Searching With Properties

Create advanced search queries in SOTI MobiControl by combining device and extended properties with logical or Boolean operators. Use categories, filters, and exclusion options to refine results and locate devices with precision.

Use SOTI Search to find devices in SOTI MobiControl. Create search queries based on categories, device properties, and extended properties, together with boolean and logical operators, to find devices based on custom search criteria.

Getting Started

To begin an advanced search in SOTI Search, open the Devices view from the main menu and select the search bar to activate it.
SOTI search bar
To create a search query, select the required category and/ or property, then enter or select your search keywords. Suggestions appear automatically when you choose a device or extended property, helping you complete the query. You can add more queries by using Boolean operators such as AND, OR, or Grouped OR, followed by another property selection.
SOTI Search properties
Note: When you select a category or extended property from the drop-down list, the search field automatically provides suggestions to help you complete your search query.
Once your query is complete, select Done, and then select Search. The results update based on the properties and conditions you defined, allowing you to filter and locate devices with precision.
Selecting Done to finish the search query.

Searchable Device Properties

Searchable device properties are device attributes reported to, or tracked by, SOTI MobiControl. Device properties may be universal and apply to all device types, such as Device Family, Enrollment Time, Manufacturer, or MAC Address. They may also be specific to a device type, such as Supervised (Apple), ELM Status (Samsung Android), or OS Base Edition (Windows 10 and later).

To see which searchable device properties are available and applicable to your device type, open its device information panel.
Device Information panel of an Android device.
Tip: SOTI MobiControl can search for a device using any of the device's attributes listed in the Device Details tab of the Device Information panel. The complete list of device properties is available in the advanced search drop-down list.
Troubleshooting: Some property types behave as both string and numeric property types, as is the case with version properties. When using greater than or less than operators to decide version progression, the search compares values between version points individually and in sequence to define the version order. The search ignores numeric values following the first alphabetical character. Example: 2.10 is greater than 2.9 Build 1000.

Categories

Filter devices by a range of categories, each representing specific types of data collected from or associated with the device. These categories help narrow search results based on platform, configuration, user identity, installed components, or policy settings. The following categories are available.
Category Description
Device Properties that identify, track, and manage the device's hardware, OS, user, connectivity, and lifecycle status.
App Policy Details about the app policies assigned to the devices, including name, versions, source, and deployment type.
AppleDep Enrollment program details for iOS and macOS devices.
Apps A list of apps installed on the device.
Certificates A list of certificates installed on the device.
Compliance Policies Custom policies that define a device's compliance status.
Hardware Status of hardware components based on whether they are installed, removed, acknowledged, or rejected.
Health Attestation Security check feature for Windows Modern devices.
Installed Apps App details on the device, including name, version, source, size, status, and update availability.
Managed Apps Details of managed applications and their supported platforms using external identifiers.
Peripheral The connection status of external devices, such as whether they are connected or disconnected.
Profiles A list of profiles assigned to the device.
Trusted Platform Module Security standard for processors.
Updates Details about available updates, including CVE identifiers, severity, status, type, and release information.
User Attributes User identity and profile information such as name, contact details, job title, department, and organizational identifiers.
User Groups Identity management systems such as directory services or identity providers associated with the device.
Windows Modern Filters Windows Modern devices based on local username and group membership.

Not all categories are applicable to every device type. To pick a category, select the advanced search bar and choose from the Categories section of the drop-down menu.

List of categories for search.

Using Logical Operators to Construct Search Queries

Logical operators connect the property with its desired value. They include variations of is, is not, contains, does not contain, greater than, in, not in and others. The available logical operators change based on the property. For example, string types support the contains operator while numeric types do not. The opposite is true for the greater than operator.

Use a plain text editor when copying and pasting in and not in operators into the search bar.
  • For each property type, enter text as:
    • String: AndroidClassic 0001, AndroidClassic 0002
    • Numeric: 1,7.2,3,4.5
  • String validation ensures strings are in single quotes. To include single quotes within strings, precede the quote with a backslash. Example: John\'s Device to search for John's Device.
  • Only the in and not in operators support the copy and paste of long comma-separated lists into the search bar. Other operators support copy and paste of a single value.

Using Boolean Operators to Construct Search Queries

Boolean operators (AND, OR, Grouped OR) can combine more than one device and/ or extended properties to create complex queries. Use AND for searches where the returned devices must match all stated properties. Use OR for searches where the returned devices must match at least one of the stated properties. Use Grouped OR to place a filter around the linked properties and force SOTI MobiControl to evaluate the properties together.

Note: AND evaluates before OR unless it is a Grouped OR.

Search by Exclusion

Create search queries that exclude specific devices matching your search criteria.
Important: You can only exclude extended properties in your search and not device properties.
When searching by exclusion, you must change the device's extended property qualifier from Include to Exclude. If you invert the logical operators (for example, using IS NOT instead of IS), but not the qualifiers, your results may contain devices you intended to exclude.
Switching between inclusive and exclusive searches.

Example: The query INCLUDE: Apps: Name ≠ SOTI MobiControl tries to find all devices that do not have the SOTI MobiControl agent installed. This may not return the correct results because devices may have other apps that are also not named SOTI MobiControl and therefore do not match the criteria. You must use EXCLUDE: Apps: Name = SOTI MobiControl instead.

Advanced Search Examples

Refer to the sample device data set to understand how SOTI MobiControl performs advanced searches.

Table 1. Device Data Set
# Device Name OS Version Device Family Serial Number Application
1 Timothy Smith's iPhone 11.0 Apple AABBCCEEDD
Name Version Status
Calculator 1.0 Installed
Barcode Scanner 3.101.3 Managed
CRM 1.1 Uninstalled
2 Sara's Nexus 5.0 Android Plus 1122334455
Name Version Status
Calculator 2.0 Not Installed
CRM 1.0 Installed
Screen Recorder 1.0.0-alpha Installed
3 Tim Thompson's Desktop 10.0 Windows Modern ZZYYXXWWVV
Name Version Status
Calendar 1.4 Installed
4 Jane's iPad 10.3 Apple A1B2C3D4E5
Name Version Status
Calculator 1.1 Install Pending
Sales Leads 9 Installed
Barcode Scanner 3.3.400 Installed

Example: Advanced searches

This search query Returns these devices
Device Family = Apple AND OS Version >= 10 1, 4
(OS Version <= 10.3 OR OS Version = 11) AND Device Family = Apple 1, 4
Device Name CONTAINS Tim 1, 3
Device Family = Apple OR Device Family = Windows Modern 1, 3, 4

Example: Advanced searches with extended properties

This search query Returns these devices
Application Include (Name = Calculator) 1, 2, 4
Application Include (Name = Calculator AND Status = Not Installed) 2
[Application Include (Name = Calculator)] AND [Application Include (Status = Installed)] 1, 2, 4
Application Include (Name = Calculator AND Version > 1.0) 2, 4
[Application Include (Name = Calculator OR Name = Calendar)] AND Device Family = Apple 1, 4

Example: Advanced searches with extended properties, demonstrating the difference between Include and Exclude

This search query Returns these devices
Application Include (Name ≠ Calculator) 1, 2, 3, 4
Application Exclude (Name = Calculator) 3
Application Exclude (Name = Calculator AND Status = Installed) 2, 3, 4
Application Include (Name = Calculator AND Status ≠ Installed) 2, 4

Searching Versions

SOTI MobiControl splits version strings into segments by using non-alphanumeric characters (such as ., -, _, (, and )) as delimiters. It compares each segment in order and treats letters and numbers as separate units to ensure accurate version matching. For example, it parses v1.2.0 as ["v", "1", "2", "0"]. When comparing versions, SOTI MobiControl evaluates each segment sequentially and treats a version with more segments as greater if all previous segments match. SOTI MobiControl ignores trailing segments made up of zeros. As a result, it treats versions like 1, 1.0, 1.0.0, and 1.0.0.0 as equal and stores them as 1.

Example: Advanced searches with application versions.

This search query Returns these devices
Application Installed (Version = 1.0.0-alpha) 2
Application Installed (Version include '1.0') 1, 2
Application Installed (Version <= 1.0.0-alpha) 1, 2
Application Installed (Version > 1.0.0-alpha) 1, 2, 3, 4