The same operators appear wherever you build a condition: Method branches, General Ledger rules, rule suggestions and data feed rules.
Text operators
Operator | Matches when |
Contains | The text appears anywhere in the field |
Contains Keyword | The text appears as a whole word |
Contains Keywords | Any one of your keywords appears as a whole word |
Starts With | The field begins with the text |
Ends With | The field ends with the text |
Equal | The whole field is exactly the text |
Is In | The field exactly matches any one of your values |
Is Empty | The field has no value |
Each one has a negative form: Not Contains, Not Equal, Is Not In, Is Not Empty.
Contains and Contains Keyword are not the same
This is the difference that catches people out.
Contains looks for your text anywhere, including inside longer words. "car" matches Carlton, scarf and car hire.
Contains Keyword looks for your text as a whole word. "car" matches car hire and hire car. It does not match Carlton or scarf.
Use Contains Keyword for words that appear inside other words. Use Contains for part numbers, codes and fragments.
Contains Keywords is the same whole-word match across a list. A row matches if any one of the keywords is present. Use it instead of building several branches that do the same thing.
Number and date operators
Equal, Not Equal, Less Than, Less Than Or Equal, Greater Than, Greater Than Or Equal.
Text matching is not case sensitive
All text matching ignores case, so "AGL", "agl" and "Agl" behave the same.
Spaces at the start and end of the value are ignored.
How conditions combine
Conditions sit in groups.
Conditions inside a group join with AND. Every one must be true.
Groups join with OR. The rule applies if any group is satisfied.
Use a second group when two different patterns should get the same treatment.
If your rule matches nothing
Work through these in order:
Check Contains against Contains Keyword. A keyword operator will not match text inside a longer word.
Check for trailing characters. Starts With fails if the field begins with a space or a code you did not expect.
Check the field. Supplier name and description often hold different text than you assume. Open a few rows and read them.
Check the order. Rules and branches run top to bottom and the first match wins. An earlier rule may have taken the rows already.
Check the group logic. Conditions in one group must all be true. Split them into separate groups if either should be enough.
If your rule matches too much
Move from Contains to Contains Keyword, or add a second condition to the same group to narrow it.