Fields in Laserfiche enable you to store a wide variety of details and categorize it in many different ways.

You can create fields to keep names and addresses, numerical codes, phone numbers, dates and times, and so on; you can also make templates to organize those fields and to categorize your documents. However, when retrieving that information, it may be hard to remember which field or template you stored a piece of information in. Was the account code in the “Code Number” field or the “Invoice” field? Is the record you want a “Purchase Order” or an “Invoice”?

In Laserfiche 8.3, when you can not remember these details, you can bypass them entirely. You can use an advanced search to find all records with a particular string in a field– regardless of what template has been applied to them or what field the string is in. You can also narrow down the search by either field or template.

For example, say an individual wishes to locate a document with the purchase order number “35401.” She isn’t sure whether the purchase order number was in the “Code” field or the “Order” field, but she knows that the template was “Purchase Order.” She could use the following syntax to find the number “35401” anywhere in the “Purchase Order” template, regardless of the specific field:

{[Purchase Order]: []=”35401″}

This would certainly return records with the value “35401” anywhere in the “Purchase Order” template, but would certainly not return documents in other templates, even if they contained the value “35401.” This is certainly useful for decreasing the possibilities. Even though this number is also present in a document in “Invoices,” the individual knows she isn’t actually looking for an invoice and won’t need to sift through irrelevant details.

Or perhaps the user knows that the order number was in the “Code” field, but isn’t sure whether the document she wants is an invoice or a purchase order or some other type entirely. In that case, she would use the following syntax.

{[]:[Code]=”35401″}

Note: The example earlier will certainly return the very same results as a Field search within the Laserfiche Client.

This would return all documents with a “Code” field that had a value of “35401,” regardless of the template, yet definitely would not return other fields even if they contained “35401.” This is really useful when you understand that you may have the exact same value in other contexts in other records, but you don’t need to look at them.

Finally, if the user has no idea which template or field she needs, but she does know the value, she can search for any record with any sort of field containing “35401,” regardless of template. She would use the following syntax:

{[]: []=”35401″}

This would certainly return documents with the value “35401” in just about any field, as a part of any template. While this could return a large amount of documents, depending on just how frequently that value is used, it can help you guarantee that you find the proper document even though you can’t remember where the value was stored.

Note: This search could also be executed in the Laserfiche Client utilizing a Basic search with the All Fields option selected.

Note that the more general your search is, the longer it will take and the more results it is likely to return. If you do know the field or template that the document is in, it’s a fantastic idea to specify those within the search. These search types allow you to quickly locate any documents on a distinct topic or connected to a specific customer, order or date, no matter the context. They are very powerful and flexible searches.