Search & Discovery
Find anything in Cardinal — messages, properties, issues, leases, contacts, files — from a single search bar.
Search & Discovery
Open global search from anywhere in Cardinal with ⌘K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows), or by clicking the Search… pill in the header. A single query searches across People, Companies, Properties, Leases, Units, Messages, Issues, Folders, and Files, grouped by type. Each group shows up to 10 results; when there are more, a View all link opens the full list on that type's page. Folders and Files both open the Files page.
Universal Search
Type a few words and Cardinal matches them against:
- Email addresses and contact names
- Subject lines and message content
- Property addresses and names
- Issue titles and descriptions
- Folder and file names, plus the text inside documents
- Phone numbers — full numbers or fragments; see Searching by Phone Number below
Scope Chips
The chips under the search box narrow results to one area. All searches everything:
- Properties: Properties, leases, and units
- Issues: Issues, including archived ones
- Messages: Email threads
- Contacts: People and companies
- Files: Folders and files
Searching by Phone Number
You rarely remember a whole number — usually it's the last four digits on a missed call. Type whatever you have and Cardinal finds the contact. Punctuation and spacing are ignored, so (503) 555-1234, 503-555-1234, and 5035551234 are the same search.
- Four or more digits match anywhere in the number —
1234finds a number ending in 1234, and5551matches from the middle - Three digits read as an area code —
503returns every contact with a 503 number - Extensions are searchable on their own:
x204,ext 204, or#204 - International numbers work by typing them from the country code:
+4420narrows as you go
Results show the number that matched, with the matching digits highlighted, so a contact with several numbers tells you which one hit.
Filters
Type : in an empty search box to open the filter picker, choose a filter, then pick a value. Each filter becomes a chip you can combine with any keyword query. The filters on offer follow the scope chip you've selected; on All, every filter is listed with the type it applies to.
Issues
- :status — To Do, In Progress, Completed, or Cancelled
- :priority — Urgent, High, Medium, Low, or No Priority
- :issue-type — Accounting, Compliance, Inquiry, Lease, Maintenance, or Other
- :due — Overdue, Today, This week, or No due date
- :archived — Archived or Not archived
- :created — when the issue was created
Messages
- :from — limit to a specific sender by name or email
- :to — limit to a specific recipient by name or email
- :unread — narrow to Unread by me or Unread by everyone, matching the inbox's per-person read state
- :date — restrict to Today, This week, This month, or Before last month
Sender and recipient filters accept either a contact from the autocomplete list or any email address you type.
Properties & Leases
- :property-type and :status — property type and status
- :status (leases) — Active, Inactive, or Terminated
- :expires — within 30 days, 90 days, or 1 year, or already expired
- :starts — within 30 or 90 days, or started over 30 days ago
- :lease-type — Gross, NNN, Percentage, or Other
Contacts & Files
- :type (companies) — Tenant, Vendor, Owner, Broker, or Other
- :type (files) — the file's kind, such as Lease, Amendment, Insurance, or Financial
The footer of the search window shows what's active — for example, Scoped to Issues · 2 filters.
Match Highlighting
Every result shows you why it matched. The matching text is highlighted in the result title and, when the match is on a secondary field like an email address or phone number, that field is surfaced and highlighted in the subtitle so you can confirm the result at a glance.
Property-Linked Issues
Searching for a property name also surfaces Issues linked to that property — useful for finding every open item tied to a building without leaving the search window.
Archived Issues
Global search covers archived issues too — including every cancelled issue, since cancelling archives it. Archived hits carry an Archived badge so you can tell them apart. Add :archived to show only archived (or only active) issues.
File Results
Files match on their name and on the text inside PDFs and Word documents. When the match is inside the document, the row shows the matching lines with their page numbers, plus the property and folder the file lives in — or the tenant and property for lease files.
Filters Follow You
When you apply a filter (for example, :priority Urgent) and click View all, Cardinal carries it through to the destination page — so the Issues list opens with the same Urgent filter already applied, instead of resetting to an unfiltered view. Filters the destination page doesn't offer, such as :due, are left behind. For issues, an :archived Archived chip — or a :status filter set to Cancelled only — sends View all to the Archived page instead.
Page-Level Search
Most list pages in Cardinal — Properties, Portfolios, Issues, Leases, People, Companies, Files, the Inbox, and Mailing Lists — include a dedicated search bar at the top of the page. Use it to filter the current list in place without leaving the page or opening the global search modal. It's the fastest way to narrow a long list when you already know which entity type you're looking for.
In-Place Filtering
Results update live as you type — the table or list on the page narrows to matches without a separate results view. Clear the search box to restore the full list.
Scoped to the Page
Each page's search only matches the entity type on that page and respects any column filters or sorts already applied. Reach for global search (⌘K) when you need to look across multiple entity types at once.