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Searching for Records

Click the Search tab to look for a particular record or a group of records. To find records, you specify search criteria (the values you want to find) in the Search page. A search examines all the records in the database and returns the search results, the set of records that matches the search criteria. The search results are displayed in Table View.

To find a record or group of records:

1. Click the Search tab.
   
2. Choose Match all words on page (AND) to find values that match all the search criteria in the same field or across fields. Choose Match any words on page (OR) to find values that match one or more search criteria in the same field or across fields. See Search tips for more information.
   
3. On the Search page, choose the type of search next to the field you want to search on.
   
4. For the field you want to search on, enter the search criteria.

   To refine your search, you can type additional operators for the field you want to search. For example, to find all the records that are between five and ten, type 5...10 directly into the Criteria field. See the table of operators below.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for as many fields as you want to search (for example, a specific last name and first name).

   To reset the search criteria, click Clear fields.

6. Click Start search to search the database.
   
7. The record or records are displayed in Table View.

Search Tips

The Match all words on page (AND) and Match any words on page (OR) options search both inside and across fields.

To search for	Select	And type
All records in the city of San Francisco (but not other cities whose names contain either "San" or "Francisco")	Match all words on page (AND)	"San Francisco" in the City field
All records in the cities of San Francisco or Paris (as well as all cities whose names contain either "San", "Francisco", or "Paris")	Match any words on page (OR)	"San Francisco Paris" in the City field
All records in the city of Paris and the country of France	Match all words on page (AND)	"Paris" in the City field and "France" in the Country field
All records in any city named Paris, as well as all cities in the country of France	Match any words on page (OR)	"Paris" in the City field and "France" in the Country field

Note You cannot combine AND/OR searches on a page.

You can further refine your search by using the following operators inside the field. For example:

To find values that are	Use this operator	Example
Less than what you type next	<	<40 finds all the records less than 40
Less than or equal to what you type next	<=	<=05:00:00 finds all the records less than or equal to five o'clock
Greater than what you type next	>	>05:00:00 finds all the records after 5:00
Greater than or equal to what you type next	>=	>=Smith finds all the records whose last name is alphabetically after "Smith"
An exact match	= (before criteria)	=Smith finds all the records where the last name is "Smith," but not Smithson
Within the range you specify	... (3 periods)	12:30...17:30 finds all the records between 12:30 and 17:30
Duplicate values	!	! finds all the records that have duplicate values in a field
Today's date	//	// finds all the records that have today's date
Invalid dates or times	?	? finds all the records that have invalid dates or times
One unknown or variable text character	@	@on finds all the records that have 3 characters and end in "on," such as "Don"
Zero or more unknown or variable text characters	*	*smith* finds all the records that have "smith" in the name, such as "Smithson," "Blacksmith"
Literal text in a field (to find characters that aren't automatically searched, such as ",")	" "	", Ltd." finds all the records that have ", Ltd."
Empty fields (for example, records of unfilled orders)	=	= finds all the records that have no values

Click Home to choose another database.

In Table View or Form View, click Find all to display all the records in the database, not just the search results.

Note Your access to certain actions, such as sorting, editing, creating, and deleting records, might vary.

Sorting Records

You can rearrange the order of the records in a database. Records can be sorted in ascending order, descending order, or a custom order based on a field's list of choices. You can sort on up to four fields.

To sort records:

1. In Table View or Form View, click Sort.
   
2. On the Sort page, choose the first field (for example, Last Name) and the sort order.
   
3. To sort on additional fields (for example, Last Name and then First Name), choose the additional fields.

   To reset the sort order or choose different fields to sort by, click Clear fields.

   Click Back to view to return to Table View or Form View without sorting the records.

4. Click Start sort.

Note Your access to certain actions, such as sorting, editing, creating, and deleting records, might vary.