Managing Auto-Suggest Lists

Managing Auto-Suggest Lists

An auto-suggest list is used in order to standardize information entered by users. An example of when an auto-suggest list is used is for an Academic Institution listing on the contact profile form. The academic institution list is a compilation of Universities and/or Colleges. The end user would type in part of an institution name and the system will search the listing and display matches, if no match is found, the system may be set to allow the user to enter a new institution name or prevent a new name from being entered. In either case, the X-CD administrator may be notified or the system may be set to auto-approve the new institution name which will add the new institution name to the current listing. Typically an X-CD staff person will help clients set up the auto-suggest list. If you are interested in using this auto-suggest feature, contact us.

How to configure the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to configure
  5. Click Manage Category button
  6. Update the Settings as follows:
    1. User Able to Add Own Values where Yes = allows users to add a new item to the current list / No = users will not be allowed to add a new item to the current list
    2. If Users are allowed to add a new item, then the New Values are Auto-Approved to be part of the list can be set to Yes = the new item will be automatically added / No = the X-CD admin will have to review and approve the new item to be added
    3. If Auto-approve is set to No, Email Admin on new value = Yes will email the email address(es) populated in the Email List field below it
  7. Click Update button to save changes

How to enable auto-approve for the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to configure
  5. Click Manage Category button
  6. Update the Settings as follows:
    1. User Able to Add Own Values, set to Yes = allows users to add a new item to the current list
    2. New Values are Auto-Approved to be part of the list, set to Yes = the new item will be automatically added
  7. Click Update button to save changes

How to manually add a new item to the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to edit
  5. Click Add Suggestions button
  6. Populate the Suggestion Label
  7. Populate the Database Value Note: Typically you would copy and paste the same text in the Suggestion Label into the Database Value
  8. Click Add button

How to edit a item in the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to edit
  5. Search for the item in the list using the Search bar
  6. Click the Update button for the item to edit
  7. In the Auto-Suggest Label, apply your edits
    NOTE: You can keep the Auto-Suggest Label and edit the Public Display Label as in the screenshot below. Anytime a user has UCLA, this will display 'University of California, Los Angeles' on the front-end in the the program instead of the acronym.

  8. Click the Update button to save changes

How to review the User Added items that need to be approved?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to review
  5. Click the Filter and select To Be Approved

  6. The grid will update with new items to be reviewed and approved
    1. Click the Approve button to accept the new item and it will be auto-added to the current list
    2. Click the Delete button to remove the suggested new item and confirm the Deletion action by clicking the Delete button

How to export the current auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to export
  5. Click the Export button
    This will download a .csv file to your downloads folder which you may open in excel or sheets.

How to import new items to the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to add to
  5. Click the Import Suggestions button
  6. Click the link to download the template file
    1. Populate the template file NOTE: the text in the first column, copy and paste into the second column and ensure to save back in .csv format
  7. Once your import file has been populated, return to this screen and import your file.

How to batch import updates or corrections to the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to add to
  5. Click the Batch Update button
  6. Click the link to download the template file. This will produce an exported file of the full list and its contents.
    1. Review the downloaded file and apply corrections and populate items that do not have a database value NOTE: ensure to save back in .csv format
    2. remove any rows for data that is not changed
  7. Once your file has been reviewed and updated, return to the Batch Update screen and import your file.

    NOTE: When the batch update is running, it will update the contact profile information for existing users to the newer values.

    NOTE: Depending on your list, your file size may be greater than the excel import can handle. If you attempt to run the batch update and you receive a message that your file contains too many values, you will need to split your import file across several files. 

How to merge items in the auto-suggest list?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to edit
  5. Click the Update button beside the suggestion you want to keep
  6. In the Select Suggestions to Merge, click in the dropdown box and select the duplicate suggestion(s) NOTE: The list may take a few seconds to load if you have a lot of suggestions - please be patient.
  7. Click the Merge button to perform the merge.

How to enable multiple selections?

  1. Click Dashboard
  2. Click Other Tools
  3. Click Auto-Suggestion Settings icon
  4. Click Manage button next to the list you want to edit
  5. Click 'Yes' for User Able to Select Multiple Values
  6. Another field will appear 'Maximum Selection' which will allow you to set a cap on how many responses can be selected. Enter 0 if there is no limit.
  7. Click the Update button to save the changes.

    • Related Articles

    • Batch Duplicate Contact Merge

      Duplicate contacts do occur when a user create multiple accounts using different emails, as the system recognizes a user via their email. If your system has many duplicates, there is a batch merge function. Video tutorial: STEPS: From the dashboard, ...

    • How to Import Contacts into a Group?

      Click Dashboard Click Manage Groups Click Manage button beside the group to edit Click Batch Operations tab Click Download Template link under the Batch Group Import section and follow the on-screen instructions on how to populate the file. Once the ...

    • Manage a Company

      Finding the Companies Click Dashboard Click Companies Module from the left-hand menu Click the row of the company you'd like to manage. Managing a Company Please navigate to the company first The first page loaded is the company profile here you can ...

    • I have duplicate contacts. How do I Merge Contacts?

      NOTE: This will move all items (e.g. author, abstract, review, registrations, member dues, groups, etc.) over to the master contact profile and then delete the duplicate contact profile in the Contacts Module. The information in the Master Contact ...

    • May 2024: Managing Contact Groups Update

      New changes have been made in 2 areas related to contact group management: Managing a Group Managing a Contacts Relation to a Group Groups may be an organization's membership or non-membership group. Managing a Group More specific tabs for functions ...