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Advanced Lookup Features in ACT!

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You would like to learn how to create Lookups of Contact, Company or Group records in your ACT! database so that you can correspond with, or add information to, only those specific records.

There are a number of ways to create a Lookup of the records in your ACT! database. This document will cover the more advanced Lookup features in ACT!. These features include Date Range, Keyword Search, Annual Event, Contact Activity, By Example, Advanced Query and Lookups from the Task List or Contact List views. You will also find information on creating a company or a group from an active Lookup of records. For basic field level Lookup information, please refer to Help Topics or consult your Users Guide.
    Important Notes:
    The asterisk (*) no longer works as a wildcard character when performing Lookups in the ACT!. However, if you know what characters the data starts with, you can search fields using only a partial name or number. For example: typing 24 into the Zip Code field, will find all records with Zip Codes that begin with 24.

    The percent symbol (%) will work as a wild card character to find any combination of characters within a field. For example: typing %rob into the Contact field of the Lookup or Lookup By Example dialog box will find Robert Smith, Jim Roberts and any other contact records that have the adjacent letters rob in their Contact field.

    The Underscore (_) can be used as a wildcard to replace any character in a Lookup. For example: if you perform a Lookup in the Contact field using the characters j_n, you will find all of the records that begin with Jan, Jen, Jin, Jon and Jun.
This document is divided into two sections. Looking up Contact Records and Looking up Company and Group records. Follow the steps in the appropriate section below:


Looking Up Contact Records:
Lookups of contact records can be accomplished in a number of different ways: After performing a lookup of any specific contact records, you can always return to the All Contacts lookup by clicking the Lookup menu, and then clicking All Contacts.

How To Lookup and Delete Blank Records:
To create a lookup of blank records, click the Lookup menu, and then click Contact. Enable the Empty field option, and then click OK. It is strongly advised that you do NOT include records in your database, that have no data in the Contact field. If you have more than one blank record, the Contact List view will appear to be blank or you may see a single line spanning the width of the page. To eliminate these blank records, follow these steps:
  1. Check the Enable tag mode box to create a lookup of the true blank records or click Tag All if they are all blank.
  2. Click the Contact menu and then click Delete Contact. The following ACT! dialog box appears.
  3. Click Yes to continue the deletion process. The following ACT! dialog box appears.
  4. Click Yes to complete the deletion process.


Date Range Lookups:
If you have created a custom date field, follow the steps below to use that field in a Date Range Lookup:
Important Note: You can only designate a greater than or less than range using this function.
  1. With your cursor in that custom date field, click the Lookup menu, and then click Other Fields. The Lookup dialog box appears with your custom field displayed in the Look in this field field.



  2. Ensure the For the current Lookup field displays the appropriate option
  3. In the Search for section, enable the Greater than option, and then enter the beginning date in your date range. --or--
  4. Enable the Less than option, and then enter the ending date in your date range.
  5. Click OK when the settings are correct. The contact records that meet this criteria will appear in the contact list view.


Keyword Search:
A keyword can be any word that exists as data in a contact record. For example, if you need Sales Forecast information for the contacts in your database, you can save time by searching the Notes or Histories tab to find only entries containing the keywords "Sales Forecast".

To find contacts, companies, or groups using keywords:

  1. Click the Lookup menu, and then click Keyword Search. The Keyword Search dialog box appears.
  2. In the Search for field, enter the word (or phrase) that you wish to find (or select an item from the list).
    Note: The list contains the last five keywords that you searched for.
  3. In the Search these records section, enable the appropriate record type: Contacts, Groups, or Companies and the appropriate option for records to search: All records, Current records, or Current Lookup.
  4. In the Look in section, enable the appropriate options, Activities, Opportunities, Histories, Notes, and/or Fields, and then click Find Now. A Searching progress indicator appears as the database is searched.
  5. When the Keyword Search is complete, the Keyword Search dialog box re-appears with your results displayed.
  6. Double-click a contact record from the list to view that record. You can return to your Keyword Search by clicking the Lookup menu, and then clicking Keyword Search again.
    Hint: Click a column heading to sort your search results.
  7. Click the Create Lookup button to view all records identified in a keyword search.
    Hint: The Contact List view will allow you to see all records in one screen.
  8. If no records were found that match your search criteria, the following ACT! message appears.
  9. Click OK to return to the Keyword Search dialog box.


Annual Event Lookup:
Annual event fields are designed to help you track events for important dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, or subscription renewals. An annual event field can have the same attributes as any other field with the Data Type of Date.

Although annual events do not display on calendars, you can establish a recurring To-do activity and an alarm to alert you of the upcoming event. You can also create a lookup of annual events to set a recurring activity for the event. Follow the steps below.
  1. Click the Lookup menu, and then click Annual Events. The Annual Events Search dialog box appears.



  2. From the Search for list, enable the Annual Event field(s) you wish to look up or click All if you wish to look up all types of Annual Event data.
    Note: A field will not appear in the Search for list unless it is defined with a Data Type of Annual Event.



  3. In the Time Range section, enable the Current Week, Current Month or Date Range option to specify the search period.
  4. Click Find Now to begin the search. Results are displayed near the bottom of the Search Annual Events dialog box.



  5. Click an entry, and then click Go To Contact to view that record or click Create Lookup to view these records in the Contact List view.
  6. Click an entry, and then click Schedule To-do. The Schedule Activity dialog box appears, allowing you to easily schedule a recurring yearly activity for this annual event.
    Hint: Activities scheduled for an annual event appear as to-do activities on your calendars while annual events do not.
  7. Click Print List to print this list of contact records.

