How to Modify the Lookup Window in Sage 100

Steps to modify the lookup window in Sage 100.

In Sage, when you see a magnifying glass, it designates a lookup window:

They are found in all modules of Sage and can be customized to fit your company’s needs.

There are times in Sage when you would like to search on a field that may not appear in the default lookup. This is where modifying the lookup can be beneficial.

Every user can modify their own lookups, and with certain security permissions you can create company and Sage-wide custom lookups.

View this Sage 100 step by step software tip in a video format (9:55)

View this Sage 100 step by step software tip with individual screen shots below. 

Create a custom lookup in Customer Maintenance.

• Accounts Receivable > Main > Customer Maintenance

• Click on the magnifying glass to bring up the lookup window.

• To create a custom lookup for only yourself in your current company, click the “Custom” button in the lower left.

• At the top of the new window, you will see for whom and in what company the lookup is created.

• Type a description for your lookup, and you may click the checkbox to make it the default view when accessing this particular lookup window. Note: This will ONLY affect the user and company listed at the top of this window.

• You can see all fields available to you on the left side of the window under “Available Fields”.
• The fields currently found in the lookup on the right under “Selected Columns”.
• The field with the asterisk preceding it is a key field and cannot be removed. All other fields can be removed/changed to fit your needs.
• To add search by State and Customer Balance, add those fields to the Selected Columns side by either double clicking the field, or clicking once to highlight the field in blue, then clicking the single arrow button in the middle.

For Customer Balance, we are going to use a calculated field to add together all aging categories.

• Click on “New Field” in the lower left.

• Give your field a heading – Customer Balance.
• Enter a width (this may take some guessing), right justify and leave the mask as is, since it’s a numeric field
• Click on the Calculated Field Builder button.

• Double click each aging category with clicking the addition symbol between each to add all aging categories together, then click OK.

• See your formula in the Calculated field, click OK again to return to the field selection screen.

• Your new field “Customer Balance” is listed under the Selected Columns.

• Use the arrow buttons to move them up as the order these fields appear under Selected Columns is the order in which they appear in the lookup.

• To decrease or increase the width of a field in the lookup, click once on the field you would like to change so it’s highlighted in blue, then click the “Modify”.

• This will bring up the attributes for the selected field. You can change the column heading, width, and justification for the field.

• The next window will allow you to filter on any of the fields selected for the lookup. For example, filter only accounts with a balance that does not equal $0.

• Set the default search column and option in which to search.
• Click finish.

• New custom lookup will be displayed.

Note: The filters button will be lit up red when there is an active filter on your data. It will be black if there is not a filter on your data.

• With the correct security settings, you can create company or Sage-wide lookups for multiple users or groups. To create a lookup for multiple users/companies, click the “Lookup Wizard” button in your lookup window.

• This first screen will show you if any custom lookups have previously been created for this search, click the “New”

Note: You may also create custom lookups by navigating to Library Master > Main > User Lookup Wizard.

• You will need to know the exact name of the lookup you would like to customize, so often it’s easier to simply create the custom lookup from the desired lookup’s window.

• Determine in what companies and for whom you would like to create the lookup.

• If individual users have already created custom lookups for themselves, you will receive this message:

• When you click the “More Info” link, you can see your custom lookup listed with a message stating the user-specific custom lookup will not be affected by your new global lookup.

Note: User-specific lookups will always take precedence.

• Click OK, then Yes to continue.

The remainder of the wizard is exactly the same as the above lookup wizard.

For more information or assistance with your Sage 100 software, please contact our Sage 100 support team at 260.423.2414.

Register for our Sage 100 newsletter today!

Copyright 2025 DWD Technology Group | All rights reserved. This article content may not be reproduced (in whole or in part), displayed, modified or distributed without express permission from the copyright holder.