Use collection search for a word across items, a property filter for a specific field, and sorting to order the result. For example, filter a lead list to Country is France and Job Title contains founder, then sort by Company before exporting only the matching rows.

This guide covers:

Full-text search

Searching through your items is simple. Datablist performs a full-text search on all of your item property values in seconds.

The search input is in the collection header. Use the search box to find text across the collection; use Filter when you need a condition on one property.

Full-text search
Full-text search

Sort items

Items can be sorted on any visible property by clicking on the property column. Property values can be sorted in ascending or descending order.

Sort items using the drop-down menu available on each column.

Sort items by property
Sort items by property

Or using the "Manage Order" button.

Sort items using the Order By menu
Sort items using the Order By menu

The first time you sort by a property, Datablist asks you to index your property data. Just click "Add an index". Datablist will process all the data from the selected property and create an internal index. This index will be then used to rank your items.

This index will be automatically updated when you add new items or update existing ones.

Indexing Data
Indexing Data

An arrow is shown next to the column name when a column is sorted.

Sort results
Sort results

Change sorting direction

To the change sorting direction, click again on the "Sort by XX" menu item.

Change sorting direction
Change sorting direction

Or from the "Manage Ordering" menu.

Change direction from "Manage Ordering" menu
Change direction from "Manage Ordering" menu

Remove sorting

To remove any sorting condition and switch back to the default sorting, click on "Remove sorting" from the column menu.

Remove sorting
Remove sorting

Or click on "Default" in the "Manage Ordering" menu.

Order by default rank
Order by default rank

Notes
Order by default is a rank by newly added items.

Filter items

Full-text search looks for a term across properties. To filter one property, use Filter Conditions.

Filtering is useful to:

Filtering works by creating filter conditions on one or several properties.

Add a filter condition

Add a filter condition by clicking the "Change filters" button in the collection header.

Open Filters modal
Open Filters modal

A filter condition is made of 3 elements:

  • A Property - Any property in your collection.
  • An Operator - The comparison available for that property type, such as contains, is empty, a number comparison, or a date comparison.
  • A Value - The value to compare your item's property data against.

Note
Operators "is empty" and "is not empty" do not require a value.

Click the "Apply" button to run your filter condition against your collection items.

Filters modal
Filters modal

List of filter operators for Text

  • is - Insensitive equal comparison. Leading and trailing spaces are not removed.
    • HeLLo and hello match (case insensitive)
    • "   john  " (notice the spaces) and john don't match
  • is not - Opposite of "is".
  • contains - Case-insensitive text contains.
    • The value john@GMAIL.com with the "contains" filter gmail matches
  • does not contain - Opposite of "contains".
  • contains any - Return items that contain at least one of the comma-separated values. The comparison is case-insensitive.
    • For example, a "contains any" filter with the value "marketing, sales" matches an item with the value "Head of Marketing".
  • does not contain any - Return items that match none of the comma-separated values. The comparison is case-insensitive.
    • For example, a "does not contain any" filter with the value "france, italy" matches an item with the value "Best of USA".
  • startswith - Insensitive text starts with
    • The value +3302934092309 with the "startswith" filter +33 matches
    • The value JOHN doe with the "startswith" filter john matches
  • endswith - Case-insensitive text ends with
    • The value john@GMAIL.com with the "endswith" filter gmail.com matches
  • in - Return items that match at least one of the comma-separated values. The comparison is case-insensitive.
    • If the "in" filter is "France, Italy, Germany, USA". An item with the value "italy" matches.
  • not in - Return items with values that match none of the comma-separated values. The comparison is case-insensitive.
    • If the "not in" filter is "France, Italy, Germany, USA", an item with the value "belgium" matches.
  • is empty - Match on empty or only spaces text values
    • "    " (spaces) match
    • "" match
  • is not empty - Opposite of "is empty".
  • regexp - Insensitive Regex matching. See below.

RegEx filtering examples

You can use a Regular Expression to filter your items. Text values that match against the Regular Expression are returned.

Note: Datablist adds the i (case insensitive) flag to the Regular Expression.

For example, to find texts containing at least one digit, you can use the RegEx \d.

