Every list in CoolFocus—Donors, Clients, Contributions, Contacts, etc—can be filtered to show only the records you are looking for. Filtering is the everyday skill behind answering questions like "who gave this month?" or "which clients have not been seen since spring?" You do it by pointing and clicking, you never have to type anything technical.

1. Open a list (for example Donors) and click Filter.

2. Pick a field to filter on, start typing to search (for example "Last Gift Date").

3. Choose a condition and enter a value (for example this month).

4. Add more conditions if you need them, and choose match all or match any:

To clear a filter, remove its conditions or reset the list.

When you open the field picker to add a condition, fields are grouped under headings so a long list is easier to scan: Fields (plain fields on the record), Related (other connected records, like Contributions or Visits). On Clients, Visits, and Cases, Charts, Client Forms, and Assessments for your organization's chart, form, and assessment templates. See Filtering by Related Records for how to filter using those chart, form, and assessment fields.

The conditions available depend on the kind of field you selected. Use the labels exactly as they appear in the menu.

A few notes: between on a number field needs a low and a high value. The is empty / is not empty options check whether a field has anything in it at all.

When you select is any of and choose more than one value, the filter pill shows just the first selected value plus a count, like General Fund +1, instead of listing every value. This keeps the filter bar readable when many values are chosen. Click the pill to see or change the full list of selected values.

Choice-style fields on chart and form templates now offer the same predefined answer choices as the chart or form itself, so you pick a value instead of typing it out. See Filtering by Related Records.

On the Donors list, a Lapsed Donor field lets you quickly find supporters who have gone quiet. Add the condition and choose one option:

This condition only supports is, since it is a single yes or no style check rather than a range or multi-select. It is only available on the Donors list.

The Donors, Clients, and Volunteers lists include a To Be Deleted checkbox field, separate from actually deleting a record. Add the condition is true to gather records your team has flagged for cleanup before you review and delete them. See Deleting a Record.

When you pick a date field, the menu lists ready-made periods first, then options where you type a date. For most questions, choose a ready-made period. There's nothing to type, and a saved segment keeps up with the calendar on its own.

To filter for upcoming dates (Today, Tomorrow, This week, Next week, Next N days...), add the date filter first, then click its condition on the filter pill and choose from the Upcoming group. Next N days... asks how many days ahead to include.

If it's the month that just ended: pick the date field (for example Date Received on Contributions, or Batch Date on Contribution Batches) and choose Last month. You're done.

For any other month:

You chose Equals..., Before..., or After..., which each take a single date. Click the condition on the filter pill (the part after the field name), choose Between..., and the Start Date and End Date boxes appear. You don't need to delete the filter and start over.

Month is... → September finds September records from every year. To get one specific September, also add a second condition on the same field: Year is... → 2026. Or use Between... instead.

Next to Filter, most lists also have a plain search box for typing a word or number and getting an instant narrow-down, without building a filter. It runs a "search everywhere" match across a list's identifying fields, name, email, phone, and similar text columns, so it is the fastest way to jump to a record when you already know part of a name or contact detail. It is not a substitute for filtering on a specific field.

On the large person lists, Clients (both Care and Outreach), Donors, and Volunteers/Staff, quick search only checks a focused set of identifying columns, not every column shown in the grid:

Quick search on these lists does not match address fields (street, city, postal code) or dropdown-style values like gender, ethnicity, marital status, preferred contact method, preferred language, primary church, or county. It also does not search the Points Balance or Points Earned (90d) totals. If you need to find records by one of those fields, add a Filter condition for that specific field instead, and it can match on any field, including these (see the recipes above for Points Balance and Points Earned (90d)). Filtering also lets you add the field as a column so you can sort and scan it visually.

Other, narrower lists may still search across every visible column, so what quick search matches can vary by list. Narrowing what quick search checks on the large person lists keeps it fast even as those lists grow more columns over time.

Sorting reorders a column that's already on the list; it doesn't create a total for you. If the number you want to rank by is already a column (for example a running balance), sort that column from highest to lowest and read the top rows. Click a column heading to sort smallest to largest, A to Z, or oldest to newest; click again for the reverse.

When "top 10" means ranking by a total or count from related records instead, like "the top 10 donors by total giving to a fund this year," filtering can answer that directly: choose is in the top after adding a total or count condition on the related records, or use the Top donors by Contributions... quick filter. See Filtering by Related Records for how. Save the result as a segment to reuse it, or use a Report for a printable, shareable version.

On a few lists, you don't have to build the total yourself. Open Filter and look for a Suggested button next to the field search:

Clicking it adds a ready-made condition, ranking the top 10 by that total (total Contributions for donors, total hours from Time Sheets for volunteers and staff). The number 10 can be changed once the condition is added. The condition still needs your scope, for example a specific fund or a date range, added as sub-conditions the way described in Filtering by Related Records.

This button only appears on lists CoolFocus has set up for it, and only shows for you if you also have permission to view the records it counts (Contributions, or Time Sheets).

On large lists like Clients, Donors, and Appointments, the exact total row count can be skipped while a quick search is active. You still get the first page of matching rows right away. Clear the search to see the exact total again.

1. Open the list you want (for example Donors).

2. Set your filters, search, and columns so the list shows just what you want in the spreadsheet.

3. Click Actions at the top of the list.

4. Choose Export to Excel.

The export follows the list as currently filtered and searched, with the columns you are showing, so be sure to narrow things down first if you only want a subset of rows.

On the related-record tabs you see inside a record, such as a donor's Contributions tab or a client's Visits tab, Export to Excel is a button next to the tab's search box. Each export becomes a spreadsheet file named after the list and the date, with your current filter and search text already applied.

If a chart template, form template, or field used by a saved filter or segment is later deleted or deactivated, CoolFocus no longer fails to load the list. Instead it applies the conditions that are still valid and shows a banner above the list, listing which condition(s) it had to skip, so you can go back and update the filter or segment.