When you do a traditional find operation in FileMaker, you simply go into find mode, type what you are looking for in the appropriate fields and perform the find. You have the ability to adjust what you are looking for with the Find Symbols (often called Search Operators). The idea is that you would place a certain character(s) in front of your search settings and your search results are modified. For example, a search of 18 in an age field for a members database could find all the members that age. A search of < 18, would find everyone less than 18. The less than symbol is being used as a search operator. You have the ability to select them from a pop-up menu inside of CheckIn Find.

< Less Than — Finds all the records that are less than what you specified.

≤ Less Than Or Equal — Finds all the records that are less or equal to a value that you specified.

> Greater Than — Finds all the records that are greater than what you specified.

≥ Greater Than Or Equal — Finds all the records that are greater than or equal to a value that you specified.

= Exact Match or Contains — Searches for each full word match for each word specified. Without the operator, a search for Bob would return records of Bob Jones, Bob Williams and Bobby Sue. If you did a search using the exact operator ( = Bob ) then your search would return Bob Jones and Bob Williams. Bobby Sue would not be found when using the “Exact Match” search operator.

Wildcards used in Search


@ One Character — This is used to put a wildcard character into one character space that makes up part of a search setting. For example, a search for the Product Name MacBook Pro 1@-inch could return MacBook Pro 13-inch, MacBook Pro 15-inch or MacBook Pro 16-inch. This means any character could take the place of the @ character. However, only one character is all that can be replaced.

* Zero Or More Characters — This is more of a “taking a guess” type of search operator. This will find matches for the wildcard for zero or more characters. So a search for iMac* Retina would return iMac 27-inch Retina and iMac 21-inch Retina.

If you wanted to search for an Apple Service "661" part, but only wanted to type the last set of digits, you could use *02536 to find 661-02536.

“ ” or == Literal Text — The Literal Text Match is a search operator used when you are searching for a literal string of text pieces. Say we have a name field and it contains the following data on four different records...

Big Company Media Services
Big Company Media Services, Inc.
Media Services Big Company

Services Media Big Company

A standard search for Big Company would find all four records. A literal search for "Big Company Media Services" or ==Big Company Media Services== would find the records of...

Big Company Media Services
Big Company Media Services, Inc.

This could be especially helpful when searching for a specific phrase in the “Timeline Notes” or the SRO.

Note that because the “ ” characters are search operators, to search for them they will need to be Escaped, by adding a backslash character. So you'd use something like \"Bob\" to find "Bob" (with quotes), or 13\" MacBook Air to find 13" MacBook Air.


How to Use Request Numbers in Search

The “Request #” field allows you to search for multiple items and fields in a single search function. (Note that the numbers do not indicate priority.)

For example, the following search, with each search item numbered 1 in the “Request #” field…

Timeline Notes = “Cracked Display” — 1

Status of SRO = Parts Ordered — 1
Date Created = 1/1/2021   3/1/2021 — 1

…would find each SRO that meets all of those search criteria. It would have the exact phrase “Cracked Display” in the Timeline Notes, the status would be “Parts Ordered,” and the SRO would have been created between the date range specified.

Where the same search terms, with each search item numbered sequentially…

Timeline Notes = “Cracked Display” — 1
Status of SRO = Parts Ordered — 2
Date Created = 1/1/2021   3/1/2021 — 3

…would find each SRO that meets any of those search criteria. (Since it will return all of the SROs created between the date range specified, regardless of any other search terms, this would be a pointless endeavor!)

A good rule of thumb is to think of it in terms of “and” and “or.” Searches numbered the same (1, 1, 1) would be and; searches numbered sequentially (1, 2, 3) would be or.


Useful Search TIps

Leave a search field blank when you want to search for no entry in that field. For example, if you wanted to search for Invoices that had not yet been Posted, you could search the "Date Posted" field for records that have no entry in that field.

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Useful Quick Searches

Timeline Notes = G#########

This will search the Timeline for GSX Repair Numbers. You can further modify this with a Date Range (using buttons for stuff like "Today," "Last Week," "Last Month" et cetera), and save it as a Quick Search to quickly show you all GSX Repairs during a recent time period.


Flag as Inactive = 1
This will search for items that have been marked as "Inactive" in CheckIn (and are hidden). This can be combined with other searches (such as for Product Name or Supplier Code), if you're looking for a specific inactive product.


Search by Date Range for most accurate results
If you are attempting to search to see if an SRO, Quote, Order or Invoice meets a specific criteria, try using "Date SRO" or "Date Invoice" for the best results, and set a very broad date range.

In the example below, we want to search for any SRO that has been made into an Invoice, that is also "Owing." By searching for all three criteria -- "Date SRO" (it started as an SRO), "Date Invoice" (it's now an Invoice), and Status "Owing," we can be confident that the search will work properly.

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