For users of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, having all of your customer information in the database is beneficial to all the related departments. Being able to locate the information needed quickly and more efficiently is equally as critical.

Dynamics 365 Sales provides several mechanisms, such as Views, Advanced Find, and Global Search, to speed up the search process. In this article, we would like to provide some valuable tips for the effective use of those three search mechanisms to save time.

I. Global Search

Global Search is a powerful feature because it allows users to search among several different types of entity records, not just one type. However, the system only allows up to 10 separate entities to be included in the Global Search mechanism. Therefore, it is essential only to include those entities often searched by the users. To specify the entities included, following the steps below:

• Open the Advanced Setting screen, go to Setting > Administration > System Settings.
• On the System Settings screen, find the section on Set up Search and click Select.

• The following Select Entities screen will appear, and the user can use it to add or remove entities as needed.

II. Advanced Find

Most users know how to use the Advanced Find feature to display a list of records based on certain filter conditions. One tip is that the function can also use the information of the associated entity records for the display columns as well as in the filter conditions. To use the function effectively, you should learn the relationships among the entities. Then you will be able to build a report showing the data for the main entity as well as those for the associated entities.

III. Quick Find View

The Quick Find View feature allows the user to quickly locate certain records by entering a keyword in the search textbox on the View screens. However, the Quick Find search mechanism may not return the record even if one of the columns for the record contains the keyword. The reason is that the search mechanism does not automatically include all the columns in its search algorithm. You have to specify the relevant columns to be included in the search.

• First, you open the Quick Find View for the entity.
• Then on the Quick Find View screen, you can select Add Find Columns to specify the relevant columns. See below screen.

Contact Queue Associates

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