Use a Custom Contact Search

If the default contact searches (Active, All, and Mine) for locating and selecting contacts are not satisfactory, you can create custom searches. When you create a custom search, you have the option to save it so you can use it in the future without having to specify the search parameters again.

A saved search is only available to the person who saves it. Other users cannot select it.

To see the search criteria for the currently selected custom search in a tooltip, hover over the search name if the search is saved, or over Custom if it is not saved. (Tablet users can display the search in the Custom Contact Search dialog box to see the search criteria.)

To create a custom search, complete the following steps:

1. Click to go to the Contacts area.
2. Click the currently displayed search filter at the left end of the search field, and click Custom at the bottom of the drop-down list.
3. If you want to save the custom search so you can use it again in the future, enter a name for it in SEARCH NAME on the Custom Contact Search dialog box.

   If you do not want to save the search, you do not need to give it a name.

4. Click in RECORDS and do one of the following:
   • To limit the search to active contacts only, click ACTIVE.
   • To include all contacts (both active and inactive) in the search, click ALL.
   • To limit the search to contacts for which you are a member of the team, click MINE. (You are on an contact's team if you are listed in the grid on the Team tab for that contact.)
5. Use the other fields on the dialog box to enter filter values to further restrict the list of contacts that the search returns.
   For many fields with drop-down lists, you can select multiple filter values. For lookup fields, you can also do the following:

   • Type a single character in the field and select the STARTS WITH <character> option at the top of the drop-down list to search for contacts with values in that field that start with the character you typed:

     

   • Type a string of characters and select the CONTAINS <characters> option at the top of the drop-down list to search for contacts with values in that field that contain that string of characters:

     

   If you enter search parameters and then decide you want to clear all of them and start over, click x Clear All at the bottom of the dialog box.

   Deltek Resource Planning provides a default set of fields on this dialog box. However, if you need to filter the contacts search based on values in other fields, you can click + Add Field at the bottom of the dialog box to add a field to the dialog box. You can also delete fields from the dialog box that you never expect to use. You can delete any of the fields except SEARCH NAME, RECORDS, and CREATED. To delete a field, hover over the field and click to the right of the field name.

6. Do one of the following:
   • To save the search so you can use it again in the future and then perform the search, click Save.
   • To perform the search without saving it, click Apply.
   The Custom Contact Search dialog box closes, and a drop-down list of the contacts returned by the search displays.
7. Select the contact you want from the list.
   If the list is too long, you can do the following to restrict it further:

   • To display a list of contacts with names (first, middle, last, or preferred names) that begin with a specific character, type the character in the field and pause.
   • To display a list of contacts with names (first, middle, last, or preferred names) that contain a specific sequence of two or more characters, type the characters in the field and pause. (You can also search for a first name - last name or preferred name - last name combination.)