Doxpop - Tools for Attorneys and Public Information Researchers: New feature added to recorded documents: See and select county specific document types.

Friday, August 3, 2018

New feature added to recorded documents: See and select county specific document types.


Allowing our users to be specific about what they search for is an important part of the tools Doxpop offers, so we've now added more specific criteria to the way users can search for recorded documents.

Users may now select the local, or county document type as specified in the recorder's/register's office software as one of your search criteria. Our more general type codes remain available for those who prefer them or are searching across counties.

Also, as part of introducing this new feature, you will notice we have updated and streamlined the layout of the advanced search page.

The details: 

What is a 'County Document Type'?

Each county that we partner with has their own set of document type codes that are defined locally in their office's indexing system. These document type codes are often abbreviated so much that most of us can't guess what they mean. Because of this, we haven't allowed searches on them because some codes only make sense to people who know that county well. But lately, we have been hearing from our users that they have an interest in being able to search on these codes. So as we always do, we listened and challenged our team to add this feature in a way that makes sense.

Okay, so where did the general type codes already used on Doxpop come from?

Doxpop has always taken on the task to review these county document types in each county along with the recorder's/register's office to associate each of them with a simple and more general document type category such as deed, mortgage and so forth. So when you searched for a "Deed" for example we actually return any document with a 'county document type' that has been determined to be related to a deed. This grouping will still be available using the 'Document Type Group' and we have not changed the way this works, we've just added some more transparency when searching in a specific county.

The important part: How does it work?

On the advanced search page for document types, you will now find two document type options:
  1. Document Type Group
  2. County Document Type

When you have All Doxpop Counties selected or a custom search region with multiple counties, you will only be able to select 'Document Type Group'.

But!... If you do select a single county the system will then allow you to search using the 'County Document Type' 
  • If you select the 'Document Type Group' first you will see that we automatically select all the County Document Types that are associated with that category. (as shown in the screenshot above)
  • If you do choose to select one or more specific county document types, you may do so in that drop down using the checkboxes.
  • Plus, if you have selected a 'Document Type Group' and then want to refine what local types from that you may do so. Note that if you change the 'County Document Type' selections after selecting the group, the group will show "all" just indicating that the search will use the County Document Type that you have custom selected. 


If you have any question or just would like general help with your searching techniques we invite you to contact support at support@doxpop.com or call at 1-866-369-7671.

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