As an example, we'll access the Proposal module by choosing Maintain > Proposals from the menu bar. (You will learn more about this module in a separate tutorial.)

When you open most Coeus modules, the first screen you see will be a search screen. In this case, the Proposal search screen appears.
Notice that there are several columns. You can use the scrollbar at the bottom to view more columns to the right. Each column represents a field in the Proposal module. You can search for a proposal using any of these columns. For example, if you know the proposal’s title, you can search for it using the Title column.

There are 2 ways to search: exact match searching and wildcard searching.

Exact Match Searching

To perform an exact match search using the Title column, you enter the exact title of the proposal and then click on the Find button at the right.

The results of your search are displayed in a new window inside Coeus. The results will show all proposals with the exact title that was typed in. In this case there was only one result (highlighted in blue below). To view the proposal in the results, double-click on it or click on the shortcut button:

You will learn more about viewing the proposal information in the Proposal Module tutorial. For now, close the proposal information by clicking on the X at the top-right of the proposal's window (NOT the X at the top-right of the Coeus window!).

You should now see the search results again. If your first search didn't turn up the proposal you were looking for, you can open the search window again by clicking on the magnifying glass button:

Notice that when the search screen opens up again, the text from your previous search will still be there. The best way to remove it is to click on the Clear button at the right.

A common mistake is for users to assume all of the search fields are empty when in fact there is text in one of the fields not in view (you need to scroll right to see it). This will cause your search to be innaccurate.

For an exact match search to be successful, the information must be typed exactly. Since it is possible that you will not know the exact title of the proposal, or that you may type it wrong, it's usually best to conduct a wildcard search.

Wildcard Searching

Use the word "like" to tell Coeus that you will be performing a wildcard search. Use the % symbol to indicate a wildcard. A wildcard tells Coeus "anything could go here". As an example, you might use this search in the Title column: like cat%

This would match all proposals that have titles beginning with the letters "cat". For example, "Cat behavior," "Cathode Ray Emissions," "Caterpillar Migration," etc.

Conversely, you might use this search in the Title column: like %cat

This would match all proposals that have titles that end with the letters "cat". For example, "Migration of the Big Cat", "Traditions of Jazz Scat", etc.

Finally, the most common wildcard search technique is to search using a wildcard at the beginning and at the end: like %cat%

This would match all proposals that begin with "cat", end with "cat", or have "cat" in the middle. For example, "Cat Behavior", "Jazz Scat", "Peptide Concatenation", etc.

"And/Or" Searching

Coeus can be searched using multiple criteria. For example, to find proposals that contain the letters "cat" in the title AND that are pending, enter the Title search as before, then choose the Pending option from the Status column (when you click on the Pending field, a drop-down list will automatically appear). Make sure you do this in the same row as the Title search.

Coeus can also be searched using either/or logic. For example to find proposals that contain the letters "cat" in the title OR the letters "lion" in the title, enter the Title search as before, then enter another Title search in the next row.

To summarize "and/or" searching:
"And" searching occurs when you put more than one search criterion on the same row and will only return results that have both criteria.

"Or" searching occurs when you put search criteria on more than one row and will return results that have either criterion.