Use the result list

A search across every indexed table can return a long list. Universal Search gives you three ways to get to the record you want quickly: filter chips to show one table, Show more results to load the next page, and the keyboard or a click to open the record on its own card. This page walks through each one and explains the messages you may see when a record cannot be opened.

Narrow and open a result

1. Choose a chip above the results, for example Customer (12). Only that table's results are shown, without the per-table cap of the All view. Choose All to return to the mixed view.

2. If the list ends with Show more results, choose it to load another page of the same search. The chip you chose stays selected.

3. To use the keyboard, press the Down arrow in the search box to highlight the first result, and keep pressing Down arrow or Up arrow to move through the list.

4. Press Enter to open the highlighted record, or select any result with the mouse. The record opens on its own page, usually its card, exactly as if you had navigated to it.

How chips behave

• The All chip comes first, followed by one chip per table with its number of matches. The counts include every match found, not only the ones shown on the page.
• A chip stays selected while the search text is unchanged. As soon as you change the text, the view returns to All, so you never search one table by accident.
• In the All view, a group header that reads "showing 5 of" a larger number, followed by view all, means that table has more matches. Choosing the header works like choosing its chip.
• Tables you are not allowed to read never get a chip.

How Show more results works

Each Show more results adds one more page, using the page size your administrator set as Max Results (25 by default). A search shows at most 200 results. Changing the text or choosing a different chip starts again from the first page.

When a record cannot be opened

Universal Search checks your permissions again when you open a result. You may see one of three messages:

Message	What it means
You do not have permission to view this record.	You cannot read that table. Ask your administrator for access.
This record no longer exists. The index will update shortly.	The record was deleted after it was indexed, or its table is no longer available. The background job removes deleted records from the index.
No page is available for this record type.	Business Central has no page to show that kind of record.

If you can read the table but not run its card page, Business Central shows its own standard permission message instead.

For the settings behind page size and the group cap, see the field reference.

What's next

Administrators can learn how results are ranked: How ranking works.