Search and filter

A list is easy to read while it is short and hard to read once it grows. Searching, filtering, sorting, and counting are four small additions that keep a list usable. You ask for them in plain language, in the same way you ask for any other change.

None of the four is a switch in the desk. Each one is something you describe and the builder adds to your app, and what you get depends on what you ask for. The desk has its own way to narrow records, covered at the end of this guide.

Describe what should be searched:

Add a search box above the client list that finds a client by name or email.

Ask for a box that looks for the words someone types anywhere in the chosen fields and ignores capital letters. Have it cover more than one field if that helps: a booking list can search by client name, phone number, or reference.

Filter a list by a field

A filter narrows the list to the records that match a condition. Say which field to use and how it should match:

Show only appointments on a chosen date.
Show only products with a quantity below ten.
Show only invoices that are unpaid.
Show only orders placed in the last thirty days.

Ask for a control the person can change themselves, such as a dropdown of dates or statuses, or for a fixed filter that always applies, such as hiding cancelled bookings. Ask for filters to combine when they need to, and say whether a record must match all of them or any one of them.

Sort the list

Say which order makes sense. Newest first suits a record of activity; by name suits a client list; by date suits a calendar; by price or quantity suits stock. Ask for a control that lets the person choose the order, or fix a single order that always applies.

Show a count or a total

A count is the number of records in the current list, and it changes as filters change:

Show how many appointments match at the top of the list.

A total is the sum of a number field across the list, such as the week's takings or the value of stock on hand. The app works a total out from the records it has loaded, so it covers what the app is showing rather than a figure kept up to date somewhere else. Ask for it beside the list rather than as a separate report, and say if the list will grow very long. Each person normally sees only the records they saved, so a count or a total is theirs unless the app has shared that kind of record.

Filter records in the desk

The desk narrows stored records with filters, not with a search box. There is no search on the Data tab. Open your app in the desk, choose Data, and pick the kind of saved item at the top of the screen.

Select + Add filter to add a condition. A condition is three choices: the field, how it should match, and the value to compare with. Add further conditions the same way. Between two conditions the desk shows and or or; select it to switch, and it applies to the whole set. Select Apply to run the filters, or Clear to remove them all.

The desk shows the number of records that match beside the download buttons, and Load more at the end of the table brings in the next set. The filter bar appears once the kind of saved item has at least one record, because the desk learns the available fields from the records themselves. Those fields carry the plain names described in How your app stores data.

Where to go next

Add and edit entries covers creating the records these lists show, and Import and export data covers taking a filtered list out of the app.