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Search for documents

Use search to find documents fast, or export a document report to Excel.

Required permissions
Search document register

The Document Register contains all documents your organization has received or uploaded on this project. Documents marked confidential for someone else can't be seen.

While searching, you'll enjoy the following features:

  • Filter multiple values to search for multiple document types, statuses, and disciplines.
  • Pin your favorite filters so you only see what you use.
  • Hide unpinned filters giving more space for search results.
  • Drag and pin columns in place to quickly scroll and view search results.
  • View your current drawings as thumbnails or as a list in the Drawings tab.
  • Choose to automatically search the Document Register when you open it. (see Load search results on landing in preferences)
  • Aconex remembers your last search for the next time you log in. This includes the filtered values, pins, and columns you used.

Project Admins can:

Using search

  1. From the main navigation menu, click Documents and select Document Register.
  2. Enter your search criteria in the search bar, such as the document number, document title, filename, or file content. Searches aren’t case-sensitive. 
  3. Click Search to view the list of documents that match your criteria.

Tip!

Keep 'Show document history' unchecked to show the latest version of the documents. If you need to, you can also access previous versions of a document.

  1. Refine your search using the available filters. You can select multiple values from some filters, allowing filtering across multiple document types and disciplines.
  1. Click Search and your results will refresh. 
  1. (optional) Click the file icon to download a document.
  2. (optional) Click more options (three dots menu) to access a range of other features, such as viewing the event log.

Set the number of results per page

  • Click the 'results per page' link to choose the number of results you see on each page. By default, you'll see up to 100 results per page.
  • Click the arrows to view each page of your search results.

View and navigate your search results

In the results pane, you can scroll, sort, and add columns. Resize and pin columns to easily navigate search results.  

  • To resize a column, hover your cursor over the column separator
  • Click and drag your cursor to adjust the column width as needed.
  • To pin a column, hover your cursor over the column header. Then, click and drag the column to the desired location. Dragging to the left side of the results pane will ‘Pin’ that column in place (note the pin icon that appears above the column), so you can scroll through the results with the pinned columns visible.
  • You can also Add/Remove Columns.

Tip!

Use search to produce a report from the results (such as Drawings updated in the last week), then export to Excel. 

Create a saved search if you need to run a report regularly.

Personalize your pinned filters

Unpin filters you don't use, so your favorites are visible. Hover over a field to unpin it. 

Unpinned filters are found under 'More Filters'. You can always pin a filter again if your needs change.

Aconex remembers your pinned filters for next time. But you can reset them to match the project default, as configured by your Project Admin.

Filtering dates

  • Add as many Date Type filters as you need by clicking Add another date query.
  • Click the trash icon to remove extra date fields.
  • If you pin the Date Type filter, all Date Type fields are automatically pinned.
  • You can unpin this field, but it will always be placed in a separate row from other filters.
  • Dates can only be filtered between 01/01/1970 and 01/01/2100.

Partial searches and operators

Use the asterisk (*) wildcard operator if you only know part of the information you are looking for.

Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can also be used.  Find out more.

In the example below, we’ve used a combination of both these techniques to find our documents.

More options

Click more options (three dots menu) on a document for the following:

Set project default filters

This setting is available for the Project Admin for the project-owning organization. Project users click 'Reset pinned filters' to set their filters to this default setting.

  1. From the Setup menu click Preferences.
  2. Click the Project tab.
  3. Scroll down to Project-wide settings and find the Documents section.
  4. Click Edit to configure the default filters for either the Document Register or Drawings.
  5. Check the box in the Pinned column to choose if the filter is pinned or not.
  6. Arrange the order of filters by drag and drop, or select one or more to move them as a group using the arrows.
  7. Click Update to save your changes.
  8. Click Close on the confirmation dialog.

What's next?

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