Perform an advanced search

An advanced search is a rules-based search, making it the best way to locate very specific data in Analytics. For example, you might want to identify customers whose sales have declined by more than 5% over the last 3 months.

Whereas a basic search is suitable for quick, ad hoc analysis, an advanced search is typically used for creating a report or favorite. Therefore, it is recommended that the advanced search is the last step in your analysis. In other words, you should select and focus on the data prior to performing an advanced search.  

Access the advanced search

There are three ways to access the advanced search:

• Type text into the Search box, click the Search button, then select the Advanced Search option. 

• When the Search box is empty, click the Search button.

• When the Search box is empty, press Alt+S on your keyboard.

Open

Create and apply the advanced search rules 

Advanced searches are based on rules that you create. The rules can range from a simple property rule, such as ‘city = newcastle’ to multiple rules involving more than one dimension, such as ‘customers whose sales have declined for the last three consecutive months, who spent more than $10,000, who are located in the North region and who buy brand X’.

There are five types of rules you can create: Entity, Property, Measure, Variance and Calculation. The Advanced search rule types page gives information on how to use each type of rule but the basic process is as follows:

1. Access the advanced search (see above).

2. In the Advanced Search window, select a dimension (or retain the default selected dimension).

3. Click the New  button and select a rule type. A blank 'rule' displays. Repeat this step to add more rules as required. 

4. If you are creating more than one rule, select the condition (AND or OR) you want to apply:

   • If you want the search result to match all the rules, no action is required, as the And condition is applied by default.

   • If you want the result set to match at least one of the rules, click the And button to switch to the Or condition. 

5. Configure the rule(s) as required. See Learn about the advanced search rule types for more information and examples.

6. Click Apply.

In the following example, two rules were created for the Customer dimension using the AND condition, returning a result of 14 customers who are located in London and generated revenue of more than 100,000.

Open

You can continue your analysis while an advanced search is active. If you switch between dimensions, the rules are retained and applied to the other dimensions.

Use multiple rules together

You can use a combination of rules to search for different kinds of information. See this working example to learn how: Use multiple rules to locate declining customers who have spent a particular amount.

Copy, edit or delete a rule

You can edit the rules you apply to an advanced search, for example, if you make a mistake or want to try a different scenario. If you need to create a number of similar rules, you can copy one an entire rule or a variable within a calculated rule. This will add a new rule directly below the current rule with exactly the same settings, which you can edit as required.

In the Advanced Search window:

• To copy a rule, click the Clone button.

• To edit a rule, make your changes to the existing rule elements.

• To delete an individual rule, click its Delete button. To delete all rules, click the Clear button in the bottom left corner. Alternatively, see the Clear the search results section below.

Click Apply to continue with your analysis.

View the search results in the grid

As with the other ways to search for data, when you perform an advanced search, in effect, you filter the grid to display only the data that meets your specified criteria, which in this case, is your search rules. Any totals or averages that display in the grid then relate only to the filtered data. The status bar above the grid identifies the filters (search rules) and an asterisk displays on the corresponding dimension to signify that a filter (search) has been applied. 

Save the advanced search results as a favorite

When you are satisfied with the returned search results, you can save your advanced search as a favorite. This action saves the rules you applied to get the results, not the actual list of results returned, to ensure that the results are dynamic. For example, an advanced search set to show declining customers might return a list of 45 declining customers. Saving this search as a favorite saves the search rules, not the 45 customers. The next time this favorite is opened, a different list of declining customers is likely to appear, as the data has changed in the meantime. See the Use favorites page to learn more about favorites.

Clear the search results

As mentioned above, when you perform an advanced search, an asterisk displays on the corresponding dimension button. Click the X on the dimension button to clear the search results (remove the filter).

To completely reset the data, click the Reset button.

On this page

Related pages - other ways to search for data

• Learn about the advanced search rules

• Perform a basic search

• Search for similar or comparative data (right-click filter)

• Use search mode