The Typedown search type is optimized for users to start searching with the most general address element and, once that has been found, move on to more specific parts of the address. Typedown is a useful search option when a user is certain of the address information.

With Typedown searching, Pro Web will always look for an exact match first, but generally involves two, three or four stages. Prompt sets are used to guide the user as to what information should be entered at each stage. The Typedown search type usually returns a list of suggestions after three or four characters, from which the user can select a place name from the first stage. Ideally, the user will always enter information that generates the smallest number of matches. This makes the search more efficient, and makes it easier for the user to select the final address.

The returned suggestions may have one or more of the following properties:

  • Suggestions can be stepped into to produce a new list of suggestions.
  • Suggestions contain informational items.
  • Suggestions update as the user enters more characters in the search field.

Users can use any mixture of upper and lower case characters, as the Typedown engine does not differentiate between upper and lower case text. Also, users do not need to include spaces, as Typedown searching ignores them.

Search examples

This type of search usually involves three stages.

Typically, after an initial search on a place or postal/ZIP code, Pro Web will look for street names. Once you have selected the street name that you want, you can enter a property number to return the full address.

You cannot type in the property number followed by the street name, as you can with Singleline searching, because Typedown searches cannot match on numbers until you have selected a street name.

This type of search enables users to capture address information for United Kingdom businesses and usually involves two stages:

  • After the first stage of searching on a place name or postal/ZIP code, Pro Web will look for organization and street names.
  • Once the user has found the required organization, Pro Web returns the name and full address.

This type of search usually involves three stages:

  • After the first stage of searching on a place name or postal/ZIP code, Pro Web enables the user to look for the PO Box type.
  • Once the user has stepped into this, they can enter a PO Box number.
  • The final address is returned.