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Filtering and Search

Learn how to find specific cards quickly using filters and search.

Overview​

As your feedback grows, you need ways to find specific cards without scrolling through hundreds of items. Distil offers filtering and search to help.

The search bar appears at the top of your dashboard.

What you can search:

  • Card titles
  • Card descriptions
  • Signal notes
  • Tags
  • Acceptance rationale (if Governance Pack enabled)

How to search:

  1. Click the search bar (or press /)
  2. Type your search term
  3. Results appear as you type
  4. Press Enter to see full results

Search is instant - results update as you type.

Search Tips​

Search for Partial Matches​

You don't need to type the full word.

Examples:

  • Search dark finds "dark mode," "dark theme," "dark background"
  • Search export finds "export to CSV," "data export," "Excel export"

Search is Case-Insensitive​

Dark Mode, dark mode, and DARK MODE all return the same results.

Use Quotes for Exact Phrases​

Search "dark mode" to find only cards with that exact phrase, not cards that mention "dark" and "mode" separately.

Use when: You want precision (e.g., "customer success" vs. cards mentioning "customer" and "success" separately)

Search Multiple Terms​

Search dark mode performance finds cards that contain all three words (in any order).

Use when: Narrowing down results (e.g., "enterprise billing issue")

Filters​

Filters let you view subsets of cards based on attributes.

Status Filters​

Filter cards by workflow stage:

  • Needs Signal: Unprocessed feedback
  • Accepted: Your roadmap
  • Ready: Pushed to Jira/Linear

How to use:

  1. Click the filter icon (🔍)
  2. Select one or more statuses
  3. Click "Apply"

Default view: Roadmap view shows all statuses in separate sections.

Tag Filters​

Filter cards by one or more tags.

How to use:

  1. Click the filter icon
  2. Select tags from the dropdown
  3. Click "Apply"

Multiple tags: By default, selecting multiple tags shows cards with ANY of those tags (OR logic).

Advanced: Toggle to "Match all tags" to show only cards with ALL selected tags (AND logic).

Examples:

  • Filter enterprise to see all enterprise requests
  • Filter enterprise + billing (AND) to see only enterprise billing requests

Combined Filters​

Combine status and tag filters for precise results.

Examples:

  • Status: Accepted + Tag: enterprise = Enterprise items on your roadmap
  • Status: Needs Signal + Tag: performance = Unprocessed performance feedback
  • Status: Ready + Tag: backend = Backend work currently in development

Use case: Prepare for meetings by filtering to relevant subset.

Date Filters (Advanced)​

Filter by when cards were created or last updated.

Options:

  • Last 7 days
  • Last 30 days
  • Last 90 days
  • Custom date range

Use cases:

  • See recent feedback trends
  • Review old cards that need attention
  • Track feedback velocity over time

Saved Filters (Coming Soon)​

Save frequently-used filter combinations for quick access.

Examples:

  • "Enterprise roadmap" = Accepted + enterprise tag
  • "Q1 performance work" = Accepted + performance tag + created this quarter
  • "Untagged inbox" = Needs Signal + no tags

Search + Filter​

Combine search and filters for powerful queries.

Examples:

  • Search: export + Filter: enterprise → Find enterprise export requests
  • Search: slow + Filter: Accepted → Find accepted performance issues
  • Search: SSO + Filter: Needs Signal → Find unprocessed SSO requests

Workflow:

  1. Apply filters first to narrow the set
  2. Then search within filtered results
  3. Clear filters when done

Common Search Queries​

Find Cards by Customer​

Search for the customer name: Acme Corp

Tip: Make sure to include customer names in card descriptions when collecting feedback.

Find Cards by Feature​

Search for the feature name: dashboard, billing, reports

Better: Use tags for features, then filter by tag (more reliable than search)

Find Old Cards​

Use date filter: "Created more than 90 days ago"

Use case: Find forgotten feedback that's been sitting in Needs Signal

Find Duplicates​

Search for the card title you just created to see if it already exists.

