Home → Arctic Reservations → Reports → Using Filters
26.6. Using Filters
Throughout Arctic, you can browse entries (take for example, the "Browse People" page). The "Browse" pages seem like a straight forward place to view and find records; but, in addition to being a simple way to view data in Arctic, these pages are an extremely powerful reporting tool. You can filter the results (to only show records that meet certain conditions), you can customize the view (to show additional data) and export the results.
In addition to the "Browse" pages found in the left hand menu of your installation, i.e. People, Reservations, Trips, Rentals, and Invoices, there are several additional "Browse" pages found on the "Filter" tab of the "Browse Reports" page. The additional pages available on the "Filter" tab are Credit Card Transactions*, E-check Transactions*, Gift Certificates*, Invoice Transactions, Item UPCs*, E-commerce Orders*, Purchase Orders*, Reservation Members and Retail Items*.
*The pages will only show if you have the relevant features enabled on your installation. If you do not use Arctic to process credit card payments or e-check payments or do not use the Retail Module, for example, you will not see entries for their related "Browse" pages on the "Filter" tab.
When using one of the "Browse" pages, Arctic provides filter and view options allowing you to customize which rows are returned and what information is printed for each row. These filters and views can be saved for easy use in the future. This guide gives basic instructions on how to create filter conditions and custom views for the "Browse" pages.
To get started go to any of the "Browse" pages by either selecting them from the menu at the left or going to the "Filter" tab on the "Browse Reports" page:
One the selected "Browse" page, to create filter conditions, click the "Filter" button as shown here:
This will open the filter conditions as shown here:
You will notice, in this example, that there is already one filter condition set. Arctic by default filters the "Browse Inquiries" page to only show the ones that have not been marked as "Follow Up On". To remove this filter, if you do not want to use it at all you would click the "X" in the light blue box for this filter condition. Arctic has default filters for many of the "Browse" pages, if you do not want to use those particular filters for your filter conditions, you can easily remove them as described above.
To add additional filter conditions, you will click the green "+Add Conditions" button as shown here:
This will allow you to choose from several different filter categories and options that you can add to your filter conditions. You can add as many conditions as you like to obtain the results you are looking for.
Next you can customize the column view so Arctic will only display the information you want to see:
Again, each of the "Browse" pages has a default view, to remove any columns you do not wish to use you can click the little "X" at the end of the blue bar containing the column heading you wish to remove. You can also rearrange columns into the order you prefer by clicking and dragging the column names into the desired order as shown here:
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Note: The column at the top of the list will be the first column on the left of the report. The column at the bottom of the list will be the last column on the right of the report. The columns are ordered from the top to the bottom of the list starting on the left and working to the right when the report is run.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
If you want to save the filter conditions and the view you have chosen for use later, you will select the check-box next to "Save this filter and view for later use" as shown here:
Once you select the check-box to save the filter, Arctic will add the fields you see above. The first field allows you to select who can use the filter, if this is a filter only you will use then you can choose "just me" from the list and this filter will only display for you. If you want everyone to be able to use this filter, you will obviously choose "everyone".
Next you must provide a name for the saved filter, so that it can be easily identified in the list of "Saved Filters". Notice the note below the "Name" field. This note says:
"If you enter the same name as a saved filter, the existing one will be replaced."
What this means is if you have a filter already saved but you adjusted it or changed it for better search results, if you enter the exact same name as the existing filter, Arctic will overwrite the old one with the new one. This will keep you from having multiple versions of the same filter and having to remember which one you want to use.
Once you have entered a name for the filter, click "Submit" to save your changes and to run your search. If you don't want to save the filter, you can leave the check-box to save the filter blank and just click "Submit" to run your search.
To access saved filters, you can click the little "Down Arrow" next to the "Filter" button on the "Browse" page as shown here:
Note: When saved filters are accessed via the "Browse" page, you will only see the filters relevant to that page.
You can also access saved filters by going to the "Filter" tab of the "Browse Reports" page. Here you will see all of the saved filters you have in the system organized under the headings they are relevant to as shown here:
Editing saved filters: If you want to modify a saved filter, first load the saved filter, then click the "Filter" button. This will open the current loaded filter conditions and you will be able to modify any of the conditions to suit your needs then click "Save Filter for Later Use" be sure to enter the exact same name you used on the original saved filter in order to overwrite it and not have a duplicate saved filter.
Then click "Submit" to save your changes.
Deleting saved filters: To remove a saved filter, go to "Filter" tab on the "Browse Reports" page and locate the filter you wish to delete. To remove the filter click the "x" next to the filter's name as shown here:
Note: you will only be able to delete filters you have created. You will not be able to delete built-in filters.