Prevent QuickBase from searching fields

Imagine that you've created an application and included a field to hold some tracking information that you don't want QuickBase to include in certain search operations. For example, say you'd like to know when a record's been created, but that information means little to your application users. To solve a problem like this and to speed searches, a user with administration privileges can exclude certain fields from QuickBase searches.

Understanding QuickBase searches

QuickBase lets you search for data in your application in a number of places:

• Quick Find

• Advanced Find

• Report Builder

• • Filter criteria and Grouping criteria (all report types)

  • Data to summarize and Row grouping (Summary reports)

  • Sorting and Filtering (Calendar reports)

  • Sorting and Grouping (Timeline reports)

• Summary fields

• Email reminders

• Form rules

• Custom Permissions

In each of these areas, you can tell QuickBase you want to find any field with data matching the criteria you specify. In Quick Find, for instance, you simply type in a phrase you want to find and specify the appropriate table. QuickBase automatically searches all fields in the table you specify.

In Advanced find, you can select  <Some field> as your search criteria.  Filtering on <Some field>  tells QuickBase to include in the report any field with data matching the criteria you specify.

How the Searchable property works

Because you may want to speed your searches by excluding certain fields from searches, QuickBase provides a Searchable property for each field. By default, this property is turned on for all fields. However, you can turn this property off for any field. When you do so, QuickBase skips over these fields when performing Quick Find searches and any other search that uses <Some field> as the search criteria.

What happens when I search for a particular field?

Even if you've turned off the Searchable property for a particular field, you can still search that field. Whenever you specify a particular field in a search, QuickBase searches that field even if you've turned off the Searchable property for that field.

To exclude a single field from Quick Find and <Some field> searches:

1. In the table bar on any application page, click the table whose fields you want to identify for searching. Within the menu that appears, select Customize -- tablename-- table > Fields.

2. Click the name of the field to open its properties.

3. Click to clear  the Include this field while searching checkbox.

4. Click Save. 

To exclude several fields from Quick Find and <Some field> searches:

1. In the table bar on any application page, click the table that contains the fields you want to identify for searching. Within the menu that appears, select Customize -- tablename-- table > Fields.
   
   The field listing for the table appears.

2. Click Show Searchable.
   A column appears that shows you which fields will be included in a Quick Find search.

3. Click to clear the checkbox in the column for any field you do not want to include in search.

4. Click Save.

Related Topics

• Preventing QuickBase from Searching a Table

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