of the search are displayed. You can modify the search query by adding, changing, or removing any of the filters.

Quick searches

Quick searches are a type of saved search that allows you to leave a single value in the search criteria empty for the user to enter when they run the search. When a user runs a quick search, they see a prompt that only requests the one missing value that was set up in the template. The search results that are returned meet all search criteria plus the quick search term the user entered. Quick searches make it easy for you to replace browsing folders for users. For example, a single quick search can replace thousands of customer or project folders by leaving the customer or project field as the empty value. In this example, it also means you do not need to worry about filing by customer or project. You simply need two quick searches defined and you can file the documents in any way that makes sense for setting permissions.

Quick searches can be accessed from:

My Saved or Public Saved searches list.
The quick search icon

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from the FDA or Web Client. The search results are based on the default quick search (most recently used). Depending on the search selected, the ad-hoc and quick search icons change. The search menu is ordered by:

The last 5 recent quick searches. The default quick search is the most recently used and is displayed at the top of the list.
Ad hoc search or simple search.
Private quick searches.
Public quick searches.

Both saved quick searches and using the quick search icon searches work the same – enter a search term and hit Enter.

Quick searches are useful for conducting searches in Mobile FileHold since the advance search option is not available with that client. It is the only way a mobile user can enter variable information into a search.

Similar to the mobile client, quick searches are a powerful way to enhance FastFind. By default FastFind runs a full text system wide search when the FastFind hot key is pressed. This behavior can be overridden in the FastFind configuration to use a quick search to make it possible to focus the search in a specific area such as only looking for invoices. See FastFind for more information.

Quick searches are a low technology (no programming) way to directly integrate FileHold with other applications using an URL to run the search. See Integrating FileHold Search with External Applications for more information.

Search variables with an operand of Owned by Me, Checked out by Me, and the operator “Is Blank” cannot be used in quick searches.

To create a quick search

After performing an advanced search, click Save as Saved Search or Create saved search.
In the Save this Search window, enter a Name for the quick search or overwrite an existing search.
If you want to make the search accessible to other users, select the Make this saved search public check box (available to administrators only).
Select the Quick Search Condition check box and select the field that users will be able to choose from when they run the quick search.
If this is a public saved search, click Next. Select the groups and/or users that can use this public Saved Search and click Add. Public saved searches can only be created by Library Administrators or higher roles.
Click OK. The Quick Search name is now in the Library hierarchy under Search > My Saved Searches or My Public Saved Searches with an icon .

To use a quick search

Do one of the following:

Click on the name of the quick search in the My Saved Search or My Public Saved Searches area.
Use quick search icon

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from the FDA or Web Client. To change the quick search, click on the quick search icon. For the displayed quick searches, only “contains” type searches are displayed. There are no options for dates, drill-down or drop-down menu type searches. These types of quick searches are available from the list in library tree.

Enter a value for the single search term and click Search.
The results of the search are displayed. Users with permissions can view or modify the advanced search query by clicking on the Advanced link in the header.

Empty search templates

When an advanced search is saved, all of the search criteria values can be left empty. This forces the user to enter the search values and click Search once the saved search is selected. This differs from static saved searches which stores the search values in the template and runs the query automatically.

To create an empty saved search

After performing an advanced search, click Save as Saved Search or Create saved search.
In the Save this Search window, enter a Name for the quick search or overwrite an existing search.
Select the Make this saved search empty check box.
If you want to make the search accessible to other users, select the Make this saved search public check box (available to administrators only).
If this is a public saved search, click Next. Select the groups and/or users that can use this public Saved Search and click Add. Public saved searches can only be created by Library Administrators or higher roles.
Click OK. The Empty Saved Search name is now in the Library hierarchy under Search > My Saved Searches or My Public Saved Searches with an icon .

To use an empty search

Click on the name of the empty saved search in the My Saved Search or My Public Saved Searches area.
Enter the values for the search terms and click Search. The results of the search are displayed.

Switching a saved search from public to private

Library Administrators and higher can switch Private saved searches to Public and back again from the Saved Search folder properties. Public Saved Searches allow all users to see and use the Search.

Setting the default view for a saved search

Saved searches can have specific views created and assigned to them so that the search results from the saved search are displayed in a certain way. Administrators can create public views in the View preferences area and then assign the default view to the search. Users can also do this for their "My Saved Searches" using personal views.

To set the default view for a saved search

Create a new view to be used for the saved search. For public saved searches, administrators need to create a public view. For personal saved searches (My Saved Searches) end users can create personal views. See View Preferences for more information.
Create the saved search.
Right click on the saved search name and select Set Default View.
Select the view you want to use from the drop down list. To use the global default view, select the Use global default view check box.
To make this the default view all users, select the Make it the default setting for all users check box.
To reset user views for this saved search to the default, select the Force all users to use this default setting check box.
Click OK to save your settings.