There are many ways to find information in FYI. This article shows you how to:
- Get quick access to recently used information
- Search in lists
- Use sorting and filtering to locate information
Watch this video tutorial to learn how to locate documents in FYI.
For information on all the features available when searching for information, refer to the section Search and Retrieval.
Alternatively, you can follow the instructions below.
This article contains the following sections:
- Quick Access to Recently Used Information
- Clients Lists
- Searching in Lists
- Changing how the Lists Display
- Finding Information in FYI versus a Traditional Folder-Based Filing Structure
Quick Access to Recently Used Information
Next to the menu options for Clients, Jobs, Tasks, Documents and Automation there is a down arrow. This gives access to the Views in that workspace and the 5 last used Clients, Jobs, Tasks or Documents, as relevant. For Automation, this gives access to the Process List views and the Automation tabs.
From the Quick Access, click a View or a Client/Job/Task or Document to display it.
The following is an example of the Quick Access for Documents.
The Quick Access for Documents displays as follows.
Refer also to Quick Access to Views, Clients, Documents, Jobs, Tasks and Automation.
Clients Lists
Refer to the articles in the section Using the Clients Lists.
Searching in Lists
Lists are one of the ways FYI displays information.
All lists initially display with default selections. You can make selections to search for, sort and filter the information.
At the top of a list you will see search fields and buttons. You can use one or more of these to refine the information displayed in the list. The options that are available vary as relevant for the list you have displayed.
For example,
- In the Documents list, you can select a View such as the "All" or "Emails - Sent". You can also search for text in the document name.
- In the Clients list, you can select the view "My recently used" for the clients you have used recently. You can also search for the client name or email address.
The following is an example of the View selector in the Documents list.
The Search field appears at the top of the list and can be used to search for text in the Name of an email, document or task.
The search results display as follows.
Refer to Searching in Lists.
Changing how the Lists Display
There are many ways to change how the lists displays. You can sort and filter columns, add, remove and move columns. Refer to:
- Sorting and Filtering Documents Lists
- Adding/Removing/Moving Columns in the Documents Lists
- Sorting and Filtering Clients Lists
- Adding/Removing/Moving Columns in the Clients Lists
- Sorting and Filtering Tasks Lists
- Adding/Removing/Moving Columns in the Tasks Lists
- Sorting and Filtering Jobs Lists
- Adding/Removing/Moving Columns in the Jobs Lists
Finding Information in FYI versus a Traditional Folder-Based Filing Structure
FYI assigns every document with a combination of metadata, including Client, Cabinet, Categories (such as Year and Work Type), Last Modified Date and more. This approach is more effective and flexible than a traditional folder-based filing structure.
In a traditional folder-based filing structure, a file can only sit within a single folder at any time. If you can’t remember the folder name or accidentally move the folder, it can be difficult to find what you need.
For example, if you want to locate all of your 2020 Tax Letters in PDF format, for all clients.
In a folder-based filing structure
- You could perform a search for "2023 tax letter". But you may miss documents if the naming convention differs even slightly (such as, "tax letter - 2023").
Or - You could search each individual client folder, followed by the "2023" year folder and locate their tax letter. This is extremely time-consuming.
In FYI
In FYI you can find these documents simply by:
- Filtering on the year "2023" and on the document type of PDF.
and - Searching on the document name containing "tax letter".
Finding and refiling documents is extremely easy in FYI's client-centric database. It is just like filtering and sorting an excel spreadsheet of all your documents.
The benefits become greater the more data you have available to you!