Learn how to best narrow down product results by refining your search requirements efficiently.
Attributes Best Practices:
Acceptable Manufacturers: The fewer manufacturers listed, the faster the search. Spending the time to refine the list at this stage is worthwhile, especially for jobs that only accept alternates from specific manufacturers. Pro-tip - list only the manufacturers already present on the job to minimize the amount of complexity for the job. If you need help setting up your preferred manufacturers, please refer to this article.
Other Attributes:
- Enter all the acceptable values for the relevant attributes.
- 🔐 We may suggest results that are best matches overall, but that may not match every attribute left unlocked, for hard requirements, use the attribute lock to return results strictly matching your input for a certain attribute.
Additional Criteria Best Practices:
For best results, use the attributes and the additional criteria free text search in combination. Here's how to best leverage our additional criteria free search functionality:
- Avoid filler words
(e.g. “I am looking for…”, “I want to find…”) - Separate multiple context search requirements with commas
(e.g. black trim, round shape, 2’) - Experiment with various combinations based on the characters
(e.g. 2’x2’ or 2x2 or 2 x 2) - The more relevant context provided, the better. More information will not decrease the importance of the rest of your search, it will only supplement it and help get more relevant results.
Use Case Best Practices:
| Use Case | Best Practice | ✅ Correct | ❌ Incorrect |
|
Narrow down the range of products |
Avoid conflicting entries between values listed under the attributes and under the additional criteria field. |
Product Type: Panel/Troffer Additional Criteria: Flat Panel |
Lumens: 100-500 lumens Additional Criteria: 800 lumens |
| Additional product attributes not currently supported by the preset attributes (e.g. aesthetics, dimensions) |
Product Type: Panel/Troffer Additional Criteria: 2x2, bronze finish, UL listed |
Product Type: - Additional Criteria: Panel/Troffer |
|
| Additional values that currently aren't supported in preset attributes | Leave the specific attribute empty if it's similar with your free text search value |
Product Type: - Additional Criteria: Sports Lighting |
|
Image Recognition
This feature on the Product Finder will extract images on the source datasheet to help accurately provide alternate suggestions that aligns with the image. Watch the quick minute video below to see how image recognition works:
Already know which product you are looking for?
Upload your alternate item's datasheet and with our product suggestions based on usage, train Parspec to populate your previous selections (along with your teams' selections) each time you cross that original product. Click "View Similar Searches" for more information as to which project or branch location selected that alternate.
