Page Contents

Table of Contents

How do I open the client search?
What does each search field do?
How do I search by business name?
How do I search by contact name, email or telephone?
How do I search by postcode or account reference?
How do I show only clients with Direct Debits?
How do I combine fields?
How do I choose the columns and jump to a letter?
Troubleshooting
Related topics

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Search tips - Clients

You can search your client records from the client management page. Open the search panel to find clients by business name, contact name, email address, telephone number, postcode, account reference or Direct Debit.

You can fill in one field or several. Each field matches what you type in its own way, as described below.

How do I open the client search?

Click Sales in the top menu, then View clients.
Click Search to open the search panel.
Fill in one or more fields.
Click Submit Search.

The results appear under the panel, with a line showing how many clients were found. If nothing matches, the page shows NO CLIENTS FOUND. Click Cancel Search to clear the search and show all your clients again.

Capital or lower-case letters make no difference in any of the text boxes.

What does each search field do?

Please note: some fields support “Enhanced Search” methods where you can apply partial matching and phrase matching.

Field	Description	Search Type
Client name	The business name for your client	Partial string match. Finds the text anywhere in the business name. Contact names are not searched.
First name	The first name of a client contact	Exact string match. Type the whole first name.
Surname	The surname of a client contact	Exact string match. Type the whole surname.
Postcode	The client address postcode	Exact string match. Spaces are ignored. Put `*` at the end to match the start of a postcode.
Email	The email address for a client contact	Exact string match. Type the whole email address.
Telephone	The telephone number for a client contact	Exact string match. Type the number exactly as it is saved, including spaces.
Account reference	An optional account reference	Partial string match. Finds the text anywhere in the reference.
Direct Debit filter	Does the client have a GoCardless Direct Debit mandate	Filter. Tick With Direct Debits to list only clients with Direct Debit mandates.

How do I search by business name?

Type any part of the client’s business name in Client Name.

Acme returns Acme Plumbing Ltd and every other client with Acme in its name. cme returns the same clients, because the text can come from anywhere in the name.
If you type more than one word, the name must contain all of them in the order you typed them, with the same spaces and punctuation. Acme Plumbing returns Acme Plumbing Ltd, but Plumbing Acme returns nothing.

Client Name searches business names only. A * and quote marks are treated as ordinary characters, and the words AND, OR and NOT are searched for as ordinary words. To find a client by the name of a contact, use First Name and Surname, or use Quick Search.

How do I search by contact name, email or telephone?

Four boxes search a client’s contact details: First Name, Surname, Email and Telephone. Type the whole value in each one. Part of a value does not match, and a * does not work.

First Name and Surname: Jane returns the client whose contact is Jane Sample. Jan returns nothing.
Email: type the whole address, for example test@yourcompany.com. yourcompany.com returns nothing.
Telephone: type the number exactly as it is saved, including spaces. If the number is saved as 0161 496 0123, then 0161 496 0123 finds it but 01614960123 does not.

How do I search by postcode or account reference?

Postcode

Type the whole postcode in Postcode. Spaces are ignored, so M4 6AB, M46AB and m4 6ab all find the same client.

To find every client whose postcode starts with the same letters and numbers, put an asterisk at the end, as in M4*, to return every postcode that starts with M4. An asterisk at the start of a postcode does not work, and M4 without an asterisk returns nothing.

Account Reference

Type any part of the account reference in Account Reference. The text can come from anywhere in the reference.

Example: TEST01 returns the client with the account reference ACMETEST01. ACC- returns every client whose reference contains ACC-. A * is treated as an ordinary character, so do not use it here.

How do I show only clients with Direct Debits?

Under Filters, tick With Direct Debits and click Submit Search. The list shows only clients that have a GoCardless Direct Debit mandate. If no client has one, the page shows NO CLIENTS FOUND.

How do I combine fields?

Client Name, Postcode, Account Reference and With Direct Debits narrow the search. A client is returned only if it matches every one of these that you filled in. For example, a Postcode of M4 6AB with a Client Name of Hilltop returns Hilltop Café Ltd, but the same postcode with a Client Name of Acme returns nothing.

The four contact boxes, First Name, Surname, Email and Telephone, work together as “or”: a client is returned if any one of the contact boxes you filled in matches. For example, a First Name of Jane with a Surname of Smith returns the client with a contact called Jane and the client with a contact whose surname is Smith.

Together, the contact boxes must still match alongside the narrowing fields. For example, a Client Name of Acme with a First Name of Jane returns only Acme clients with a contact called Jane.

Tip: To find one particular client, fill in a single contact box, or use Client Name with one other field, rather than several contact boxes at once.

How do I choose the columns and jump to a letter?

Under Display Columns, tick Total Invoiced (Gross), Total Invoiced (Net), Total Received, Prepayments or Credit Limits to add those columns to the results, before the Invoice Balance column.

The letter bar above the results lists clients by the first letter of their name. Click H to list the clients whose names begin with H, or click All to list every client.

Troubleshooting

My search finds nothing

First Name, Surname, Email, Telephone and Postcode need the whole value, so part of a value returns nothing. To match the start of a postcode, put an asterisk at the end, for example M4*. Client Name and Account Reference find the text you type from anywhere in the name or reference.

I typed a telephone number and nothing was found

Telephone matches the number exactly as it is saved, including spaces. Type it in the same way as it appears in the client’s details.

I typed a contact’s name in Client Name and nothing was found

Client Name searches business names only. Use First Name and Surname to search contact names.

I used `*` or quote marks in Client Name and nothing was found

In Client Name, a * and quote marks are searched for as ordinary characters, and AND, OR and NOT are searched for as ordinary words. Type part of the business name instead.

My search found too many or too few clients

First Name, Surname, Email and Telephone work together as “or”, so a client is returned if any of them matches. Fill in only the box you need. All the other fields must match.

The list is still filtered

Click Cancel Search to clear the search and show all your clients again.