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  1. Global Search - Search items by Description

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    85 comments  ·  Users & setup » Navigation  ·  Admin →
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    submitted  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded

    Appreciate the interest in being able to search by description. While we're attentive to your feedback, I want to be open that we don't have any immediate plans for developing this atm. 

    We're staying close to feedback on how we can improve navigation for our customers when using Xero, and I'll let you know if there is any development planned surrounding this, here. Thanks 

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    Ignatius Mazibeli commented  · 

    Full-Text Search Across Artefact Content

    Current Pain:

    Search likely only works on:

    Contact name
    Invoice number
    ❌ Not description → results missing
    Amount
    Date etc

    User Story: Full-Text Search Across Artefact Content

    As a user, I want to search for text within all fields of a document (including line-item descriptions) so that I can quickly locate and filter relevant quotes, invoices, and other artefacts based on their content.

    Acceptance Criteria
    1. Search Scope

    The system indexes all textual fields within artefacts, including:
    - Line-item descriptions
    - Notes and terms
    - Reference fields

    2. Search Input

    User can enter:
    Keywords
    - Phrases (e.g., “website redesign”)
    - Partial text (optional but recommended)

    3. Filtering Behavior
    - Results include any artefact where the query matches:
    - Any field within the document
    Supports:
    Partial matches (e.g., “design” → “redesign”)
    Case-insensitive matching

    4. Results Display
    Only matching artefacts are returned
    Matching fields are:
    Highlighted (e.g., snippet showing match in description)
    Contextualized (e.g., show which line item matched)
    5. Performance
    Results returned within:
    <2 seconds for standard datasets (e.g., ≤10,000 documents)

    6. No Results Handling
    Clear message:
    “No documents found matching your search”
    Optional: suggestions or similar terms

    7. Ranking (Nice-to-have but powerful)
    Results ranked by relevance:
    Exact matches > partial matches
    Matches in description weighted highly

    Practical Example (Your Use Case)

    You created 20 quotes like:

    “Website redesign – Phase 1”
    “Mobile app UI design”
    “SEO optimisation”
    Expected:

    Search: “design”
    → Returns all relevant quotes where “design” appears in descriptions

    Ignatius Mazibeli supported this idea  ·