Global Search
The search box at the top of every page. Type three characters and it looks across your whole account at once — jobs, clients, field workers, estimates, invoices, tasks, appointments, calls and payments — then lets you open, call or text the record without leaving the page you are on.
What it is
Global Search is the single search box in the bar across the top of every page. It reads Search leads, clients, estimates... until you click into it. Type at least three characters and a drop-down opens underneath with matching records grouped by kind — your jobs, clients, field workers, estimates, invoices, tasks, appointments, calls and payments.
It is the only search in Joby that looks at your whole account. The search boxes on individual pages (Leads, Clients, Calls and so on) only sift the rows already loaded on that page.
Video walkthrough — coming soon
A short screen recording of Global Search (finding a customer mid-call, calling straight from a result and using the full Search Workspace page) is being filmed and will appear here. Until then, the steps below cover the same ground.
There are two places the same search appears, and they behave slightly differently.
The quick drop-down
Opens under the box as you type. Shows a small preview — up to three records per kind and twelve in total — with Open, Call, Text and Copy buttons on each one. Best for jumping to a record while you are in the middle of something else.
The full search page
Headed Search Workspace — Global Search. Press Enter in the box, or click See all … results at the bottom of the drop-down. It pulls up to 25 records per kind and adds buttons to show one kind at a time.
When to use it
- The phone rings and you have a number on the screen but no idea whether it belongs to a job, a client, a quote or an old call.
- A customer says "I'm calling about the estimate you sent" and gives you a name, not a number.
- You have a job number or an estimate number written on a note and want to land straight on that record.
- You want to call or text somebody back without first working out which page they live on.
- You are checking whether a person already exists in the account before creating a duplicate.
Use the Leads page instead when you want to work through a list rather than find one record — it has status tabs, advanced filters, saved views and bulk actions that search does not. Use Lead Reports when you need date ranges and money totals.
Before you start
- Nothing to switch on. The search box is part of the top bar for every signed-in user, and the full search page opens for anyone. What differs is which kinds of record come back.
- Search only returns the kinds of record your role can already open. The groups are matched to the page permissions set per role under Settings›Team Roles: Leads results need Leads & CRM, client results need Clients, estimate results need Estimates, invoice results need Invoices, and so on down the list in Who sees what. If a permission is off, that group never appears — not even as an empty heading.
- Field Worker results follow the Settings permission. There is no separate permission for them yet, so a role needs Settings access under Settings›Team Roles before field workers show up in search.
- Auto Transport and Garage Door only appear if your company uses them. Those two groups need the matching module switched on for your account as well as the permission on your role.
- Three characters minimum. Nothing is searched until you have typed three. Below that the drop-down stays shut, and the full page shows Start with at least 3 characters.
- Hidden phone numbers are normal for some logins. If customer contact hiding is on for your account, numbers appear as (•••) •••-•••• and the Copy button is not offered. You can still call through Joby.
- Your company may use different words. "Lead" and "Field Worker" can be renamed under Settings›Company Settings, so your group headings may read "Jobs" and "Technicians" instead.
Step-by-step
Find a record from any page
- Click the search box in the bar across the top of the screen — the one reading Search leads, clients, estimates...
- Type at least three characters: a name, a phone number, a job number, an estimate number, a street or a town. A small spinner appears at the right-hand end of the box while it looks.
- Read the drop-down. The line at the top says Showing top results for "…" with a … total badge on the right, and results are grouped under headings — Leads, Clients, Field Workers, Estimates, Invoices, Tasks, Appointments, Calls, Payments, Auto Transport and Garage Door — each with its own count.
- Click anywhere on a result to open it, or use Open on the result itself.
Groups fill in one at a time rather than all at once, so keep looking for a second — the Payments group in particular comes from your payment provider and is usually last to arrive.
Open the full search page
- Type your three or more characters in the top search box.
- Press Enter. If the drop-down is showing more matches than fit, you can click See all … results at the bottom of it instead.
- The Global Search page opens with your words already in its own box (Search by name, phone, lead #, estimate #...) and two badges at the top right: … visible and … total.
- To search for something else from here, change the words in that box and click Search.
