Sorting, Searching, and Filtering Lists | Microsoft Docs

There are a few things that you can do that will help you scan, find, and limit records in a list. These include sorting, searching and filtering. You can apply some or all of these simultaneously to quickly find or analyze your data.

Sorting

Sorting makes it easy for you to get a quick overview of your data. If you have many customers, for example, you can choose to sort them by Customer No., Customer Posting Group, Currency Code, Country Region Code, or Sales Tax Registration No. to get the overview you need.

To sort a list, you can either choose a column heading text to toggle between ascending and descending order, or choose the small down arrow in the column heading, and then choose Ascending or Descending.

Searching

At the top of each list page, there is a Search icon that provides a quick and easy way to reduce the records in a list and display only those records that contain the data that you are interested in seeing.

To search, simply select the search icon, and then in the box, type the text that you are looking for. You can enter letters, numbers, and other symbols.

Fine-tune the Search

In general, search will attempt to match text across all fields; it does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase characters (in other words, case insensitive), and will match text placed anwhere in the field (at the beginning, end, or in the middle).

However, you can make a more exact search by using the following special characters:

• To find only field values that match the entire text and case exactly, place the search text between single quotes '' (for example, 'man').

• To find field values that start with a certain text and match the case, place * after the search text (for example man*).

• To find field values that end with a certain text and match the case, place * before the search text (for example *man).

• When using '' or *, the search is case sensitive. If you want to make the search case insensitive, place @ before the search text (for example @man*).

The following table provides some examples to explain how you can use the search.

Filtering

Filtering provides a more advanced and versatile way of controlling which records display in a list. There are two major differences between searching and filtering, as described in the table below.

Filtering enables you to display records for specific accounts or customers, dates, amounts, and other information by specifying filter criteria. Only records that match the criteria are displayed. If you specify criteria for multiple fields, then only records that match all criteria will be displayed.

Working in the Filter Pane

To display the filter pane, select at the top of the list or press Shift+F3. For lists within the Role Center, you can also choose the down arrow near the page title in the navigation bar above the list, and then choose Show filter pane as shown here:

The filter pane displays the current filters for a list, and enables you to set your own custom filters on one or more fields. The following figure shows an example filter pane for a Sales Quotes list.

A filter pane is divided in three sections: Views, Filter list by, and Filter totals by:

• Views

  Some lists will include the Views section. Views are variations of the list that have been preconfigured with filters. To switch to a different view of your list, simply select another link. You can temporarily change the filters on a view, but the changes will not be permanently saved.

• Filter list by

  The Filter list by section is where you add filters on specific fields to reduce the number of displayed records. To add a filter, select + Filter, select the field that you want to filter from any field in the table, and then enter filter criteria in the box.

• Filter totals by

  Some lists that display calculated fields, such as amounts and quantities, will include the Filter totals by section where you can adjust various dimensions that influence calculations. For example, you can quickly analyze your chart of accounts by filtering amounts to a specific period, or you can view the totals for sales orders only from a specific warehouse.

  To add a filter, select + Filter, select one of the predefined dimensions, and then add the filter criteria in the box.

  NOTE

  Filters in the Filter totals by section are controlled by FlowFilters on the page design. For technical information, see FlowFilters.

Entering Filter Criteria in the Filter Pane

To select a field to filter, do one of the following:

• In the filter pane, choose + Field. Type the name of the field you wish to filter, or pick a field from the menu that displays all fields in the table.

• In a column heading, choose the down arrow, and then choose Filter.... This will open the filter pane and add the column to the filter pane.

You can now type or select your filter criteria in the box. The type of field you filter determines which criteria you can enter. For example, filtering a field that has fixed values will only let you choose from those values. For more information about special filter symbols, see Filter criteria and Filter tokens.

Columns that already have filters are indicated by the in the column heading. To remove a filter, select the column heading, then choose Clear Filter.

Entering Filter Criteria Without Using the Filter Pane

You can specify simple filters directly within the list without having to use the filter pane. With any field selected on a row, use the Alt+F3 keyboard shortcut to display only the records having that same value. You can then select another field and use the same shortcut again to continue refining your filters. If the selected field is already filtered, using Alt+F3 will clear that filter.

Filter Criteria and Symbols

When you enter criteria, you can use all the numbers and letters that you can normally use in the field. In addition, you can use special symbols to further filter the results. The following tables show the symbols which can be used in filters. For dates and times, you can also refer to Working with Calendar Dates and Times for more detailed information.

(..) Interval

(|) Either/or

(<>) Not equal to

(>) Greater than

(>=) Greater than or equal to

(<) Less than

(<=) Less than or equal to

(&) And

('') An exact character match

(@) Case insensitive

(*) An indefinite number of unknown characters

(?) One unknown character

Combined Format Expressions

Filter Tokens

When entering filter criteria, you can also type words that have special meaning, called filter tokens. After entering the token word, the word is replaced by the value or values that it represents. This makes filtering easier by reducing the need to navigate to other pages to look up values you want to add to your filter. The tables below describe some of the tokens you can type as filter criteria.

(%me or %userid) Records Assigned to You

Use %me or %userid when filtering fields that contain the user ID, such as Assigned to User ID field, to display all records that are assigned to you.

(%mycustomers) Customers in My Customers

Use %mycustomers in the customer No field to display all records for customers that are included in the My Customers list on your Role Center.

(%myitems) Items in My Items

Use %myitems in the item No field to display all records for items that are included in the My Items list on your Role Center.

(%myvendors) Vendors in My Vendors

Use %myvendors in the vendor No field to display all records for vendors that are included in the My Vendors list on your Role Center.

See Also

Working with Business Central
Common questions about Searching and Filtering

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