Finding Information in FYI

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
• Use the Filter Drawer

For information on all the features available when searching for information, refer to the section Search and Retrieval.

Quick Access to Recently Used Information

Next to the menu options for Clients, Jobs, Tasks and Documents there is a down arrow. This gives access to the 10 last used Views in that workspace and the 5 last used Clients, Jobs, Tasks or Documents, as relevant.

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.

Refer to Quick Access to Views, Clients, Documents, Jobs and Tasks.

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 drop-downs, 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 select a specific Cabinet, search for text in the document name, or use combinations of search options.
• In the Clients list, you can select the view "My recently used" for the clients you have used recently. You can select a specific Partner or Manager, search for the client. name, or use combinations of search options.

The following is an example of the View selection 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.

Refer to Searching in Lists.

Sorting and Filtering

Lists display the information in FYI in columns. You use the settings in the column headings to Sort and Filter information.

Sorting Information in Columns
Click the arrow in the column heading (to the right of the column name) to sort that column in ascending or descending order.

Filtering the Columns
Any column that can be filtered displays a Filter dot in the column heading (to the left of the column name). 

Filters can be displayed and changed by clicking the name in the column heading.

The Add/Remove pop-up displays, allowing you to apply filters for that column.

Refer to Sorting and Filtering.

Expanding the Name Column
On Documents, Clients and Job lists, you can expand the Name column by clicking the Expand icon in the column heading. This is useful if the Document, Client or Job has a long name, and also when searching to see which of the documents, clients or jobs you are looking for in the search results. Click the Expand icon again to return to the usual column width.

Using the Filter Drawer

You can use the Filter Drawer to easily locate documents for a selected Cabinet and Category. This lets you retrieve documents in a similar way to selecting folders in Windows Explorer.

To open the Filter Drawer, click the View button itself.

The Filter Drawer displays on the left-hand side with a list of the Cabinets you have access to.

Refer to Filter Drawer.

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 "2020 tax letter". But you may miss documents if the naming convention differs even slightly (such as, "tax letter - 2020").
  Or
• You could search each individual client folder, followed by the "2020" 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 "2020" 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!