RegEx Filter modal
RegEx Filter modal
RegEx Results
RegEx Results

Here are some RegEx examples:

  • Match texts with at least 5 words: (?:\w+(?:\s|$)){5,}
  • Match valid email addresses: ^([a-zA-Z0-9._%-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,})$
  • Match invalid email addresses: ^(?!([a-zA-Z0-9._%-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,})).*$
  • Match valid URLs: ^(?:http(s)?:\/\/)?[\w.-]+(?:\.[\w\.-]+)+[\w\-\._~:/?#[\]@!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=.]+$
  • Match invalid URLs: ^(?!(?:http(s)?:\/\/)?[\w.-]+(?:\.[\w\.-]+)+[\w\-\._~:/?#[\]@!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=.]+).*$

List of filter operators for DateTime

  • is before - Compare the DateTime value with an absolute date and time.
  • is before - relative - Check Relative datetime filtering
  • is after - Compare the DateTime value with an absolute date and time.
  • is after - relative - Check Relative datetime filtering
  • is empty - Empty DateTime value
  • is not empty - Opposite of is empty

Relative datetime filtering

Relative Filtering works by comparing the date to the current day.

You define three parts:

  • Next or Last
  • A number
  • A duration term: hours, days, months, years

For example: "Last 2 days".

DateTime absolute filtering
DateTime absolute filtering
DateTime relative filtering
DateTime relative filtering

List of filter operators for Numbers

  • = - Equal to
  • ≠ - Not Equal to
  • < - Less than (strict) - Equal numbers don't match
  • > - Greater than (strict) - Equal numbers don't match
  • ≤ - Less than or equal to
  • ≥ - Greater than or equal to
  • is empty - Empty cell. 0 doesn't match.
  • is not empty - Opposite of is empty

Combining several filter conditions

Filter conditions work in AND or OR mode.

In AND mode, only items matching all filter conditions are displayed in your data table. In OR mode, items matching at least one filter condition are displayed in your data table.

Use the "Add another filter" to add another filter condition.

Combine several filter conditions
Combine several filter conditions

Filter conditions can be grouped into "Filter Groups". Filter Groups let you combine AND and OR modes.

For example, you can combine two filter groups with a AND mode. And inside each filter group, use OR mode.

Using filter groups
Using filter groups

Feedback Wanted!
Do you need more complex filtering? Please share your use case with us.

Remove filter conditions

The filtering button is renamed "Filtered" and the icon is full when the collection is filtered.

DataTable with filter conditions
DataTable with filter conditions

To remove a filter condition, open the filter modal, click the "trash can" button, and submit with the Apply button.

Remove a filter condition
Remove a filter condition

Saved Filters

With Saved Filters, you can save your current filters for quick access. This is useful to preserve complex filters that you frequently use. Or to create Segments of your data.

This simple feature will boost your productivity and help you manage your collections.

Saved Filters are accessible from the menu next to the filter button. When saving, choose whether the filter is private or shared with teammates.

When you have at least one filter condition, a "Save filters" action is available to save them.

Notes
Saved Filters only store "filters" and not the full-text search term.

Create Saved Filter
Create Saved Filter

A save filter takes a name, and will automatically attach your current filter conditions to it.

Name Saved Filter
Name Saved Filter

Once created, or after you select previously created "Saved Filter", the menu will change to display 3 actions:

  • Stop filtering on "X" - This action clears the current filtering conditions. The Saved Filter is not edited. All the filtering conditions from the Saved Filter will be used once again when you select it.
  • Rename "X" - To change the name on your Saved Filter. The name is only used to list them in the menu.
  • Delete "X" - Delete the Saved Filter. This action cannot be undone.
Saved Filter Actions
Saved Filter Actions

To edit the filtering conditions of a Saved Filter, open the filtering modal and add, edit, or remove conditions. Any change will display a "Edit saved filter" checkbox next to the "Apply" button.

Edit Saved Filter
Edit Saved Filter

Filtering on built-in properties

Datablist comes with built-in properties (createdAt, updatedAt) which can be filtered as any other property. To be able to create filter conditions on your built-in properties, you must add them to your collection properties. See our documentation on built-in properties.

Filtering and data export

The main Export button opens an export of all collection items. When a search or filter is active, open its menu and choose Export filtered items to export only matches. Check the active conditions before downloading; sorting changes their order, not which rows match.

Export filtered items
Export filtered items