Contact Query Preferences

You use this program to configure options that will determine the level of detail you want to view within the Contact Query and My Organization Query queries. You access this program by selecting the Preferences option from the Options menu of these programs.

Menu and Toolbar

Field Description
Save This saves the details you entered or changed.
Reset activity filter options This lets you remove the selected filters from the Contact Activity Filter section.

Organizations View

The options on this tab enable you to indicate your preferences for viewing information on the Organizations View tab.

Field Description
Organization list

This lets you indicate the order in which organizations must be displayed in the Organization Search Results pane of the Organization Search program.

The program uses the nodes and sequences the organizations according to your selection.

These options only apply when you are viewing All Organizations. You can define your own hierarchies when using o rganization lists that are defined in the Conditional Organization List Maint program.

The program uses the nodes and sequences the organizations according to your selection.
First organization type This lets you select the type of organization you want to display in the first node of the tree.
Second organization type This lets you select the type of organization you want to display in the second node of the tree.
Third organization type This lets you select the type of organization you want to display in the last node of the tree.
Show Organization View as a tree view This lets you display all organizations in a tree view structure.
Use Master/Sub account structure This lets you display customer sub accounts under their master account in the tree view.
Expand all rows by default This lets you view all entries in the tree view by default. This option only applies when you are viewing All Organizations.
Show organizations a page at a time Display all organizations in the Organization List listview a page at a time.

This preference is only enabled when you deselect the preference: Show Organization View as a tree view.

When you select this preference, a navigation toolbar is displayed at the top of the Organization List listview pane, enabling you to page through the listed entries. Organizations are listed in sequence according to your selections at the Organization list preference.
Organizations per page Indicate the number of organizations to display on each page.
Organization type - start At Indicate the organization type to navigate to by default when using the Start option in the Organization List listview.
Show icon against 'on hold' organization name This indicates which organizations that are on hold by displaying the organization name and code in red and a warning icon against the organization name.
Initially selected organization

This lets you indicate the organization which must initially be selected when you first access the Organization Search program.

This is the default setting.

This displays details of your current company. This automatically pre-selects you (i.e. your operator code), allowing you to quickly view your tasks, appointments, meetings and other activities.

This displays accounts in alphabetical order.

This displays customers in alphabetical order.

This displays suppliers in alphabetical order.

This sets focus on a specific account which you can specify on the Account field that is displayed when you select this option.

This sets focus on a specific customer which you can specify on the Customer field that is displayed when you select this option.

Set focus on a specific supplier which you can specify on the Supplier field that is displayed when you select this option.
Fields to search on  
Organization name Select this to search within the organization names using the search criteria entered at the Search string field.
Email Select this to search within the organization email addresses using the search criteria entered at the Search string field.
Telephone number Select this to search within the organization telephone numbers using the search criteria entered at the Search string field.

Activities

The options on this tab page enable you to define your preferences for the details displayed in the Activitieslistview on the Contact View tab.

Field Description
Max activities This lets you indicate the number of activities to display in the listview.
Max activity age

This lets you indicate the activities to display, based on the age of the activity.

The age of the activity is determined by the dates defined against the activity.
Activity type selection This lets you indicate if you want to filter on all activities or a single activity.
Activity type

Select the activity type you want to display in the listview.

This is only available if you selected Single at the Activity type selection field.
Follow up flag Select the activities to display, based on the Follow up flag defined against the activity.
Priority Select the activities to display, based on the Priority assigned to the activity.
Regarding Select the activities to display, based on the category against which the activity was recorded.
Result Select the activities to display, based on the outcome of the activity.
Location Select the activities to display, based on the location in which the activity took place.
Source Select the source of activities to display in the listview.
Subject Enter the subject of activities to display in the listview.
Fields to search on

Specify which activity fields you want to include in searches.

By default, all fields are included when performing the search.
Subject of activity This lets you include the information in the subject field when searching for the activity.
Body text This lets you include the information in the body text when searching for the activity.
Location of activity This includes the location of the activity in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
Regarding activity This includes the regarding field in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
Result or activity This includes the activity result in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
User field 1 - 3 This includes the user defined fields 1-3 in the search using the characters specified in the search string.

Contacts

The options on this tab enable you to define your preferences when searching on Contacts from the Search View tab.

Field Description
Fields to search on

This lets you specify which fields you want to include in searches performed on contacts.

These fields are selected by default and included when performing the search.
Contact name

This includes the contact name in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
Preferred name This includes the contact's preferred name in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
ID number This includes the contact's identification number in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
Job title This includes the contact's job title in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
Work telephone and mobile/cell This includes the contact's work telephone and mobile or cellphone number in the search using the characters specified in the search string.
Work email This includes the contact's work email address in the search using the characters specified in the search string.

General Search Options

The options on this tab enable you to define your preferences when using the search facility on the Search View tab.

Field Description
Match case Select this if you want the search to be case sensitive.
Exact match Select this if you want the characters to match the search string exactly.
Result format
Option Description
All Results Return all items found that match the search string. The items are displayed in the listview of the Organization Search program.
Batches Return batches of items found that match the search string. The default number of items to return is 50, but can be specified at the Number of results field.
Number of results

Select the number of results you want to include in a batch.

This is only available if the Result format is defined as Batches.

Notes and warnings

Advantages of the Show Organization View as a tree view preference

  • The structure of organizations is easier to view.

  • If you do not select this option, then the organizations are displayed in a 'flat' listview format. The advantages of this are that you can sort across organization types, you can group by a field such as the Salesperson or Branch and you can use the Filter (Find) to show selected organizations.

Disadvantages of the Show Organization View as a tree view preference

  • If you have a large number of organizations then the tree view is slow to load, you cannot easily sort a tree view and the 'start at' functionality is not available.

Advantages of the Show organizations a page at a time preference

  • Only the number of organizations indicated in the Organizations per page field is initially loaded. Therefore, if you have a large number of organizations, the information in the query is displayed more quickly.

Hints and tips

Improving your search performance

  • If you select the Exact Match search string option, then only results that exactly match the search string entered are returned. This is generally the quickest way of retrieving a large number of items.

  • Increasing the number in the Return search results every n matched items search results option can improve the performance of the search when returning a large number of items. However, returning a smaller number of items enables you to stop the search before it has completed.