Filters - Introduction

Filters enable data mining at a sophisticated level.

A filter looks for one or more fields in a record and determines whether the values in those fields match the filter's criteria. Records that match the criteria are included in the list of filter results, while those that do not match are excluded.

For example, a user might create a filter that displays only those contacts whose Type field contains the value "Client" and whose Birth Date field contains a date before 01/01/1950\.

Filters greatly reduce the amount of time necessary to identify SmartOffice records that have one or more characteristics in common, particularly in databases containing large amounts of data.

Note: This section focuses on stand-alone filters, which are saved in the system and can be reused. SmartOffice also has column filters, which are similar to stand-alone filters but are used specifically on lists and are not saved in the system. For more information about column filters, see Lists - Column Filtering.

Select a topic below for more information:

• Searching for Filters
• Using a Filter
• Creating and Deleting Filters
• Filter Operators
• Advanced Filter Criteria
• Other Filter Management Features

Watch related training movies:

• Reporting and Filtering Course