Searching for Information

You can search the system in two ways:

Using words and numbers - using alphanumeric characters
Using special characters - using special characters in conjunction with alphanumeric characters.

To search with words and numbers:

Use only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) in your searches. The system ignores all special characters, unless a non-alphanumeric character has a special search function, as mentioned below. For example, searching for 12 returns matches on 12 and on 1/2.
Use either upper or lower case letters. The system converts lowercase letters into uppercase letters for search purposes. For example, searching for microamp returns matches for MicroAmp and MicroAmprobe.
Use a space between words in a search. The search program looks for matches between the characters you type, separated by spaces, and the first characters of the indexed search words.

To search with special characters:

Use the following special characters in all searches throughout the system:

If...	Then the system...
a period (.) precedes numeric search criteria.	searches for the record ID. For example, in Customer Maintenance, .1234 returns that customer ID.
search criteria is followed by a period.	searches for an exact word match. For example, elec would return ELEC but not ELECTRIC.
search criteria is followed by a forward slash (/).	searches for an exact match anywhere in the word. For example, opp/ would return COPPER or STOPPER.

When searching, the more information you enter, the fewer matches the system returns for your selection. Use the various special characters above as searching shortcuts.

Use Index Searching to search for a product, customer, or transaction number. Index Searching returns exact matches when you enter detailed search criteria and lists possible matches when you enter less detailed criteria.

Additional Search Tips

Use some of the following tips when searching:

If the system does not find a match, it prompts you to re-enter your search criteria. Press the Spacebar to clear the field and repeat your search with different criteria.
If the system finds one match based on your search criteria, it displays it in the field from which you began the search. If the selected item is not the one you want, re-position the cursor in the field, press the Spacebar to clear the field, and repeat your search with different criteria.
If the system finds more than one match based on your search criteria, it displays a list of the matches. Navigate to the desired match and press Enter to select the match. If none of the displayed items are the one you want, press F12 to exit the list.
If the system displays a long list of matches, press F9 to display the Additional Search Criteria screen. Append new words or characters to your search criteria and press Enter. The system restarts the search from the beginning.

Searching for Customers, Vendors, Products, or Transactions

You can search the system for customers, vendors, products, and transactions.

To search for customers or vendors:

Search using either word criteria or special characters.

When searching for customers or vendors, the system compares your search criteria to the values in the Name and Index fields on the Customer Maintenance screen and Vendor Maintenance screen, respectively.

Also search for a customer or vendor by using telephone numbers or zip codes:

If you enter...	Then the system displays...
A 10-digit telephone number	the customer or vendor matching the telephone number.
The last four digits of a telephone number	the customers or vendors whose telephone numbers end in those four digits and whose Zip Code begins with those four digits.
A five-digit Zip Code	the customers or vendors whose Zip Code matches the search criteria.

Remember that you can enter a customer or vendor by preceding the Customer ID or Vendor ID with a period (.1234, for example).

To search for products:

Search using either word criteria or special characters.

When searching for products, the system compares your search criteria to values in the Product Description, Additional Key Words, and UPC fields on the Product Maintenance screen.
Remember that you can enter a product by preceding the Product ID with a period. For example, .1234.
Also use the following special characters when searching for products:

If...	Then the system...
A forward slash (/) precedes the search criteria	searches for a product Family or Price Line. For example, /delta returns a list of products in the DELTA family or DELTA Price Line. Note: Product families are branch-specific. If more than one product family with the same name is found, select the product family for the branch in which you are ordering.
Two forward slashes (//) precede the search criteria	searches for a match on a Buy Line. For example, //SYL returns a list of products in the SYLVANIA Buy Line.
A forward slash (/) is entered as the search criteria	displays a list of product Families and Price Lines.
A forward slash and a period (/.) precede the search criteria	searches for a match on products purchased in the last year by the selected ship-to customer.
A forward slash and a comma (/,) precede the search criteria	searches for a match on products purchased in the last year by all ship-to customers associated with the selected bill-to customer.
A forward slash and a semicolon (/;) precede the search criteria	searches for a match on products for which contract prices are in effect for the selected customer.

Expand your search, if necessary, by pressing F10 to move to one of the product indexes listed below. The system searches for the following groups of products in the order listed:
Active Products - The system first searches for products in this category. These products have been previously sold or purchased at your location, or they are physically on-hand. Your company can set up how it wants to search for active products using the Display Active Primary Index Products First In Product Search control maintenance record.
Primary Index - Products are assigned this status by your company or branch. These products are items you plan to routinely sell or search for.
Catalog Index - Products are assigned this status by your company or branch. These products, often non-stocks, are items you do not routinely sell or search for, but must be able to order.
PDW Catalog Index - Products in this group include every item sold or manufactured by the suppliers you specify. You must purchase the Product Data Warehouse (PDW) companion product to search the PDW Catalog Index.

To search for an existing transaction:

Enter the transaction number in the Ship To field of a blank order. If you do not know the order number, search for the customer first, and then search for an order.
Remember that transactions have the following prefixes:

Transaction	Prefix	Example
Sales Orders	S	S1234567
Purchase Orders	P	P1234567
Transfer Orders	T	T1234567
Rental Orders	R	R1234567
Adjustments	A	A1234567
Cash Receipts	C	C1234567
Journal Entries	J	J1234567