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The best way to find an account is to use the Account Search screen, which allows you to search for accounts by full or partial name, parcel street number, parcel address, account number, subdivision name, legal description, or lawsuit information.  Accounts must have current year owner and account detail information in order to be retrieved in a search.

Note:  Confidential accounts do not appear when searching on this screen.

All searches on this screen can be done by entering a full or partial name or number. Only 100 accounts at a time will be displayed on the screen, however, you can select additional groups of 100 accounts; you may need to enter the last name and part of a first name to see the expected results more quickly.

User Entitlements

The following user entitlements must be set for each user who needs access to the Account Search screens. It is part of the  View Only Major Screens task.

Users having any job can view this screen. See Tasks, Entitlements, and Jobs for more information.

 ACT8007 - Allows access to the Account Search screen.

HIDE_MASTER_STATUS_ON_SEARCH: Hide the Account Master and Account Status buttons on the Account Search screen. By default, this is unchecked, which means the buttons are visible.

VIEW_ONLY_NEW_CERT_YEAR: Allow users to view but not change data for the new certified year before the CURR_YEAR preference is changed to that new year. If granted, accounts that exist for the new certified year will be displayed. If not granted, the data for the new year will not be displayed. If this entitlement is granted and an account has current year data but no owner or account detail data for the new year, you will not be able to search for that account. (This data is normally rolled up from one year to the next.)

DO_NOT_SEARCH_CALC_BALANCE: If unchecked, account balances automatically appear with search results when the client preference SHOW_ACCT_SEARCH_TOTAL_DUE is set to Y. When this entitlement is checked, you must check the Calculate Balance box to calculate these amounts.

Client Preferences

SHOW_ACCT_SEARCH_TOTAL_DUE: Set to Y to show the Calculate Balance box on the Account Search screen. Check this box to calculate the total due for each account (which will take longer). Set to N to not show this (and speed up the search). The default is N. If set to Y, it will take longer to retrieve the accounts. The Total Due is the sum of the 100 accounts currently being displayed. Also, if set to Y, the Selected Amt Due field will show the total due of any accounts that you have checked in the Select column on the left.

(Tax office web site searches only) ACCT_STATUSES_REMOVE_FROM_WEB: Enter the account status codes for accounts that should not be searchable on tax office web sites (for ex., XD,XA). If this is absent or expired, account status codes will be ignored when doing a web site search.

1. From the Main Menu, click the Account Search () button or select Update, then Account Search, or click the Go To drop-down list and select Account Search.  The Account Search screen will appear.
2. If the screen has data displayed, press F7 to clear the screen and begin a new search.
3. If the screen is blank, type a full or partial name or number in any of the columns in the screen you selected.  For example, type "BA" in the Certified Owner column in the Owner screen. You may use any of the tabs (for ex., Owner, Alt Owner, Legal Description, etc.)
4. To show the total due for the accounts, check the Calculate Balance box.
5. To search for only unpaid accounts and show the total due for those accounts, check the Calculate Balance and Search Unpaid Only boxes.
6. To search for only accounts that are delinquent for at least one year and show the total due for those accounts, check the Calculate Balance and Search Delq. Only boxes at the bottom of the screen. The total due will include all years, whether delinquent or not.
7. Press F8 (Execute Query). In this example, the first 100 certified owners beginning with the letters 'BA' will appear. The sort order of the results is this: If an account number is entered, the results are in account number order (accounts with the same owner will be listed by owner, in account number order). If a name is entered, the results are in name order. If a parcel address or appraisal district number is entered, the results will be in parcel address order. For the Harris County tax office only, an EBill ID column appears on the Account Search screen's Owner tab. The Status column shows an 'X' for inactive or deleted accounts.
8. The Calculate Balance, Search Unpaid Only and Search Delq. Only buttons are not visible after completing a search. To start a new search at any time, press F7. These buttons will reappear and can be used before pressing F8.
9. As you click on different accounts, owner and legal description information appear at the bottom of the screen.
10. Click the other tabs to view the Alternate Owner, Legal Description, Subdivision and Lawsuit information associated with the account you selected.
11. (optional) In the Select column on the left, click the check box next to the accounts you wish to group together to work with in the Account Status, Account Master, Advanced Payment, and Special Payment screens.  This group of accounts will be available until you do another search in the Account Search screen or log out of ACT 7.

• To select or deselect all of the accounts (only up to the 100 available on the screen), click the Check All or Uncheck All buttons.
• If you want to save these accounts into the trigger table to use on the Advanced Payment screen or to print statements, click the Store Select List button at the top of the screen.
• You can use the system-generated Sequence No. or enter your own sequence number by unchecking the box next to Use Sequence No., then entering a different number.
• Click Save.

11. Click the Next 100 Accounts button to view the next 100 accounts (alphabetically by certified owner). A Previous 100 Accounts button becomes available at that point.
12. To add more accounts to your trigger table list or to create a new list, click the Store Select List button again. To add accounts to a pre-existing list, check the box next to the desired Request Seq. After clicking Save, you will see a confirmation message. Click Yes to add these accounts.
13. (optional) Another way to work with the accounts that you see on the screen after doing a search is to click the Account Master and Account Status buttons.  If you do this, the Go To list will not work on these two screens, but if you click the Exit door, you will return to your original list of accounts in the Account Search screen.

Note: These buttons are grayed out if the user does not have the ACT8002 or ACT8006 user entitlements.

14. From the Go To list, select the next screen that you want to use, or click Ctrl+Q (Exit) to go to the screen you were last on.  The account number will be displayed in that screen.