Narrowing Search Returns in Food Processor

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Narrowing Search Returns in Food Processor

Software program: Food Processor

See also our tutorial on How Search Results are Returned in Food Processor.

Given the high volume of foods and ingredients in the Food Processor database, finding the exact food item you want for your Intake list, Menu Plan, or Recipe may initially seem challenging. It’s not. To make it easy for you, Food Processor offers a variety of search filters that quickly narrow the results to what you’re looking for. This tutorial goes over how to best use the most popular search types, plus some additional helpful tips.

Name (or Partial Name), User Code, and ESHA Code Search

This is the default search for the program. Access it by typing search terms (words, letters, or numbers) into the Search box and pressing Enter on the keyboard. You can search by full name (Orange Juice), partial name (oran ju), numbers only, or alphanumeric combinations (AR3345). Search terms are not case-sensitive. Use fewer or more terms to widen or narrow your search.

A Name Search will return any database item containing the entered words or partial words.

If you search by numbers, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

  • If you enter a number, with no spaces or commas, you will get only the food item with the corresponding ESHA Code, or, if one has been entered, the corresponding User Code. For example, if I type in 1 and press Enter, I will get milk, whole, 3.25%, with vitamin D, which corresponds to ESHA Code “1.”
  • If you enter a number with spaces or commas, or you include names/partial names, the search will return any results that contain those numbers and search terms in the Item Name, Common Name, Product, or Supplier.

Tip: Include USDA or Canada or a specific brand in your search to filter by data source (supplier, government database, etc). Click on the column headings in the search results list to sort alphabetically.

F6 - User Code Only Search

This is the only search function that supports a wildcard, or asterisk (*), search and will only return results for which you have entered a User Code.

Example: Searching for “ABC*” will return ABCD, ABC1, ABC-00, etc. Enter the code (or partial code plus asterisk) and on your keyboard press F6 instead of Enter.

Tip: Put your User Code in the Recipe or Ingredient name.

Some of our users have found it helpful to put the user code directly in the food item name. 

Examples: DH15-56 Orange Juice, DH15-57 Apple Juice. If you do this, use the search term DH15 to find all instances of this user code using the Name Search instead of the F6 search.

F11 - Government Code Search

Foods from government-sourced databases (USDA, Health Canada, etc.) are assigned a number. To use this search, you will have to know the code for that item.  To search for these foods, enter the number in the Search box, and on your keyboard press F11 instead of Enter.

Tip: If you use this search, keep a list of the codes readily available.

F5 - Nutrient Search

Use the Nutrient Search to find items high or low in a specific nutrient.

Tip: We also have a more detailed F5 tutorial.

  1. With your Intake, Recipe, or Menu Plan open, hit the F5 key to begin your search.
  2. You can add up to three nutrients and specify higher than, lower than or equal to values.
  3. To reduce results, you can also enter search terms or filter by existing groups.

Search by Ingredient

Search for Recipes that contain a specific Ingredient. Example: You want to find all Recipes that contain cheddar cheese.

Tip: We also have a tutorial on Using the Advanced Search tools in Food Processor. 

  1. On the Home ribbon, go to Open and select Recipe.
  2. Type in the name or partial name of the Ingredient. Do not press Enter or execute this search yet.
  3. Click the Advanced Search button.
  4. Check Search within items for matches to the above criteria.
  5. Click Search.
  6. The resulting list is all of the Recipes that contain the Ingredient you searched for.

Search by Groups

You can associate Persons, Recipes, Ingredients, and Menu Plans with as many Groups as is appropriate and you can search for the records by any combination of those Groups.

Tip: We also have a tutorial on Using Groups for Organizing, Exporting, and Access Control. 

  1. When you open a record (Home > Open > record type), or when searching for an Ingredient to add to the Intake, Recipe, or Menu Plan, first click the Advanced Search button.
  2. Under Search By Groups, click Select.
  3. In the Select Groups dialog box, check the box(es) next to the group (or groups) you want to search within.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Select either Include ALL Groups (to search for an item that belongs to all of the Groups specified) or Include ANY Group (to search for items that belong to at least ONE Group specified).
  6. Click Search. Food Processor will return only the records in the specified food group(s).