Need Help Refining Search Criteria in Clay's Find People Tool?

Chris W. · 2025-07-10T14:50:49.951Z

Hi Support! I generally find I get to grips with new software tools pretty quickly, but Clay has me completely stumped with something so fundamental and basic that it's frankly embarrassing. I just created a new "Find People" table using various company attribute, location and companies criteria, but I completely forgot to set 'Job Function'. Now that I've run the search, I cannot for the life of me work out how to get back to the search criteria to refine my list! Obviously something that simple and fundamental has to be there somewhere, but I cannot for the life of me figure it out! Please help???

Need Help Refining Search Criteria in Clay's Find People Tool? | Clay

9 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Clay
APP
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To edit your search criteria after running a "Find People" search, click on the source column in your People table. This will open the search parameters where you can add filters like Job Function or modify existing criteria. When you update the filters and run the search again, it won't remove your previously added contacts but will append new ones based on your updated criteria.
Sources: Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
Chris W.
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That doesn't help, as I need to remove the ones that don't match. There's no reason to append new contacts, as the original search was exactly the same except for narrowing down the job function.
Clay
APP
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You can edit your search criteria by clicking on the source column in your People table, which opens the search parameters where you can add Job Function filters. However, editing the search will only append new contacts based on your updated criteria - it won't remove existing ones that don't match. To get only contacts matching your refined criteria, you'll need to manually remove the specific rows that don't match your Job Function requirements from your table. Alternatively, you could create a new Find People search with all your original criteria plus the Job Function filter to get a clean list that matches all your requirements from the start.
Sources: Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
Chris W.
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https://app.clay.com/workspaces/518650/workbooks/wb_0sz6lbk4QTRxdK5tqJc/tables/t_0sz6mdrGSJys6W3oz9r/views/gv_0sz6mdsrnkjHpSSs7Tn
Chris W.
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All I need to do is to re-run that query with the job function filtered down to 'Sales'. That can't be difficult, surely?
Bo (.
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Hey, totally get the frustration. Once a “Find People” source has run, you can’t change its original filters—including Job Function. The best option is to add a new source with the correct filters. You can do that by clicking the plus (+) button at the top of your table. Just a heads-up: if you try to re-add the same criteria to an already-run source, it won’t work due to how Clay handles previously fetched data. Here’s a quick GIF showing how to do it: Let me know if you have more questions.
(1319 kB)
Chris W.
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Bo (. That hasn't worked at all. It has only added new names to the list, not removed the many, many names who are in the wrong job!
Chris W.
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I just do not understand how this is so challenging??? Seriously, how is it possible to build a platform that doesn't let you do something as fundamental as altering search criteria? The only option I can see is to delete the whole table and start again, so just to add insult to injury, I'm presumably going to have to waste a bunch more credits on re-enriching much of the same data all over again? If you're going to release a product which isn't fit for basic purpose, the least you could do is not charge for it! 😠
Munnawar H.
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Thank you for following up with us, and I completely understand how frustrating this feels. When you start a new table via a Find People search, you’re only charged when you choose to enrich those contacts, not for simply adding them to the table. Many of our users build on an initial batch of people and enrich them over time. If editing the search criteria automatically removed or changed already enriched contacts, that would break those workflows and potentially cause even more frustration, since our data providers do charge us per enrichment. That said, you’re absolutely right: the current flow isn’t very intuitive, and we recognize it could be clearer up front that changing search criteria requires starting a new table. I’ve shared this feedback with our product team so we can explore better solutions in the future. As a gesture of goodwill, I’ve gone ahead and issued a 50% refund for the credits spent on the table you linked. Thanks again for your patience, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions or feedback.

Clay
APP
·
·
To edit your search criteria after running a "Find People" search, click on the source column in your People table. This will open the search parameters where you can add filters like Job Function or modify existing criteria. When you update the filters and run the search again, it won't remove your previously added contacts but will append new ones based on your updated criteria.
Sources: Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
Chris W.
·
·
That doesn't help, as I need to remove the ones that don't match. There's no reason to append new contacts, as the original search was exactly the same except for narrowing down the job function.
Clay
APP
·
·
You can edit your search criteria by clicking on the source column in your People table, which opens the search parameters where you can add Job Function filters. However, editing the search will only append new contacts based on your updated criteria - it won't remove existing ones that don't match. To get only contacts matching your refined criteria, you'll need to manually remove the specific rows that don't match your Job Function requirements from your table. Alternatively, you could create a new Find People search with all your original criteria plus the Job Function filter to get a clean list that matches all your requirements from the start.
Sources: Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
Chris W.
·
·
https://app.clay.com/workspaces/518650/workbooks/wb_0sz6lbk4QTRxdK5tqJc/tables/t_0sz6mdrGSJys6W3oz9r/views/gv_0sz6mdsrnkjHpSSs7Tn
Chris W.
·
·
All I need to do is to re-run that query with the job function filtered down to 'Sales'. That can't be difficult, surely?
Bo (.
·
·
Hey, totally get the frustration. Once a “Find People” source has run, you can’t change its original filters—including Job Function. The best option is to add a new source with the correct filters. You can do that by clicking the plus (+) button at the top of your table. Just a heads-up: if you try to re-add the same criteria to an already-run source, it won’t work due to how Clay handles previously fetched data. Here’s a quick GIF showing how to do it: Let me know if you have more questions.
(1319 kB)
Chris W.
·
·
Bo (. That hasn't worked at all. It has only added new names to the list, not removed the many, many names who are in the wrong job!
Chris W.
·
·
I just do not understand how this is so challenging??? Seriously, how is it possible to build a platform that doesn't let you do something as fundamental as altering search criteria? The only option I can see is to delete the whole table and start again, so just to add insult to injury, I'm presumably going to have to waste a bunch more credits on re-enriching much of the same data all over again? If you're going to release a product which isn't fit for basic purpose, the least you could do is not charge for it! 😠
Munnawar H.
·
·
Thank you for following up with us, and I completely understand how frustrating this feels. When you start a new table via a Find People search, you’re only charged when you choose to enrich those contacts, not for simply adding them to the table. Many of our users build on an initial batch of people and enrich them over time. If editing the search criteria automatically removed or changed already enriched contacts, that would break those workflows and potentially cause even more frustration, since our data providers do charge us per enrichment. That said, you’re absolutely right: the current flow isn’t very intuitive, and we recognize it could be clearer up front that changing search criteria requires starting a new table. I’ve shared this feedback with our product team so we can explore better solutions in the future. As a gesture of goodwill, I’ve gone ahead and issued a 50% refund for the credits spent on the table you linked. Thanks again for your patience, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions or feedback.