Before Starting
Searching on the Contacts page has many facets. It allows you to carry out simple searches by keywords, sort according to chosen criteria, or even do an advanced search according to different criteria.
This article will explain how different search options work:
Simple Search
You can perform a text search in the Search field at the top of the Community > Contacts page. This tool is handy to quickly search for information in someone's profile. 
This search can be done corresponding to several criteria:
- The person's last name, first name, or email address.
- The address field (street address, city, state, country), or phone number.
- The text and text with autocomplete fields that you have created.
This search is done by filtering the results from the fields listed above. It allows typing and spelling errors.
Example: If you search "Michigan", it will provide you with a list of contacts that have something related to Michigan, or a close result, in response to the fields above. You will then be able to see, for example, people that live in Michigan, but also people that live on Michigan Ave in Chicago.
Sort Function
On the Community > Contacts page you will see a list of people in your community. The columns Last name, First name, Email, Phone number, and Details automatically appear.
Information to display in the table
By clicking on the 
icon you can choose the information to display. The information offered here is the information that you have set up on the Community > Settings page.
The information displayed in the table must be set each time the table is used and is not saved by the software.
Filter the information in the table
To sort people, you need to use the arrows on the top of each column. For example, by clicking on the top arrow 
next to Last name, the table will be sorted in alphabetical order by last name.
Advanced Search (Refine)
General behavior
Advanced search (or Refine function) allows you to search among the people saved in your database according to finer criteria than the simple search.
It is done by clicking on the Refine button in the top left corner of the page. You will then see a search tool based on several criteria.
It allows you to carry out searches on given values and cross-reference them with different criteria. For example, you can search for people that live in Michigan that have also been members for more than 2 years.
Criteria related to information in the profile
It is possible to do an advanced search based on information fields in each user's profile: phone number, address, and any other fields that you have created.
The search can be performed on each type of field, but the search options will change depending on it.
Numerical fields
You can search for the numeric values greater than, greater than or equal to, equal to, less than or equal to, less than, different from a given value or between 2 values. This search is exact (not approximate).
Example: search for all of the people who come from a family of more than 5.
Date field
Here again, the searches are also exact and allow you to use the following criteria:
- Fixed date: before a date, after the given date, between two given dates.
- Relative date: more than, equal to, less than X days ago, or in more than, equal to, less than X days from now.
Example: search for people born before 01/01/2000 or born more than 20 years ago.
Address field
Using the address field, you can carry out a search based on:
- City
- Zip code
- County
- State
- Country
The search in the field is exact, and therefore not approximate. It allows you to view everyone that lives in "Manhattan", or the people that live in "New York County".
Searching by county works no matter which country you are searching in, and evolves according to the values recorded. For example, if you have members in France, you can search "Paris" in "County", as long as one of your contacts is from this city.
Open ended field with autocomplete
You can search based on open ended fields with autocomplete. This search is done based on exact values and is not sensitive to spelling errors.
Text field, email
This search returns to approximate values and allows you to search for a possible value, while taking into account spelling errors and other approximations (similar to a google search).
Drop down list or multiple choice fields
Here the search is also exact. It allows you to seach for the people that meet certain conditions based on the possible values you have previously defined.
Example: everyone that is a woman, or everyone that is a man.
Other types of fields
You can search based on all of the types of fields (documents to download, phone number, password, etc.), to find out if certain information is filled in or not.
Criteria linked to someone's activity
In addition to the contact's profile, you can search based on the activity of each person: their membership status, donations made, membership in one or more groups.
Membership information
If you have activated the Membership feature and you have atleast one member in your database, you can conduct a search based on several criteria:
- Total membership fees: the total amount that someone has paid for their memberships.
- Payment status: the people that are up to date/not up to date with their dues.
- Membership anniversary date: the date in which someone became a member.
The membership search is done to the nearest month for performance reasons. A membership search on 9/28/2019 will show all of the members in September 2019, including all of those that were no longer members as of September 20, 2019.
Search based on donation information
If you have activated the donation application and you have at least one donor in your database, you can conduct a search based on several criteria:
- The total amount donated: total amount that someoe has donated (that is saved in the software).
- Payment status: the people that are up to date/not up to date on their pledge.
- Number of donations: the number of donations given by the donor.
- Date of donations: the date in which someone donated.
Cross searches of these criteria allow you to know the number of people that have donated more than X times, for a total amount of $X. This is helpful for segmenting your donor base.
Group membership information
It is possible to conduct these types of searches:
- People that are part of group 1 AND group 2
- People that are part of group 1 OR group 2
- People that are not part of group 1 or group 1
Impossible to Find a Member
You cannot find a member via the search tool, yet you are sure that this person has an AssoConnect account.
Was this person archived?
If this situation happens, it is very possible that this member has been archived. The list of archived members can be found in Community > Settings > Advanced Settings.
In this case, it is possible to restore archived contacts in case of error.
Does the profile has the information you are searching?
You are looking for everyone that was born between 2001 and 2002. However, one of the people in your database (that you are certain fits these criteria) does not appear in the results.
It is certain that the feild, or this information (in this case birth date), is not saved in the database.
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