Global search, notifications and tasks help the team keep pace during a busy clinic day. Use search when you need to jump straight to a record, use notifications when Lupa flags appointment activity that needs attention, and use tasks when work needs to be owned, tracked, or followed up by the right person.

💡 In short: Open search from the top bar or with Cmd K / Ctrl K, use the bell to review appointment notifications, and use the Tasks tab to create, filter, complete, and reopen work. You can also create an Invoice, Estimate, Appointment, or Calendar Block from anywhere in Lupa using keyboard shortcuts — no need to navigate to a specific page first. Press ? at any time to open the Keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet and see every available shortcut.

This page is part of Getting Started, so it focuses on the day-to-day controls that help you stay on top of work once you are already inside Lupa.

📍 If you are still learning where the main modules live, read Navigating Lupa first. This article assumes you can already see the top navigation bar.

🔒 If you cannot see the Tasks tab or cannot create a task, ask a manager to check your role and permissions. Do not create a second user account to work around missing access.

Global search is best for fast lookup. It is not a replacement for the detailed filters inside each module, but it is the quickest way to open the record you already know you need. 

Lupa has keyboard shortcuts for common actions. They work whenever you are not typing in a text field. Press ? at any time to open the Keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet — a full reference grouped by category.

Open a create dialog from any page without navigating away first.

Jump straight to a main section of Lupa without using the navigation bar.

These shortcuts are available on specific pages when a client, pet, or invoice is in context.

💡 Shortcuts only fire when you are not actively typing in a text field. Press ? to open the Keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet and see the full list at any time.


💡 Use the shortest unique term you know. For example, searching a pet name plus a client surname is often faster than typing a full address or appointment title.

Search results appear in tabs. The All tab gives you a mixed view, and the other tabs show matching categories separately.


Click the record name to open it. Search closes automatically when you move to the selected record.

The Quick look panel opens on the right side of the dialog and stays open as you browse results. Press → to toggle it on or off — Lupa remembers your choice the next time you open search. When no result is selected, the panel shows Select a result to preview it here.

Quick look shows a summary of any result without opening its full record. It is on by default — use → to toggle it off if you prefer a narrower dialog, and → again to bring it back. Lupa remembers your choice.

What the panel shows depends on the result type:

💡 Quick look is especially useful at the front desk when a client asks about a price — check the total including VAT without opening the full product or service record.

If a section has more results, click Show more to expand it and Show less to collapse it again. Search also keeps recent searches in the dialog, so repeated front-desk lookups can be run again quickly.

By default, archived clients and pets are hidden from the visible result set. If Lupa finds archived records for a section, use Show archived records to include them, then Hide archived records to return to the normal view.

⚠️ Archived records can look similar to active records at a glance. Check the record status before updating details, booking an appointment, or adding charges.

Notifications are shown from the bell in the top navigation bar. They are designed for appointment-related activity that needs store-level attention, such as a new appointment request.

The number on the bell combines open appointment notifications and active tasks while the side panel is closed. Once the side panel is open, the count clears from the bell because the items are visible in the panel. 

Each appointment notification card can show:

Use the notification card actions depending on what you need to do:

✅ Best practice: Treat notifications as a working queue. Review the newest items first, open the linked appointment when context is unclear, and clear the notification once the team has dealt with it.

Tasks are for work that needs a clear owner, due date, category, and completion state. They are useful for follow-ups that should not rely on memory, chat messages, or handwritten notes.

⚠️ Create a task, do not rely on a note. Notes are good for clinical or contextual information. Tasks are better when someone needs to do something and the team needs to know whether it is done.

The task side panel has two display modes.

Use the Filter by button to narrow the task list by Assignee, Creator, Store, Priority, or Category. Each group opens a searchable sub-list — only options that match tasks currently loaded are shown. You can select multiple values across groups at the same time. Click Clear to remove all active filters. Use the sort control to sort by Priority, Due Date, Created Date, or Created By.

✅ Best practice: Write task titles as actions: "Book recheck", "Send estimate", "Confirm stock arrival", or "Call owner". This makes the task list faster to scan during handover.

Click Show All to open the All Tasks dialog. This gives you a larger task workspace with search, filters, and sorting.  You can filter by:

Click a task to open its details. From the task details dialog you can:

Completed tasks can appear in the completed section at the bottom of the side panel. Use this to recover a task that was completed by mistake.

⚠️ Deleting a task requires confirmation. If the task was simply completed too early, use Undo Complete instead of deleting it.

✅ Best practices from practices that run Lupa: