Using Lists

ExceedFurther includes many lists. These may be lists of names, gifts, activities, events or other information.

Many sections in the Navigation bar include Quick Lists. These are predefined lists to give you a quick look at your data. You can customize these lists in a myriad of ways and then save them as your own lists, where they will appear under "My Lists."  You can view and manage all of your own lists through the List Manager tab, available from the Administration choice in the Hello menu.

With most lists, you can use the Icon bar at the top of the screen to print the list, send a letter or email to everyone in the list, export the list to Excel, add or remove a tag from everyone on the list, or add a to-do reminder for each item on the list.

Lists are also used in the Managers. Within each Manager there are other tasks that can be performed for each item in the list. For example, in the Gift Manager, you can generate an acknowledgment letter for each gift in the list and mark the gifts as acknowledged.

Lists appear in a spreadsheet-style grid with many features to help you find and organize the information you need. Each list has the following features:

Showing more or fewer rows

In the top and bottom margin of the grid, you can see the total number of rows in the list and the number that are currently being displayed.

You can choose how many to display at one time from the drop down either in the top margin or bottom margin of the grid. If you have a small list, you may wish to view the entire list at once. If you have a large list, it may be easier to display the items in smaller increments.

If you are not viewing the full list, you can go through each section by using the First, Previous, Next and Last buttons or by selecting a specific area to view by section number.

Selecting what fields to show in each column

Depending on the type of list, there is a set of columns of information that is the standard set for that type of list. For example, a list of people includes their names, primary address, phone and email.

You can customize the columns you want to see by clicking on the gears that appear in the top left margin. This brings up a list of all available columns for that type of list. You can check or uncheck the boxes next to each available field.

Changing the order and size of the columns

You can change the order of the columns from the same screen where you selected your custom columns by dragging the field name up or down in the list.

You can make columns wider or narrower by positioning your mouse over the space between column headers and dragging left or right.

Changing the sort order of the items in the list

Click on a column header to sort the list by that column's information. The column header changes color and the arrow points up to indicate that the information is sorting in ascending order.

To change the order to descending, click on the column again. The arrow points down and the information is sorted in descending order.

If you want to add another level of sorting, hold down the shift key and click on another column.

For example, to sort on last name and first name, click on the Last Name column. Then while holding down the Shift key, click on the First Name column.

The selections you have made are shown at the top of the grid, on the right side.

Selecting what names or other items to include in the list

Filtering within the list

At the top of each column, underneath the column name, there is a box where you can type in characters or numbers. This box serves as a filter for the contents in that column.

You can type in filter characters in three ways:

  1. % + filter characters - if you precede the character or characters with a "%" sign, the filter includes any name or other information that has those characters anywhere in the name. For example, if you type "%orr" in the box in the Last Name column, people with "orr" anywhere in their last name appear. This includes not just people with the last name "Orr" but also names like "Orrwell" or "Norris".
  2. = + filter characters - if you precede the character or characters with an "=" sign, the filter includes any name that exactly matches those characters. For example, if you type "=Orr" in the Last Name column, only people with the last name "Orr" appear. Names that begin with "Orr" but have additional characters, like "Orrwell", and names with "orr" somewhere else, like "Norris", are not included in the filter.
  3. filter characters alone - if you type in characters without an "=" or "%" sign, the filter includes any name or other information that starts with those characters. For example, if you type "and" in the box in the Last Name column, only people whose last names begin with "And" will appear, like "Anderson." Names like "Randall" that have "and" in them, but not at the beginning, will not appear in the list.
  4. > + filter characters - ">" means "greater than" so typing ">" finds all rows with a value greater than your filter characters. This can apply both to numbers and to names and other character fields.
  5. <+ filter characters - "<" means "less than" so typing "<" finds all rows with a value less than your filter characters. This can apply both to numbers and to names and other character fields.
  6. <> + filter characters - "<>" means "not equal to" so typing "<>" finds all rows with a value not equal to your filter characters. This can apply both to numbers and to names and other character fields. For character fields, this finds all rows where the filter characters do not appear anywhere in the field. For example, if you type "<>Orr" in the Last Name column, only people without "orr" in their last name appear. It would eliminate not just the last name "Orr" but also "Norris" and "Orrwell."
  7. != + filter characters - "!=" means "not equal to" and works exactly the same as typing "<>".
  8. You can filter the list further by typing information into other columns. Each column you filter will cause the list to become smaller.
  9. To remove a filter from a column, delete the characters you typed.

Quick Filters and Advanced Filters

In addition to using the filter boxes in the grid itself, you can also use other filters, depending on the type of list.

Each Quick List has a Filter section at the top. You have a choice of using a Quick Filter or an Advanced Filter.

Select the type of filter you wish to use, and a section opens where you can specify your filter conditions. You cannot use both a Quick Filter and an Advanced Filter at the same time. You select one or the other.

It is generally easier to use a Quick Filter, since you can view all of the available fields and simply type in the values for each relevant field. However, there may be times when you would like to filter on fields that are not available in the Quick Filter, or you need to combine the fields in a more complicated way. In those cases you use the Advanced Filter option.

Quick Filters

Quick Filters display a limited set of fields to use for filtering the data. The fields that are available vary, depending on the type of Quick List.

The fields that are included have been chosen because they are the most commonly used for that particular type of list. For example, the Quick Filter for the All Names quick list includes fields like name, address, and tags.

To use a Quick Filter, type in a value or range of values for any of the fields that you wish to filter on.

If you use more than one field, the filter is built with a logical AND between the fields. In other words, a name must meet the filter criteria for all of the fields you are using. Each time you add an additional field to your criteria, you are narrowing down the list.

Many Quick Filters include tag fields. The tag filter appears as a list of tags with the option to ignore, include, exclude or require. See Filtering on Tags for details on how to filter using tags.

Advanced Filters

If the Quick Filter does not include the fields you need to build your criteria, you can use the Advanced Filter builder to create a more complex set of criteria for your list.

When you open the Advanced Filter option for a list, several additional lists of fields appear. Use these fields to build an advanced filter.

Note that if you build several separate filters from the separate field lists, you need to put them together with AND or OR.

For some lists, particularly in the Managers, there are additional options for filtering the list right above the grid. For example, in the Gift Manager there are check boxes above the grid so that you can quickly specify what gift types to include, and there is a quick way to select a date range for the gifts.

Using check boxes in the grid

Quick Lists and some Managers include a column of check boxes. You use these check boxes to select certain items in the list. You can check these boxes in one of two ways:

  1. Click on the check box itself to select an individual row in the grid.
  2. Click on the check box in the header to check all rows in the grid.

By using the second method in combination with filtering a column or using a query to filter the list, you can check a specific group of items in the list.

Once you have checked the appropriate items, you can then click on one of the options in the Icon bar, to send an email to all of the checked names, for example, or add a follow up reminder.

If you are in one of the Managers, you can do some additional actions with the checked names, for example, change their membership level.

Saving lists

Once you have modified a list, by changing the columns displayed, sorting in a different order, and filtering by some criteria, you may wish to save the list for future use. Lists can be saved in two ways:

  1. Dynamic List
    1. A dynamic list is updated each time you view it so that it accurately reflects the criteria you used when you created it. For example, if you make a list of all board members who have not yet donated this year and save it as a smart list, each board member who makes a gift is automatically removed from the list (as is anyone who is not longer on the board). In this way you can view the list periodically and know who needs a follow up reminder. And you can create and send the email reminder directly from the list.
  2. Snapshot List
    1. A snapshot list is not updated when information is changed. It is a view of the data at a specific point in time, and whenever you view the list, it will look exactly the same as when you last saved it. For example, you may make a list of board members as of the end of a certain year. This list will stay the same even as some of those people leave your board and others join.
    2. There are some circumstances when a list can only be saved as a Snapshot List, for example if you selected names by checking on check boxes in the list rather than specifying criteria that can be used to update a Smart List.
    3. To save a list, once the list is set up as you wish, click on the list Icon on the Icon bar. You can save the list with a new name or you can add these names to an existing list. Depending on how you have created the list, it may not be possible to add names to a Smart List without turning it into a Snapshot List.
    4. You can share a list that you have saved with other users or you can mark your saved list as private, only viewable by you.