Show one kind of record at a time
- On the full search page, look at the row of buttons under the search box: All, Leads, Clients, Field Workers, Estimates, Invoices, Tasks, Appointments, Calls, Payments, Auto Transport, Garage Door. Each carries a count of how many matches it found.
- Click one and the list below shows only that kind.
- Click All to go back to everything. Only the kinds your role can see are offered.
Call, text or copy a number from a result
- Search until the person you want appears, in the drop-down or on the full page.
- Use the buttons on the result. Call hands the number to the Joby dialer. Text takes you to Conversations with that number's thread open. Copy (called Copy phone on the full page) puts the number on your clipboard.
- These buttons only appear when the record actually has a number on it, so tasks and most payments show only Open.
Close the drop-down without going anywhere
- Press Esc, or click anywhere else on the page. Your typing stays in the box.
How to check it worked
- The search ran: the spinner at the right-hand end of the box stops and the drop-down shows a … total badge. A zero-result search says No results found rather than staying blank.
- You opened the right record: the search box empties itself and the drop-down closes as soon as you click a result. A job opens in its quick edit window; a client opens on their own page.
- You copied a number: a small message reads Phone copied with the number underneath. If your browser blocks it you get Could not copy phone instead — read the number off the result and type it in.
- A filter is applied on the full page: the button you clicked turns highlighted, the … visible badge at the top right drops to that group's count, and the … total badge stays where it was.
- Your words were actually searched: on the full page the Current query line near the bottom of the header shows your text in quotes. If it reads none, the box was empty when you pressed Search.
Common mistakes
Only two characters typed
Short surnames and two-letter towns never search. The drop-down simply does not open. Add a third character, or search something longer on the same record.
A full phone number finds nothing
Once you type ten digits or more, search stops looking at names and addresses and compares the digits against the numbers exactly as they were saved. If a number was typed in with brackets and dashes, search the last seven digits instead.
A six-character word only finds jobs
Anything exactly six letters or numbers long is read as a job number, so the Leads group matches job numbers only. Searching Miller will not find the client Miller. Add a first initial, or use the Clients button on the full search page.
Assuming the drop-down is the whole answer
The drop-down shows at most three per group and twelve overall. The number in the … total badge is the real count. Press Enter for the full page before you conclude a record does not exist.
- Searching for a task by phone number. Tasks are matched on their title, their description and the person they are assigned to — never on a phone number. A ten-digit search skips the Tasks group entirely.
- Expecting a field worker result to open that person. Clicking a Field Worker result takes you to the Field Workers list, not to their individual record. Find them by name once you are there.
- Looking for a call that was marked as spam. Calls flagged as spam are deliberately left out of search results. Open Calls directly if you need them.
- Searching by email address. Emails are matched on estimates, invoices, appointments and tasks, but not on jobs, clients or field workers. Use the person's name or phone number for those.
- Expecting a group you do not have. If your role cannot open Payments, no Payments group and no Payments button will ever appear, however many payments match. Ask an owner or admin to check Settings›Team Roles.
- Judging the count while it is still loading. Results arrive group by group, so the total ticks upwards for a second or two. Give it a moment before deciding something is missing.
More detail (8)
What each group is matched on
Search does not read every field on a record. This is exactly what it compares your words against, group by group.
- Leads — job number, phone, second phone, first name, last name, company, street address and city.
- Clients — phone, second phone, first name, last name, street address and city.
- Field Workers — name and phone.
- Estimates — estimate number, customer name, customer email, customer phone, first name, last name, street address, city and state.
- Invoices — invoice number, customer name, customer email, customer phone, first name, last name, street address, city and state.
- Tasks — title, description and the person the task is assigned to.
- Appointments — first name, last name, email, phone, street address, city, state and the notes on the appointment.
- Calls — caller name, the number called from, the number called to, the call reference and the call summary. Calls marked as spam are excluded.
- Payments — handled by your payment provider, and matched on the customer name, email and reference held there.
- Auto Transport — estimate number, customer name, phone, email, pickup town and drop-off town.
- Garage Door — estimate number, first name, last name, phone and city.
Three shapes of search
- Ordinary words — matched against every field listed above for each group.
