Basic Search

Depending on the configuration of your Main CiviCRM page, you may have a simple Contact Search or Quick Search function on the home page, often with a separate link to Advanced Search. You can enter a partial or complete name or email address in this box to immediately perform a basic search (see details below).

If not, choose the Find Contacts link from the CiviCRM Home page. This will bring you to the Find Contacts screen where you can conduct a basic search and include contact type, group or type as additional search criteria.

BASIC SEARCH will search the name and email address fields of all contacts.

You can enter any combination of letters for the search. The more exact the data you enter into the Search field, the better your results will be.

To search for an exact name or order of characters, type them in as usual, e.g.,. "Smith", "Hon21".
To search by first AND last name, use a comma, e.g., "Doe, Jane"
To search for variations on terms, you can include a "wildcard" symbol %, e.g., "Smi%" returns Smitz, Smith, Smironni, etc.
To search for two or more letters in a name that are not consecutive, separate them with a space, e.g., "S i h", "H 2". PLEASE NOTE: This method is the least preferred and sometimes will return inexact results, so use the other search methods listed above before using this method.

Controlling Search "Auto-fill"

The search auto-fill will automatically fill-in names or other data that you have previously used to search. Sometimes it will fill in an entire name even though you only want part of that name, i.e., you want Adams, D but it fills in Adams, David.

Simply hit the Delete key to remove the extra information, Tab to leave the box and Enter to begin the search. You may need to experiment with various keystroke combinations to find the one that works best with your computer system.

Click Search
Your results will be listed as Matches Found or you will be given the message No Matches Found.
You may want to use Advanced Search.