    Lookup By Example:
    The Lookup By Example dialog box is a powerful query tool which allows you to identify specific records based upon the data in one or more fields. For example, you could find all of the contacts that are Buyers in a specific Zip Code. If you would like to find records with more than one possible value in a field, you can use the Advanced Query.
      Note: The Lookup By Example dialog box cannot be used for date range Lookups.
    1. Click the Lookup menu, and then click By Example. The Lookup By Example dialog box appears as a blank copy of your layout.
    2. Type the data you wish to search for in one or more of the fields, and then click the Search button. The ACT! - Run Query Options dialog box appears.



    3. Enable the desired option, and then click OK. The records which match your criteria will appear in the Contact List view.


    If you would like to lookup records with more than one possible value in a field, click the Advanced Query button. The Advanced Query dialog box appears.





    For detailed information on creating an Advanced Query, refer to the following linked Knowledge Base document:

    Contact Activity Lookup:
    The Contact Activity Lookup allows you to identify contacts that either have or have not been modified within a specified date range. You can direct this lookup to search for activity in the Contact fields, Notes, Histories, Opportunities and Calendar events. For example: if you wish to focus on the untapped potential of your database, you could look up all of the records that have Not Changed in the last six months.

    Follow the steps below to perform a Contact Activity Lookup.
    1. Click the Lookup menu, and then click Contact Activity. The Contact Activity dialog box appears.



    2. Enable the desired option in the Look for Contacts that have section and specify a Since Date for your Lookup.
    3. In the Search In section, disable options to narrow your search (if desired). Both the Histories and Activities include subtypes that can be disabled.
    4. When all options are set as desired, click Find Now. ACT! will open the Contact List view, displaying the contact records which match the Contact Activity Lookup criteria.


    Saving a Lookup as a Group or Company:
    Once you have identified the desired records in a lookup, you can easily create a Group or Company from that lookup of Contact records.
    Follow the steps below:
    1. Click the Lookup menu, and then point to Groups (or Companies), and then click Save Lookup as Group. The Group Detail (or Company Detail) view appears with a blank Group (or Company) record.



       
    2. Enter a Group (or Company) name, complete other fields as desired, and then (under the Contacts tab) click the Add/Remove Contacts button. The Add/Remove Contacts dialog box appears with your lookup criteria as the contacts in your lookup appear in the Contacts tab.



    3. Click the Contacts button if you wish to manually add or remove Group (or Company) members.
    4. Click the Edit Criteria button if you wish to change the Group (or Company) membership criteria.
    5. Click OK to accept the settings.


    Creating a Lookup from the Task List:
    You can create a Lookup of records that are associated with the tasks from your Task List view by filtering the view. For example if you wish to create a Lookup of all Contacts that you have scheduled for a High Priority Call today, change the Dates filter display to Today, the Type filter to Call and the Priorities filter to High. (as illustrated below)
    Hint: If your filter option are not visible, click the Show Filters button.




    Once you have filtered your task list appropriately, right-click within the Task List view, and then click Create Lookup from the shortcut menu to create a lookup of all contact records associated with the activities that currently appear in the Task List.

    Note: There is no global way to change the Date, Type or Priority of a scheduled activity. You must double-click any activity displayed in the Task List view, to access the Schedule Activity dialog box and modify any activity settings.


    Creating a Lookup from the Contact List:
    The Contact List view displays all contact records in the current multi-record lookup, whether this is all of the contacts in your database or two records that correspond to a separate lookup.

    If the records you wish to look up, are members of a Group or a Company, you can click the button to open the View Groups/Companies dialog box:




    Ensure that the desired option is displayed in the     View field, Groups, Groups and Subgroups, Companies or Companies and Divisions. and then click the desired Group, Subgroup, Company or Division to quickly populate the Contact List view with the members.


    If your lookup is not strictly made up of group or company members, you can identify specific contacts for your lookup from the Contact List view by selecting the desired records in this view. Once the desired records are selected, click the Lookup Selected option to create the lookup. There are several ways to select the records. Perhaps the easiest way is to use the Enable Tag Mode option.




    With the Enable Tag Mode option checked, simply click each contact record that you wish to include in your lookup, and then click the Lookup Selected option. Holding your Ctrl key while clicking non-contiguous records in the Contact List view will accomplish the same thing.

    If the records that you wish to include are listed contiguously; you may click the first of these records, hold your Shift key, and then click the last record to select all contact records between (inclusive).

    If there are just a few records in the Contact List view that you wish to exclude from the lookup. Use one of the methods described above to select these records, and then click the Omit Selected option.


    Looking Up Group and Company Records:
    You can look up specific group or company records with basic field level look ups. For example: Click the Lookup menu, point to Companies, and then click Zip Code to identify all of the company records in a specific Zip Code.

    Lookups of group or company members can be performed from both the Group Detail or Company Detail view as well as from the Contact List view.

    To lookup the members of a Group or Company:
      • From the Group Detail or Company Detail View:
        1. Click the Contacts tab to display all members of your Group or Company.
        2. Right-click within the Contacts tab, and then click Create Lookup from the shortcut menu. The Contact List view appears with your group or company members displayed as the current lookup.
      • From the Contact List View:
      1. Click the button to open the View Groups/Companies dialog box:



      2. Ensure that the desired option is displayed in the View field, Groups, Groups and Subgroups, Companies or Companies and Divisions, and then click the desired Group, Subgroup, Company or Division to quickly populate the Contact List view with the members.



    You can also implement the Date Range, Keyword Search, By Example, Annual Event and Contact Activity lookups, as described above, from either the Group Detail or the Company Detail view.

    The Keyword Search lookup allows you to specify Groups or Companies as the Record Type while the By Example lookup allows you to identify specific records based upon the data in one or more group or company field(s). The Date Range, Annual Event and Contact Activity lookups function in the exact same way whether accessed from the Contact, Group or Company Detail view. Refer to the sections above for detailed information on these advanced Lookup features.

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