- Ten digits or more — treated as a phone number. Only phone fields are compared, and tasks are skipped.
- Exactly six letters or numbers — treated as a job number, so the Leads group matches job numbers only. Every other group searches normally.
Where each result takes you
Clicking a result — or its Open button — always lands you somewhere specific.
Leads
The quick edit window for that job opens on top of whatever page you were on. Use Open full lead page inside it when you need everything.
Clients
That client's own page.
Field Workers
The Field Workers list — not that person's record.
Estimates
The estimate opens ready to edit. Auto Transport results open their own estimate screen in the same way.
Invoices
That invoice, ready to edit.
Tasks
The Tasks page with that task picked out.
Appointments
The Appointments page with that booking picked out.
Calls
The call log with the date range set to all time and filtered to that number.
Payments
The Payments page with that payment's reference already in its search box.
Garage Door
That garage door estimate.
Reading a result
Every result shows the same four things, so you can tell two similar records apart without opening either.
- A heading — the record's number and kind, such as Lead #A1B2C3, Estimate #1042 or Invoice #518. Clients, tasks, appointments, calls and payments show their kind instead of a number.
- A status badge next to it, when the record has a status (or a priority, for tasks).
- The name — customer name, company name, task title, or for a call the caller's name.
- A contact line and an address line — phone number (or email if there is no phone), then the street, town, state and postcode. Auto Transport results show the route as pickup town → drop-off town instead; calls show from number → to number; payments show the amount, the card type and the date.
On the full search page each result also carries a small coloured label naming its kind, and dated records (appointments, invoices with a due date, calls, payments) show the date and time in full.
When nothing comes back
In the drop-down
No results found, with the hint Try searching with a phone number, ID, or shorter phrase. That hint is the right advice — shorter is usually better.
On the full page
No results found with Try a broader query, remove type filters, or search by phone/ID instead of full text. Click All first — a filter button left on from your last search is the usual cause.
Work through these in order when a record you know exists will not appear:
- Click All on the full search page in case a kind filter is still applied.
- Shorten your words. One distinctive part of the name beats the full name plus the street.
- Try the number instead of the name — or the last seven digits of it if the full number finds nothing.
- Check you are searching a field that is actually matched for that kind of record — see What each group is matched on.
- If a whole group is missing rather than one record, it is a permission. Ask an owner or admin to look at Settings›Team Roles.
On your phone
- Tap Settings in the bar along the bottom of the screen.
- The search box sits at the very top of that list, above the menu sections.
- Type three or more characters. You get the same grouped drop-down, the same Open, Call, Text and Copy buttons, and the same See all … results link through to the full page.
On a phone the box reads Search leads, clients, estimates, invoices... — slightly longer than the wording on a computer, but it searches exactly the same things.
Who sees what
Every group below is tied to a page permission set per role under Settings›Team Roles. Owners and admins get all of them.
- Leads — needs Leads & CRM.
- Clients — needs Clients.
- Field Workers — needs Settings.
- Estimates — needs Estimates.
- Invoices — needs Invoices.
- Tasks — needs Tasks.
- Appointments — needs Appointments.
- Calls — needs Call History.
- Payments — needs Payments.
- Auto Transport — needs Auto Transport and the Auto Transport module switched on for your company.
- Garage Door — needs Garage Door Estimates and the Garage Door module switched on for your company.
Which company's records you get
Search normally covers only the company you are signed in to. Joby platform staff and logins belonging to the master company account search across every company instead — so if you manage several companies through Joby and see records you do not recognise, that is why.
For the full permission list see Team Roles & Permissions.
Tips that save a minute
💡 Tip: while a customer is on the phone, paste their number into the top search box and press Enter. The full page shows their jobs, past estimates, invoices and every previous call in one screen before you have finished saying hello.
- Search the street, not the person. Jobs, clients, estimates, invoices and appointments are all matched on street address and town, which is handy when a spouse rings about a job booked under another name.
- Use the town on its own to see everything you have on the go in one area.
- Job and estimate numbers work as partial words. The tail end of a number is usually enough — you do not need the whole thing.
- Keep it short. Search matches your words as one continuous phrase, so "John Smith Elm Street" finds nothing while "Elm" finds the job.