Workflow:

  1. Get new feedback: "Add dark mode"
  2. Search dark mode before creating card
  3. If exists, add signal note to existing card instead of creating duplicate

Find Cards You Created​

Filter by "Created by: Me"

Use case: Review your own work, find cards you started but didn't finish

Keyboard Shortcuts​

Speed up search and filtering:

  • / - Focus search bar
  • Esc - Clear search
  • f - Open filter menu
  • c - Clear all filters

Press ? anywhere to see all shortcuts.

Search Performance​

Instant results: Search returns results within milliseconds for <1000 cards.

Large workspaces: If you have 5000+ cards, search may take 1-2 seconds.

Indexing: Distil indexes cards automatically. No setup required.

Filtering Best Practices​

Use Tags for Frequent Filters​

If you find yourself searching for the same thing repeatedly (e.g., "mobile"), create a tag instead.

Why: Tags are faster to filter and more reliable than search.

When creating cards, use searchable titles:

  • ✅ "Add SSO via Okta"
  • ❌ "That thing John mentioned"

Future-you will thank you when searching.

When searching reveals old, irrelevant cards:

  1. Archive them immediately
  2. Or add signal notes explaining why they're still around

Result: Search results stay relevant over time.

Use Date Filters for Triage​

Weekly review workflow:

  1. Filter: Needs Signal + Created in last 7 days
  2. Process these new cards first
  3. Then tackle older backlog

Benefit: Stay on top of incoming feedback without drowning in old cards.

Advanced: Boolean Search (Coming Soon)​

Future feature to enable complex queries:

Examples:

  • enterprise AND (billing OR payments) - Enterprise billing/payment requests
  • performance NOT dashboard - Performance issues excluding dashboard
  • "dark mode" OR "night mode" - Either phrase

Not available yet, but planned for future release.

Exporting Search Results​

You can export filtered card lists:

  1. Apply filters
  2. Click "Export" (top right)
  3. Choose format: CSV or PDF
  4. Download

Use cases:

  • Share filtered list with stakeholders
  • Analyze in Excel
  • Present in meetings

What's exported:

  • Card title
  • Card status
  • Tags
  • Created date
  • Description (optional)
  • Signal notes (optional)

"No results found" but I know the card exists​

Possible causes:

  • Typo in search term
  • Card is archived (search doesn't include archived by default)
  • Search term is in comments, not title/description (comments aren't searchable yet)

Try:

  • Check spelling
  • Clear filters and try again
  • Search for a partial match
  • Check archived cards (Settings → Archived)

Search is slow​

Possible causes:

  • Very large workspace (5000+ cards)
  • Network connectivity issue
  • Browser performance issue

Try:

  • Use filters to narrow the set before searching
  • Close other browser tabs
  • Refresh the page
  • Contact support if consistently slow

Filter shows no results​

Possible causes:

  • No cards match that combination
  • Filters are too restrictive

Try:

  • Remove one filter at a time to find the issue
  • Check that cards exist with those attributes

Integrating Search into Workflows​

Weekly Review​

  1. Filter: Needs Signal + Last 7 days
  2. Review and process each card
  3. Accept, archive, or add signal notes
  4. Clear filter

Quarterly Planning​

  1. Filter: Accepted
  2. Export to CSV
  3. Review in spreadsheet for roadmap planning
  4. Tag high-priority items

Customer Meeting Prep​

  1. Search: [Customer Name]
  2. Review all cards mentioning that customer
  3. Add any new feedback to discussion notes

Feature Launch​

  1. Search for feature name
  2. Find all related cards (feedback, requests)
  3. Add note: "Shipped in v2.3"
  4. Email requesters to close the loop

Mobile Search (Coming Soon)​

Mobile app will support:

  • Full-text search
  • Tag filtering
  • Status filtering
  • Quick filters (recent, my cards, etc.)

Not available yet.

Search Analytics​

Track what people search for to identify gaps:

Admin feature (Settings → Analytics → Search):

  • Most common searches
  • Searches with no results (indicates missing content or need for new tags)
  • Filter usage patterns

Use this to:

  • Improve tagging strategy
  • Identify emerging themes
  • Spot navigation issues

Next Steps​