User profiles store a wealth of useful data, although that data is useful only if you have: 1) easy access to it, and, 2) tools available to help you retrieve the data. Fortunately, the Console introduces a number of powerful search mechanisms that make the Console a superior tool for locating the exact information you need. For example, the Console enables you to:

• Search on more than one attribute (and/or more than one value) at a time. In the Capture Dashboard you can search for all the users who live in the state of Oregon; however, you can’t search for all the users who live in the state of Oregon or in the state of Washington. This type of search (often referred to as a Boolean operators search) is an integral part of the Console.

• Use wildcard characters when running a search. For example, suppose you can’t remember if a user is named Cindy, Cindi, or Cyndy. In the Capture Dashboard, you would have to conduct separate searches on each of those names. In the Console, you can do a single wildcard search that can find all those names in a single operation: givenName = “C?nd?”.

• Export user profile data. The Console includes an Export Options button that makes it easy to save user data as either a CSV (comma-separated values) file or as a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) file. The Capture Dashboard does not allow you to export user data.

• Sort records returned from a search. The Console lets you sort data by any indexed attribute. By comparison, Capture Dashboard records are always sorted by lastUpdate time.

• Modify the attributes displayed in your search results. By default, a Console search displays the following six attributes: givenName; familyName; email; primaryAddress.phone; birthday; and created. However, you can modify your search results to display the values for any non-plural attribute.

Mandatory parts of a user search query

The Console employs two types of search queries (also known as a “search term”). The first type, used to conduct default searches, consists solely of the target value you are searching for. For example, if you want to return information for the user with the email address toni.luc.ng@gmail.com, all you have to do is go to the Manage Profiles page, type that email address in the Search for profiles field, and then press ENTER:

"toni.luc.ng@gmail.com"

That’s easy, but – as is often the case – ease-of-use comes a few limitations. For one, default searching only lets you search on the default search attributes (displayName and email). Furthermore, your search has to encompass all the default search attributes: you always have to search on display name and email address (as well as any other attributes you might define as default search attributes).

And there’s another restriction: you are limited to searches where the returned user profiles equal the target value. Is that a problem? Well, it could be. For example, suppose you want to return all the user profiles except the profile for toni.luc.ng@gmail.com. That can’t be done with a default search.

Fortunately, however, that’s not much of a problem, That’s because you can also create a custom search, a query type that does let you search on a specific attribute (or attributes) and that does return something besides user profiles that equal the target value. That’s the good news. The bad news (if you want to call it that) is that a custom search requires a bit more effort on your part. As we just saw, a default search only requires you to type in the value you’re searching for. By comparison, a custom search consists of at least three items:

• The name of the attribute that you want to search for (i.e., familyName).
• The operator you want to employ (i.e., =).
• The target value for the search query (i.e., Smith).

Or, to put it a little more graphically: