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Forest gives you a broad set of tools to navigate your data: a flexible table view, full-text search, advanced filters, segments, and bulk selection. This page covers everything you need to find and explore records efficiently.

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Table view

When you open a collection, records are displayed in a table view with one row per record and one column per field. Customize this view using the Layout Editor.
  • Sort by any column by clicking its header. Click again to reverse the order.
  • Resize columns by dragging the column separator.
  • Reorder columns by dragging the column header to a new position.
  • Show/hide columns using the column picker button in the top-right of the table.

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Searching

The search bar at the top of any collection lets you filter records by keyword. Matching text is highlighted within the results.
Collection search bar with highlighted matches
By default, Forest searches across the fields configured as searchable for that collection (configured by your developers in the back-end), and matches on contains.
Developers can configure which fields are included in search using the searchable option in the back-end configuration.
By default, only the collection’s own fields are searched. Reference fields of belongsTo records are ignored. Extended search also looks inside the reference fields of related records. It is not the default because it is slower.
Extended search toggle

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Advanced search syntax

Advanced search syntax is supported on Node.js back-ends (@forestadmin/agent) from version 1.36.18.
Combine these operators to search precisely:
SyntaxMatches
-termrecords that do not contain term
property:termrecords with term in the property field
relation.childProperty:termrecords with term in childProperty of the relation relation
term1 OR term2records with term1 or term2
term1 AND term2records with both (same as term1 term2)
property:NULLrecords whose property is the technical value NULL
"multiple quoted words"the exact phrase, without splitting into separate terms
All of these can be nested, for example (property:term OR -term2) AND (property1:NULL OR relation.childProperty:term3). NULL, OR and AND must be written in capital letters to be read as operators.

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Focused search on one property

property:searchedTerm searches only inside property; relation.childProperty:searchedTerm searches inside a relation’s field.
The property name matches the technical name in the database. Forest ignores casing and separators like - and _, so property_name matches a technical propertyName.
Focused search combines with the operators below, for example property:>20. Text fields match with the first operator your database supports, in order: contains (case insensitive), contains (case sensitive), then equal. So searching Term matches TERM and abcTERMdef on a case-insensitive database. Number fields support >42, >=42, <42, <=42 (for example property:>42). Date fields support partial dates (2020, 2020-01, 2020-01-01) and the comparison operators (for example property:>2020-01-01, property:<=2020). Dates use the timezone configured in Forest. Boolean fields accept true/1 and false/0 (case insensitive).

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Filtering

The filter panel lets you apply precise conditions to narrow down the list of records. Click the Filter button (funnel icon) to open the filter panel, then:
  1. Select a field to filter on.
  2. Choose an operator (equals, contains, greater than, is null, etc.).
  3. Enter a value.
  4. Click Apply.
Add multiple filters and combine them with AND or OR logic. Filters are applied on top of any active segment.

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Saving filters

Frequently-used filters can be saved as segments by your developers. See Segments for more information.

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Segments

Segments are predefined subsets of a collection, equivalent to a saved filter. They appear as tabs above the record list. Switch between segments by clicking the tabs. The record count next to each tab shows how many records match that segment.
Segments are configured by developers in the back-end code or by admins in the Layout Editor. See Segments.

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Pagination

Large collections are split across multiple pages. Use the pagination controls at the bottom of the table to:
  • Navigate Previous / Next page.
  • Jump to a specific page by entering the page number.
  • Change the page size (number of records per page).
The total record count is displayed next to the pagination controls.

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Detail view

Click any row in the table to open the detail view for that record. The detail view shows:
  • All fields for the record, organized in the layout defined by your admin.
  • Related data, linked records from related collections (one-to-many, many-to-many).
  • Action buttons, actions available for this record.
  • Collaboration tab, notes, approval requests.
Use the Edit button to modify field values directly from the detail view.

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Bulk selection

To perform an action on multiple records at once:
  1. Check the checkbox on the left of each row you want to select.
  2. To select all records on the current page, check the header checkbox.
  3. To select all records across all pages (matching the current filter), use the “Select all N records” option that appears after selecting the page.
Once records are selected, bulk actions appear in the toolbar above the table.
Some bulk actions may have a maximum record limit. Check the action documentation or contact your developers for details.