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Search helps you find industrial data across your organization in CDF, including assets, time series, files, events, and engineering diagrams. Preview a result to see its properties and related data, then open it in Charts or Canvas for further analysis. In the Flows workspace, navigate to the Home page or the Search tool:
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Search

Click the Search field, type what you’re looking for, and press Enter.Search returns data that matches your query precisely. For example, searching for 21-PT-10-19 returns results that contain all four parts (21, PT, 10, 19). If you find a pump, you’ll also find associated assets, documents, sensor data, and engineering diagrams.
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Refine results

Use filters to refine your search results further.
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Preview and analyze

Select a result to preview more details and open in Charts or Canvas for further analysis.

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Filter and sort your search results

To help you find exactly what you need, you can filter and sort your search results.
Filter and sort search results
➀ Categories — filter the results by data categories, for example, to see only matching time series. ➁ Location — select the locations you want to see results from. ➂ Filters — select one or more Filters to further refine the results for a category. ➃ Sort — click any of the column headings to sort the results. ➄ 3D — open a 3D model to explore physical assets, such as rigs or locations. Refer to Browse 3D for more information.

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Preview your search results

Select a result to preview the details in the right-hand sidebar, and open the item in Charts or Canvas for further analysis.
Preview search results
➀ Overview — see an overview of the information about a search result. ➁ Details tabs — view detailed information about the search result. The tabs vary by category. For example, Tree view is only available for hierarchical data like assets. ➂ Open — view the item in full screen and close the sidebar. ➃ Open in Charts/Canvas — open the item in Charts or Canvas for further analysis, or download a file.

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Understanding categories and tree view

When you search for assets, you’ll notice different ways to organize and view your results. Categories group similar types of equipment or assets together. When you select a category like “Pumps” or “Sensors”, you’ll see only items of that type in your results.

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Tree view shows how assets connect

Tree view displays how your assets are organized hierarchically, for example, showing that a pump belongs to a specific system, which belongs to a plant location. Search results and Tree view show the full asset hierarchy even when it’s split across different categories. Items from other categories appear grayed out so you still have full context. For example, if you’re viewing “Pumps” but a pump’s parent system is in the “Systems” category, that parent appears grayed out. The grayed-out items are still clickable and interactive.
If you don’t see the full asset hierarchy you expect, try selecting a different Category or adjusting your Location filters. You can also ask your administrator about which asset types are available for search.

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Download instances and relationship lists

You can download lists of data instances from search results and from related data sections on the instance page as a CSV file. All CSV files include audit information: who downloaded, when, and a source URL that links back to the search page in CDF. Anyone with permission to view those search results can follow the link. Downloads from related data sections also include the properties (metadata) of the instance that owns the relationship.
  • Files: Only file metadata is exported, not the file itself.
  • Time series: Data points are not exported.
Both search results and downloads are limited to 1,000 instances due to an API limit, even if the total number of matches exceeds that.

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Download instances

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Search, filter, and sort your search results

Enter your search term in the Search field and press Enter. Then use filters, sorting, and column selection to refine your results.
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Download

Click the download button to download the search results as a CSV file.

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Download relationship lists

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Select a related data section

Select a related data section on the instance page, for example, Assets > Path.
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Download

Click the download button to download the relationship list as a CSV file.

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Upload files

To upload files directly in Search, an admin must configure the space for file uploads.
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Configure a space for file uploads

Go to Admin > Project settings > Locations > Configure > Space for file upload, set the space for file uploads. Only one space can be set per location.
Upload is only available for data model views.
Once the space is configured, you can upload files directly in Search. Files may take a moment to appear after uploading.

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Work with PDF files

You can find information in PDF files using AI document analysis and text search.
PDF file open on the Preview tab with the Explore with AI and Find text options
On the Preview tab, you can: ➀ Explore with AI — use AI to summarize and ask questions about the PDF file. ➁ Find text — search for a specific word within the PDF file. Matches are highlighted, and you can browse through the results.

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Not finding what you’re looking for?

Check your spelling and make sure you’ve selected the correct location. You’ll only see items that you have access to. Verify with your internal help desk or the CDF admin that you have access to the data you’re looking for.

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Supported file formats

Documents Preview supports the following file formats:

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Further reading

  • Charts — visualize and analyze time series data.
  • Canvas — collect and share data on a collaborative canvas.
  • Browse 3D — explore physical assets in a 3D model.
  • Flows workspace — work with AI document analysis and the other tools in the workspace.
Last modified on September 10, 2026