--- title: How to exclude certain projects from a search? description: Want to see medical projects but not, say, the parking garages supporting medical campuses? We've got you covered. --- [Skip to content](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/how-to-run-an-exclusionary-project-search#main-content) English Show submenu for translations ![Interim logo - BuildCentral - MONO WHT.png\]](https://info.buildcentral.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Interim%20logo%20-%20BuildCentral%20-%20MONO%20WHT.png?height=40&name=Interim%20logo%20-%20BuildCentral%20-%20MONO%20WHT.png) Open main navigation Close main navigation - English Show submenu for translations - Go to buildcentral.com Go to buildcentral.com Hey there! How can we help? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [ConstructionWire Help Center](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter?hsLang=en) 2. [How-Tos](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/how-tos?hsLang=en) 3. [Product Features](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/how-tos?hsLang=en#product-features) # How to exclude certain projects from a search? ## Want to see medical projects but not, say, the parking garages supporting medical campuses? We've got you covered. While [BuildCentral's](http://www.buildcentral.com) suite of planned construction database products doesn't yet offer the functionality to search for exclusions in particular, we do support this process manually. If you think you'd benefit from an introduction (or a refresher), feel free to check out our [Introduction to BuildCentral project search](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/introduction-to-buildcentral-project-search?hsLang=en) article. **Skip to:** - [Step 1: Search for what you *don't *want to see](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/how-to-run-an-exclusionary-project-search#step-1-search-for-what-you-dont-want-to-see) - [Step 2: Move unwanted projects to Deleted Projects folder](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/how-to-run-an-exclusionary-project-search#step-2-move-unwanted-projects-to-deleted-projects) - [Step 3: Pruning the weeds](https://info.buildcentral.com/helpcenter/how-to-run-an-exclusionary-project-search#step-3-pruning-the-weeds) First off, let's clarify some use cases. If, for example, you're a [MedicalConstructionData](http://www.medicalconstructiondata.com) subscriber, you may run into a lot of projects that support the medical facilities where they're being build: think cafeterias, parking garages, lobbies, and other areas that don't actually necessitate specialized medical equipment or features. Alternatively, but similarly, if you are a [Planned Retail](http://www.plannedretail.com) user, you may be interested in a backfill of a former Kmart by Target, but might prefer not to sift through the bathroom renovation of a Dunkin' location. Same idea. Let's get into it! ### Step 1: Search for what you *don't* want to see First, although this step is counterintuitive, we search for the projects we don’t want. In the example below, we’ve searched for service areas in groundbreaking and earlier stages. We recommend [saving this search](http://buildcentral.com/knowledge/how-to-create-a-saved-search) to make it easy to repeat. Here, we're looking to exclude Service Areas from our research into medical projects, so again, counterintuitively, Service Areas are exactly what we search for. ![](https://info.buildcentral.com/hubfs/undefined.png) ### Step 2: Move unwanted projects to Deleted Projects folder Next, we’ll select the projects we don’t want (red step in image below). We’re looking for projects that have only Service Areas listed in their specialty. We don’t want to do “Select All,” since that will potentially select projects we *do want* and that cover clinical service areas. Next (black arrow in image below), we move them to the **Deleted Projects** folder (you’ll likely have fewer folders than we do, not to worry). ![Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated](https://info.buildcentral.com/hubfs/undefined-1.png) ### Step 3: Pruning the weeds Eventually, you’ll have a list only of projects that include Service Areas as part of a larger scope if at all, as shown in green below. It’s a bit like weeding a garden: new Service Area-only projects will appear as our research teams add and update project reports, so you’ll need to repeat this exercise periodically. If you save the search — which again, we recommend — new projects will populate on top, so any new ones that come in as Service Area-only will be immediately visible (shown in red) for easy pruning. ![Calendar Description automatically generated with medium confidence](https://info.buildcentral.com/hubfs/undefined-2.png) Important to note is that folders are unique to each user, so deleting these projects on one user account won’t do it for other users. 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