Search Tips for MCommunity

This document offers tips to help you find what you're looking for in the MCommunity Directory using the new, mobile-friendly interface, which is still under development. Learn more about plans for the new interface at A New, Mobile-Friendly Interface to the MCommunity Directory.

Basic Searches

Type what you are looking for in the search box, then click or press the magnifying-glass icon or press the Return or Enter key. You can search by any of these things:

• Name. MCommunity searches among all the Also Known As names listed for a person. You can type the name in any of these formats:
  • lastname, firstname
  • firstname lastname
  • firstinitial lastname
  • lastname
  • uniqname
• Email address
• Phone number. MCommunity searches among U-M work phone numbers. It does not search home, mobile, or fax. For best results, enter just the last five digits of Ann Arbor campus phone numbers without any hyphens or punctuation.
• Group name. You can enter all or part of the group name.

People search results will be under the People tab, and group search results will be under the Groups tab. Click a person or group name to display that person's or group's profile. If you are using a device capable of making phone calls, you can click a phone number to call it.

Advanced Searches

The Advanced Search link below the search box gives you additional searching options. You can

• Specify exactly which part of a person or group entry to search. For example, you can search for someone whose name begins or ends with certain letters. That's helpful when you only remember part of their name.
• Search for combinations of information. For example, you can search for someone whose last name starts or ends with certain letters and is affiliated with a particular U-M department or school.
• Search for a group that is owned by a particular person. That's helpful when you can't remember the exact group name.

Finding People

• Log in to the MCommunity Directory. People can choose to limit visibility of some parts of their profile so that only logged-in people can see them. Information that is not visible is not searched, so you'll be searching more information if you are logged in.
• Try first initial and last name. If you aren't sure how the person you are searching for spells his or her first name or goes by a shortened version of that name, this can help. For example, a search for T Macintosh will find Tom and Thomas Macintosh.
• Try the full first name. If you know someone as Tom, try searching under Thomas. If you know someone as Liz, try searching under Elizabeth. Many people do not register their nicknames as Also Known As Names in the directory. If a nickname does not appear in the person's list of Also Known As names, you will not be able find them under that name.
• Try a different spelling. If the person you are searching for has a name that can be spelled multiple ways, try several of them. For example, you might try mitchell and michell.
• Try part of the name. If you know, for example, that the person's last name is something like monforton or monfortent or monfortane, use the Advanced Search option. In the Last Name box, enter monfort, and select starts with from the drop down menu. If you also know the person's first name or even just their first initial, enter that in the First Name box to further narrow your search.
• Try former names. If the person you are searching for has changed names, such as a woman changing her last name on getting married, try searching under both names.
• Try uniqname. If the person you are searching for has asked that their personal information not be published, you will not be able to find them by name or other personal details. You will be able to find them by uniqname.
• Try phone number. If you don't know how to spell the name of a U-M employee but you have their U-M work phone number, you can use the Advanced Search page to search for them by phone number. You only need the last five digits to do the search
• Look in groups. Is the person you are searching for a member of a group? If so, find that group and then look through the list of members. You can search within groups for particular members.

Finding Groups

• Try part of the name. Use the Advanced Search option to search by part of the group name.
• Try owners. If you know the uniqname of someone who is an owner of the group you are looking for, you can use the Advanced Search option to search by group owner.
• Search within group. Use the Search within group option to locate a specific group member.
• Filter within a group by role. Show the group members, then use the Filter Results option. You can filter by members, owners, subgroups, and more.