Use the Search field to quickly search for a constituent using the Constituent Search window.
NOTE: organization names are stored in the Last or Org Name field, the same field in which we store individual last names. Search for the Organization name as if it were an Individual's last name by typing the entire organization name in the Constituent Search field on the Toolbar and add a single comma after it.
Check out the Constituent Search training course in Salsa Scholars.
- In the top menu bar, click in the Search Constituents box and type the name or part of the name of the desired constituent.
This field searches for records that begin with what you type. - Enter the desired search parameters and then click the Search button or press the Enter key on your keyboard. Enter known search parameters, such as Last Name. If the entire name or spelling is not known, you may use the * as a wildcard character. For example, if you are searching for a constituent whose last name begins with Br, then you could type Br* and all of the constituents whose last name begins with the letters Br will be returned.
NOTE: Using the wildcard * character by itself will return all constituents in your search.
When searching for a constituent name, there are various formats with which you can search on a constituent name. You can enter the name in any of the following formats:
- Last Name, First Name
- First Name Last Name
- Partial Last Name (with or without a partial or full first name)
- Full Last Name
The more information you enter, the more specific your search results are going to be.
IMPORTANT: Organization names are stored in the Last or Org Name field, the same field in which we store individual last names. Search for the Organization name as if it were an Individual's last name by typing the entire organization name in the Constituent Search field on the Toolbar and add a single comma after it.
If you do not know the exact name, you may use the * as a wildcard character along with at least one word within the entire organization name. For instance, if you were not certain as to how The Human Fund was entered into Salsa CRM, you could type in '*Human,' and any organization with 'Human' in their full name would return in the results. If you were to type in 'Human Fund', the record would not be found, because the search field searches for records that begin with what you type, and the existing record is 'The Human Fund'.
Salsa CRM also has phonetic search capabilities. A Phonetic Search button is located to the right of the Search Constituents box on the toolbar. Enter the search terms, click the Phonetic button, and it automatically inserts the ~ (tilde) character before the last name search term, which tells the database to perform a more "fuzzy" search on the last name instead of a regular search.
Press the Enter Key on your keyboard. If only one constituent matches the entered information, the constituent explorer window will open to that record. If multiple records may be a match, the Constituent Search dialog box will open.
Alternately, you may also choose Manage from the menu and then Constituent. The Constituent Search window opens. 
Double click on the preferred constituent record or select the desired constituent (Salsa CRM will highlight) and press the Enter key on your keyboard. The Constituent Explorer window opens to that record. If only one constituent matches the entered information, the constituent explorer window will open directly to that record. If multiple records may be a match, they will be listed in the lower section of the dialog box. Results are returned alphabetically by the last name.
NOTE: All columns in the Constituent Search results box can be sorted. This includes Name, Address, Phone, Birth Date, and ID.
The Last, Maiden, or Organization Name search field automatically includes constituents whose maiden name matches the search criteria. All maiden names appear in the results as “(nee Maiden Name)”, as displayed in the image below.
The First Name search field also searches for matching Nicknames. For instance, a search on “Bob” will return anyone with either a first name or a nickname of "Bob" or "Bobby".
Organization names are stored in the Last or Org Name field. Search for the Organization name as if it were an Individual's last name by typing the entire organization name in the Constituent Search field on the Toolbar and add a comma after it. If you do not know the exact name, you may use the * along with at least one word within the entire organization name.
