Using Global Search

Where to Find It

A search box is always visible in the top navigation bar, on every page. Type a term and press Enter to open the full Search results page.

What It Searches

Global search looks across five areas of the database at once, showing up to 10 matches per category (5 for countries):

• Tax Stamp Programmes — matched by programme name, excise authority name, country name, notes, and the fields of any stamp specification the programme has used (see below)
• Stamp Specifications — matched by specification name, display name, main supplier, country, notes, and the specification's own security-feature and coding fields (see below)
• Excise Authorities — matched by authority name, country name, and notes
• Suppliers — matched by supplier name and description
• Countries — matched by country name and ISO code

Why a Security Feature Name Finds a Programme

Programmes and specifications are closely linked, so global search treats a specification's technical detail as part of what makes its programme — and the specification itself — a match. Searching for something like "Microtext" (the name of a security feature) will surface:

• Any specification that has that feature, whether recorded as a printing method, an overt or semi-covert security feature, an authentication tool, a variable data type, a machine-readable format, or a main function
• Any programme that has ever used a specification with that feature

This mirrors the free-text Search filter on the Tax Stamp Programmes list (see Browsing & Filtering Programs) — a term that finds a programme there will also find it from the global search box. The difference is scope: the programmes list filter only searches within that one list, while global search surfaces matching specifications, authorities, suppliers, and countries at the same time, from any page.

Results Respect Your Subscription

Search results follow the same country access rules as the rest of the platform. If your subscription (or guest preview) is limited to a specific set of countries, matches outside that set will not appear — even if the underlying record exists in the database.

No Results

If nothing matches, the results page suggests trying a different term or browsing the database directly from the Browse Data menu.