Related Information Examples & Tutorials

Find By

The Find By menu offers many choices for quickly searching for records in your database using indexed fields.

When you select one of the Find By options to begin a search, you are prompted to enter information. The form that is displayed will give you instructions for entering the "search string" as required for the option you selected. Each available choice that you may select for performing a search has different requirements for its search string. For instance, some fields require numbers and others may contain characters and/or numbers.

Please read the instructions displayed on the screen for you as you begin to enter your search criteria.

Name

This option, Find By Name, searches the list of Debtors for the name you enter.

A list of matching Debtors is displayed.

This function searches the Debtor Name, Contact and Cosigner Name and lists all matching names. For example to find all instances of Fred type 'Fred'.

To search for a set of characters in the middle of a name, type *Fred (or whatever you need). The * tells Collect! to search all names for a name containing the typed characters. For example, if you know there's a 'Fred's A-1 Body Shop' in your system, you could type '*A-1' and it will come up with both 'Fred's A-1 Body Shop' and 'Erma's A-1 Cleaners'.

Searching with the * is a lot slower than just typing the first few characters of the desired name because the system has to read every single key and search it for matching characters.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F1 to access Find By Name.

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Phone

This option, Find By Phone, searches the list of Debtors for the phone number you enter. You must use "-" where necessary. e.g.: 214-777-8898 not 214778898.

The first matching Debtor is displayed.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F2 to access Find By Phone.

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Social

This option, Find By Social, searches the list of Debtors for the S.S.N. or S.I.N. that you enter.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F3 to access Find By SSN.

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Date Of Birth

This option, Find By Date of Birth, searches the list of Debtors for the Date of Birth that you have entered. You must be accurate to the day when entering the date of birth.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F4 to access Find By DOB.

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Driver's License

This option, Find By Driver's License, searches the list of Debtors for a close match to the driver's license ID you have entered.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F5 to access Find By Driver's License.

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Email

This option, Find By Email, searches the list of Debtors for a close match to the debtor's Email address you have entered.

Example:

Type 'support@' to find all email addresses starting with 'support@'.

Type 'support' to find all email addresses containing support, such as tech-support@test.com.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F6 to access Find By Email.

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File Number

This option, Find By File Number, searches the list of accounts for a file number. Only exact matches are displayed.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F7 to access Find By File Number.

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Account Number

This option, Find By Account Number, searches the list of accounts for all records containing the numeric string that you enter.

Example:

Type '616' to find all numbers starting with '616'. Type '*616' to find all numbers that contain '616'.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F8 to access Find By Account Number.

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City

This option, Find By City, searches the list of Debtors for all accounts containing in the City field, the text string that you enter.

Example:

Type 'vic' to find all city names beginning with 'vic'. Type '*ria' to find all city names containing '*ria'.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F9 to access Find By City.

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State

This option, Find By State, searches the list of Debtors for all accounts containing in the State field, the text that you enter.

Example:

Type 'wa' to find all states that begin with 'wa'. Type '*wa' to find all state names containing 'wa'.

tip.gif Use hot key CTRL+F10 to access Find By State.

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ZIP

This option, Find By ZIP, searches the list of Debtors for all accounts with ZIP codes starting with the numbers that you enter.

Example:

Type 'v9b' to find all zip codes starting with 'v9b'. Type '*4c1' to find all zip codes containing '4c1'.

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Street

This option, Find By Street, searches the list of Debtors for all accounts with a Street address matching the criteria that you enter in the Address Information form. Criteria such as City, State and ZIP may be used to narrow down the search.

Select this option to display the Address Information form. Press F1 for more help.

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Index 1

This option searches the list of Debtor attachments for a text string in the Index 1 field that contains the text that you enter. Partial matches are listed.

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Index 2

This option searches the list of Debtor attachments for a text string in the Index 2 field that contains the text that you enter. Partial matches are listed.

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Date 1

This option searches the list of Debtor attachments for a date in the Date 1 field that matches the date you enter.

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Date 2

This option searches the list of Debtor attachments for a date in the Date 2 field that matches the date you enter.

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Find By Hot Keys

You can type in a hot key from anywhere in the system to quickly bring up the Find By screen.

Hot KeyFunction
Ctrl+F1 Find by Name
Ctrl+F2 Find by Phone
Ctrl+F3Find by SSN
Ctrl+F4Find by DOB
Ctrl+F5Find by DL
Ctrl+F6 Find by Email
Ctrl+F7 Find by File Number
Ctrl+F8Find by Client Account Number
Ctrl+F9 Find by City
Ctrl+F10 Find by State
Ctrl+F11 Find by Street

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Find By For Client Operators

You can enable your Clients to browse for records in your database, using the Browse, Find By feature, while restricting them to only view their own accounts. Please refer to Help topic, Enabling Your Clients to Browse for Records for details.

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See Also

- Enabling Your Clients to Browse for Records

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