# Find a File

Filter by file type, by the kind of record a file is attached to, by folder and by the date it arrived.

The list is sorted by upload date, so the thing you attached this morning is already at the top. Everything else is a filter.

## Highlights of finding a file

- **Type filters sit above the table** as one-click pills, each carrying a live count.
- **Advanced filters** narrow by the kind of record, by folder and by a date range.
- **Every column sorts**, including Associated To and Uploaded By.
- **Standalone files are visible at a glance**, marked in the Associated To column.

## Filtering by type

The pill row across the top splits the list by what kind of file it is, and each pill carries its own count, so you can see before clicking whether there is anything to find.

| Pill | Covers |
| --- | --- |
| All | Everything, with the total count. |
| Images | JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP and WebP. |
| PDFs | PDF only. Usually the biggest group. |
| Docs | Word, ODT, RTF and plain text. |
| Sheets | Excel and CSV. |
| Other | Anything left, including archives and slides. Greyed out when there is nothing in it. |

## Advanced filters

**More filters** opens the three narrower controls.

![The Advanced filters popover open over the Documents table. It holds an Associated to dropdown set to All entities, a Folder dropdown set to All folders, and From and To date fields, with Cancel and Apply buttons at the foot.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/documents/documents-filters.png)

*Three filters: the kind of record, the folder, and when the file arrived.*

| Filter | What it narrows to |
| --- | --- |
| Associated to | The kind of record a file hangs off: bills, expenses, receives and so on. |
| Folder | One folder, for grouping that cuts across modules. |
| From and To | When the file was uploaded. |

> **Warning:**
>
> **The date is when the file arrived, not the transaction date**
>
> A bill dated in March and attached in June is found under June here. When the accounting period is what you care about, start from the transaction list instead and open the record.

## What the list will not do

> **Note:**
>
> **There is no search by contact**
>
> You cannot ask this screen for every document touching one customer or vendor. Filtering is by record type, folder and date, not by who the record is with. To gather everything for one contact, start from that customer or vendor and work through their transactions.

There is also no full-text search across file contents. The file name and the record it is attached to are what you have to go on, which is a good argument for naming files properly when you scan them.

## Useful passes

- **What arrived this week** (From and To): A quick check on whether people are still attaching, and the fastest way back to something you filed and cannot place.
- **Standalone files** (the Associated To column): Sort by Associated To and the italic Standalone rows group together. Each one is either a contract waiting to be billed against, or something somebody has forgotten.
- **Every spreadsheet** (the Sheets pill): Working papers and schedules tend to be the files nobody can find later. One click gathers them.
- **Bills with no attachment** (not here): That is a bills-list question rather than a Documents one, and it is a good pre-audit check.