---
title: "Getting started with GravitySearch"
date: 2026-06-11
author: "Mono Kit"
link: "https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravitysearch/getting-started-with-gravitysearch/"
---

Gravity Forms lets you browse one form's entries at a time, with no real way to search across them. GravitySearch fixes that, in two places: a **Global Search** page that searches every form's entries at once, and the same advanced filtering added to each individual form's own entries.

**Before you begin:** GravitySearch works with Gravity Forms 2.5 or newer. If you haven't set it up yet, follow [Installing, activating, and updating GravityKit plugins](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/downloads/installing-activating-and-updating-gravitykit-plugins/) and [Managing your licenses](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/managing-your-licenses/).   
If you have an All Access pass, you can skip the download entirely: hover **GravityKit** in the admin menu, click **Manage Your Kit**, find GravitySearch, and click **Install** to add and activate it in one step. We'll pick up from the moment GravitySearch is active.

## Prefer to watch the video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfeK0p2P_xM 

## Open the Global Search page

GravitySearch adds a **Global Search** page to your admin. In the menu, go to **Forms** and click **Global Search**. Think of it as your home base: every form's entries gathered into one list, with status tabs, a date filter, bulk actions, and pagination.

![The Forms submenu in the WordPress admin with Global Search highlighted as the current page](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-global-search-menu.png)

## Run your first search

Type into the **Search entries** box and click **Search**. GravitySearch looks through every form at once and lists the matches, telling you which form each one came from, which field matched, and the value it found. Search a customer's email address and you'll see everything they ever submitted, no matter which form it landed on.

![Global Search results for one email address spanning three forms, with the matching field and value shown](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-cross-form-search.png)

## Narrow by status or date

The tabs above the results filter by status: All, Unread, Starred, Spam, Trash, and, if you use GravityView, approval statuses. To zero in on a time period, set a start and end date in the range picker (both are shown at the top of the results in the screenshot above). On top of the usual presets, GravitySearch adds quick ranges for the last 90, 180, and 365 days.

## Filter across forms with Advanced Search

For anything more specific, click the **Advanced Search** button. It's the small three-dots button right next to **Search** (its tooltip reads "Advanced Search").

![The three-dots Advanced Search button next to the Search button on the Global Search page](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-advanced-search-button.png)Because the Global Search page spans every form at once, the filter builder here offers only the things every entry has in common: **Entry Properties** like the entry date, who submitted it, payment status, and starred state, plus a **Form** option to limit which forms you search. (Individual form fields aren't here, because your forms don't all share the same fields. For those, see the last section.)
*!*[The Advanced Search field dropdown on the Global Search page, listing Entry Properties and a Form option but no individual form fields](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-global-fields.png)Pick a field, an operator, and a value to build a condition, then add more and combine them with **AND** or **OR**.   
  
For example, to round up every entry you have flagged across all your forms, filter **Entry Date is after a date AND Starred is Yes**:

![The Global Search advanced filter builder with two conditions: Entry Date is after a date, combined with AND, and Starred is Yes](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-global-builder.png)Click **Search** and Global Search returns just those entries, gathered from every form at once, with each condition shown as a chip you can drop. Here it pulls the recent starred entries from Support Requests, Product Orders, and Conference Registration into a single list:

![Global Search results filtered to recent starred entries spanning three different forms, with the two conditions shown as removable chips above the table](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-global-results.png)

## Preview an entry

Found a promising row? Click the eye icon on it to open the entry right where you are. The preview shows every field of the submission, so you can confirm it's the one you want, close it, and carry on down the list. No new tabs, no losing your place.

![An entry preview showing every field of a submission, open over the search results](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-entry-preview.png)

## Act on the results in bulk

Tick the entries you want, choose an action from the **Bulk actions** menu (Mark as Read, Add Star, Spam, Trash, and Approve when GravityView is active), and click **Apply**. Because Global Search spans every form, you can tidy up across your whole site at once instead of form by form.

![Several entries selected in Global Search with a bulk action chosen, ready to apply](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-bulk-actions.png)

## Filter a single form by its own fields

Everything so far has searched across all your forms. To filter by a specific form's own questions, you work from that one form's **Entries** list instead. Go to **Forms**, hover the form, and click **Entries**.   
  
GravitySearch adds the same search box and the same three-dots **Advanced Search** button right there:

![A single form's entry list with the GravitySearch search box and three-dots Advanced Search button highlighted](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-single-form-search.png)The difference is the field dropdown. Because you're now looking at just one form, it adds a **Form Fields** group listing that form's own questions, above the same Entry Properties you saw on Global Search:

![The Advanced Search field dropdown on a single form, with a Form Fields group (Details, Email, Name, Priority, Request Type) above the Entry Properties group](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-single-form-fields.png)That Form Fields group is what lets you build precise, field-level filters. Conditions combine with **AND** (every one must match) or **OR** (any one can), and you can nest a group inside another. For example, on a support form: **Priority is High AND (Request Type is Bug Report OR Request Type is Feature Request)**, the urgent bug reports and feature requests together.

![The advanced filter builder on a single form showing Priority is High AND a nested group of Request Type is Bug Report OR Feature Request](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-single-form-builder.png)
Click **Search** and the list updates in place. Each condition becomes a chip above the results, so you can drop a single one with its **x** or clear them all with **Reset Filters**![A single form's entries filtered to high-priority bug reports and feature requests, with each condition shown as a removable chip](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-single-form-results.png)

## Save and share a search

Every search you run lives in the page's URL, which means any view you build is also a link. Bookmark the searches you run every day, or paste the URL to a teammate, and they'll land on the exact same results. If you write code, you can construct the same filters yourself with the `gk_search` URL parameter.

## Open search from anywhere

You don't even need to be on the Global Search page to start. On WordPress 6.3 and later, press Cmd+K (or Ctrl+K on Windows) from any admin screen to open the command palette, type a few letters, and jump straight into a global search, or to any form's entries, editor, or settings.

![The WordPress command palette showing a GravitySearch global search command](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/gs-getting-started-command-palette.png)

## Where to go next

- See the filters put to work in [What you can do with GravitySearch](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravitysearch/what-you-can-do-with-gravitysearch/), a set of real-world recipes.
- Read more on the [GravitySearch product page](https://www.gravitykit.com/products/gravitysearch/).