Sarah's Shortcuts: My Favorite Fields (a musical blog)

When I'm time-pressed
When my brain hurts
When I'm feeling rushed
I simply select all my favorite fields
And then I don't feel so stressed!

I like to sing, and what better to sing about than Favorite Fields! If you're not already familiar with Favorite Fields, allow me to introduce you to one of the best features in Query.

For those of you who create a lot of queries, I suspect you often utilize many of the same fields to filter on, include in your output, and/or sort by. It can get rather tedious when you're constantly having to scroll through all of the available fields to locate the ones you need. So why waste time and effort when you don't need to?

By taking the following steps, you can add your most frequently used query fields to your Favorites so they'll be easy to access going forward:

1. Open a query.
2. On the Criteria, Output, or Sort tab, select the appropriate field in the Available Fields section.
3. Right-click the field and select "Add to Favorite Fields."

For the uber-efficient among us, you can also quickly select multiple favorites at the same time:

1. Open a query.
2. On the Criteria, Output, or Sort tab, select any field in the Available Fields section.
3. Right-click and select "Organize Favorite Fields." The Favorite Fields screen appears.
   • Select the appropriate query type. For example, if you want to select favorite fields for constituent queries, select Constituent.
   • In the Available Fields frame, locate the appropriate field and click the right arrow to move it to the Fields to Include frame. Repeat for each field that you would like to make a favorite.
   • Click OK.

These steps are also in Knowledgebase: How to add query fields to Favorites (20990).

As a final tip, I think you'll find it helpful to sing like Julie Andrews while you select your favorite fields, and I'm sure your coworkers will be appreciative.