# Filters and sorting

Filtering has two modes. Basic builds a query out of chips, which covers most questions. CQL hands you the raw query, which covers the rest.

![A filter bar with a keyword box and chips for Contributors, Mention, Parent, Creator, Labels and Macros; the Macros chip is open, listing macro names including Search results, Approval, Calendar, Cloc](https://help.gocapable.com/images/ed525c75-b7e2-4050-87e4-592e6b8f71ab.webp)

Filters you have added sit as chips along the bar, and each one opens its own list of values to match on.

You can start in Basic and switch to CQL to see what it built, which is the fastest way to learn the syntax.

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## The filters Search itself provides

Text, Space, Contributors, Created, Updated, Mentions, Favorited by, Ancestor, Parent, Type and Label. Everything else in the filter list comes from another capability.

![The filter picker open below the Filters button, with a Built in group listing Text, Contributors, Mentions, Parent, Creator, Labels and Macros, several ticked, and an Approval group listing Creator, ](https://help.gocapable.com/images/51d593ab-aed1-4b9f-8c42-e0aad008e474.webp)

The built-in set comes first, then a group for each capability, so the approval filters only appear where that capability is installed.

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## Basic or CQL

| **Mode** | **Use it when**                                                                        |
| -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Basic    | The question fits chips: a space, a date range, a person, a label                      |
| CQL      | You need a boolean the chips cannot express, or you are copying a query from elsewhere |

ℹ️

**Copy CQL is the bridge.** Build the query with chips, copy the CQL, and paste it into Confluence's own search or into a macro. It also saves you typing the app hash that prefixes Capable field names.

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## Sorting

Any sortable column, ascending or descending. Sorting on a Capable field orders only indexed pages, so a partially indexed site sorts what it knows and omits the rest.

![The Sort dropdown open below the Filters, Sort and Columns buttons, listing built-in options Title, Created, Last updated and Author, with Last updated selected and marked descending, then an Approval](https://help.gocapable.com/images/364aba76-3343-4d3b-9f6a-ef406b578947.webp)

The options are grouped the same way as columns, so a capability such as Approval brings its own dates and statuses to order by.

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## A few things worth knowing

* A CQL query with a leading wildcard matches nothing. Confluence does not support it, and it fails quietly.
* Switching from CQL back to Basic can lose a clause the chips cannot represent.
* Filter choices are saved onto the saved search, like columns.

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## Related

[ColumnsWhat you can show.](https://help.gocapable.com/search/columns.html)

[Saved searchesKeeping a query.](https://help.gocapable.com/search/saved-searches.html)

[Capable search fieldsThe fields behind the filters.](https://help.gocapable.com/search/capable-search-fields.html)

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_Chips first. CQL when they run out._