Tip Tuesday: Search & Filter Tricks

An often underutilized feature of MerusCase is our search and filter tricks as well as the ability for each user to setup their own pre-filtering settings. Today, we're going to talk through how you can utilize both of these features for a more powerful MerusCase experience!

If you've ever used the MerusCase filter, you're probably aware that you don't have to type in the complete name or phrase of what you're looking for in order to return results. In fact, Merus will start pulling up matching data as you type. Although this method of filtering narrows down your results
extremely fast, we do have a few tricks up our sleeves: here are 6 more more ways to get to your desired answer even faster!

• NOT - In all caps can be used to display everything EXCEPT what follows the keyword. For example "NOT John" will show "Jane Smith" but ignore her husband John.
• OR - In all caps can be used to display combinations. "Jane OR John" will display everyone that shares a name with our two protagonists.
• TO - In all caps can be used on date columns to specify a range. For example, "1/1/2010 TO 1/31/2010" will display all events from January 2010.
• Carat symbol (^) - Used to limit matches to the beginning of a string. For example, "^smi" will return "Smith", but not "Blacksmith".
• Dollar symbol ($) - Can be used to limit matches to the end of as string. For example, "smith$" will return "Smith" and "Blacksmith", but not "Smithson".
• ^$ - Will search only for blank entries. For example, filtering contacts by company for "^$" will only return contacts that have no company attached. 

Another great options for filtering is to set up your account's pre-filters (AKA changing the default data that is shown when you various sections within MerusCase load). Pre-filters can be set for the following:

• Hiding all closed cases.
• Only showing events assigned to the logged-in user.
• Hiding the built-in MerusCase office templates, displaying only custom forms.
• Showing tasks by due date.

To take advantage of these Prefiltering capabilities, go to Tools > Settings & Options. Then click on the User Preferences tab.

• If you only want to see your Custom Office Templates, you can enter NOT built into the field for Forms (Word Templates for Merge/Court PDF Forms), along with specifying Name in the Default Filter Column.
• If you only want to see Tasks due within a specific date range, you can enter 4/12/2012 TO 7/12/2012 (substitute for your preferred dates) into the field for Tasks, along with specifying Due Date in the Default Filter Column.
• If you want to see only open cases, you can specify NOT closed. If you want to specify the companies you see, you can do that as well.

The possibilities for pre-filters are endless so get creative and, for more information, feel free to check out our knowledge base articles!

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Note: This post features MerusCase Version 3.9 or earlier. As such, this post may no longer be accurate. For the most current and up-to-date information about the latest version of MerusCase, please visit our documentation at docs.meruscase.com.