13.1 Global Search, Lists, and Reports
Key Takeaways
Global search is the header keyword field. Alt+G moves the cursor there. A prefix is some or all of the record type name plus a colon or a caret.
To include inactive records for one customer keyword, put the plus sign after the keyword, as in cu:abc+. Include Inactives in Global & Quick Search is the standing Analytics preference.
Help documents cu: and cust for Customer, and sales for Sales Order. The examples table has no vendor row, so a vendor search uses the record type name, as in vendor:.
A list is the register of one record type. A report is a formatted financial or operational layout. A saved search is a reusable query with less presentation formatting than a report.
The prefix inv: can return both inventory items and invoices. A single global-search match opens in view mode unless Show List When Only One Result is checked.
Finding a record in NetSuite is a choice among tools. This section covers the options for finding records. The study-guide keywords are Global Search, Reports, and Lists. A saved search is the fourth tool, and it is only introduced here. The next section teaches how one is built. Open the header search when you need a record. Open a list when you need every record of one type. Open a report when you need a formatted financial or operational layout.
Global search
Global search sits in the center of the header on every page. Press Alt+G to put the cursor in that field. Keywords may include letters, numbers, dashes, underscores, and the % wildcard. Any other character counts as a space. Keep each keyword between 3 and 32 characters. Suggestions can start once three characters are typed, and characters past 32 are ignored.
Suggested matches appear as you type. Click the name to open the record in view mode, Edit to change it, or Dash on a customer row to open that customer's dashboard. Press Enter for every match. Keywords are compared with name and ID values, and on items also with Vendor Name/ID and UPC Code. Several matches produce a list with a Type column. One match opens the record in view mode unless Show List When Only One Result is checked at Home > Set Preferences on the Analytics subtab.
Prefixes Help documents
A prefix limits the keyword to one record type. Help defines it as some or all of the letters of the record type name, plus a colon or a caret. cu: and cu^ are the documented customer forms. cu:max or cu^max finds customers whose records contain the letters max. The examples table, for English (U.S.) and default names, also lists cust for Customer. Use the opening letters of the type, and keep them unique. A renamed record, or another language at Home > Set Preferences, can change which letters work.
The colon and the caret only separate the type from the keywords. If the entry ends on either character and has no keyword, NetSuite asks for keywords. A customer and subcustomer name such as 1000P:100SUB already contains a colon. Help treats the text before that colon as a type, so the name alone returns nothing. Put the customer prefix first. Help's form is cu:1000P :100SUB.
By default, cu: returns customers only. Leads and prospects stay out until you check Global Search Customer Prefix Includes Leads and Prospects on the Analytics subtab. When a custom type shares a name, such as Customer Survey, wrap the full type in quotation marks. The quoted prefix customer returns customer records only.
Vendor is a standard record type, and the examples table does not print a vendor row. Do not memorize a short code that page never lists. Help's rule is the record type name: some or all of its letters, then a colon or caret. A vendor lookup uses that full name, vendor: plus the name or ID. Transaction prefixes the table does print are sales for Sales Order, cash for Cash Sale, est for Estimate, and invo for Invoice. Item prefixes include it: and inve:. The short form inv: can return both inventory items and invoices.
The plus sign for inactive records
Global search omits inactive records until you include them. Add a plus sign after the keyword. Help's example is cu:max+, which finds active and inactive customers with max in their records. The same shape for the keyword abc is cu:abc+: prefix, keyword, then the plus sign. The plus sign stays after the keyword. A hyphen does not take its place. cu:+abc, cu:-abc, and cu:abc- are not that inactive-record pattern.
The standing preference is separate. At Home > Set Preferences, on the Analytics subtab, check Include Inactives in Global & Quick Search. It is cleared by default, so those two tools return active records only. Use the trailing plus sign when one keyword needs inactive records and the preference should stay off.
What else a prefix changes
A single match opens in view mode. Capitalize the first letter of the prefix to open that record in edit mode. Help's examples are Cu:'Maximum Tires' and In:115 for invoice 115. The capital letter has no effect while Show List When Only One Result is enabled. An extra colon between the prefix and the keyword opens the result in a new window. Numbers are exact unless you add %. inv:115 is invoice 115 only, inv:115% starts with 115, and inv:%115 contains 115. Uppercase OR separates alternate text, as in max OR macs. The dash: prefix plus a customer name opens that customer's dashboard.
Lists
A list is the register of one record type. Help describes a list as a group of records of a specific type, such as customers, vendors, items, employees, or partners. Open the Lists tab and select that type. The role you use controls which lists appear. Only the Administrator role can open every record type.
Click a column heading to sort, View or the name to open a record, and Edit to change it. Check Show Inactives to display inactivated records. An inactive record drops out of dropdown lists until that box is checked. The Search link on most list pages opens a search for the same type. The page is still one type's register. It does not run a header keyword across every type, and it does not lay out an income statement.
Reports
A report retrieves, presents, and analyzes results in a formatted layout. Standard reports are definitions you run, often as a summary and a detail you open from that summary. Financial statements, including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, are at Reports > Financial and at Reports > Banking/Budgeting. Footer options change the viewing. Analytics preferences can show the title, company name, and date or period on screen, and can choose whether reports run by period.
The Report Builder customizes most standard reports. Financial statements use the Financial Report Builder, and a custom financial layout starts as a copy of the standard layout. Help's contrast is direct: saved searches support more complex filtering and sorting, and they can send email alerts, but they do not show the same level of presentation formatting. Run a report for that layout. Use global search for the record itself.
Saved search, introduced only
A saved search is a query you define and run again. You choose which records qualify, which columns appear, and who may run it. Choose it when a one-record jump, the standard register, and a formatted statement are each the wrong shape. Criteria, results, available filters, audience, highlighting, and a formula are the next section, on one sales-order example.
How the four tools differ
| Tool | What it returns | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Global search | Name and ID matches, limited by an optional type prefix | You need to open a record, including an inactive customer when the keyword ends in + |
| List | The register of one record type | You need to scan, sort, or edit customers, vendors, or another single type |
| Report | A formatted financial or operational layout | You need a statement such as the income statement, with a title and footer options |
| Saved search | A reusable query with rules you set | You need a custom set of records, chosen columns, or an emailed result |
Three requests show the split. The inactive customer whose records contain abc is a global search, cu:abc+: the customer prefix, then the keyword, then the plus sign. Every vendor before a payment run is the vendor list. This period's income statement is a report under Reports > Financial. Every open sales order for the sales roles, marked when the ship date has passed, is a saved search, built in the next section.
A user runs a global search on the customer keyword abc and needs inactive customer records included. Which entry follows the inactive-record rule?
cu:abc+
cu:-abc
cu:abc-
cu:+abc
A payables clerk needs to scan every vendor, sort the page by name, and open one vendor to edit it. Which tool is that register?
Global search, because a vendor prefix opens a formatted statement of every vendor balance.
A financial report, because the vendor register is an income-statement layout under Reports > Financial.
The vendor list, opened from the Lists tab, because a list is the register of one record type.
A saved search, because a list page can show only one record and cannot sort.
Help warns that a short global-search prefix can return more than one record type. Which prefix and pair match that warning?
cu: returns both customers and vendors, because both names start with the same letter.
sales returns both sales orders and cash sales, because both are sales transactions.
dash: returns both customer dashboards and the vendor list.
inv: returns both inventory items and invoices.
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.