Filtering by Sub-Accounts

Atomic Search now supports filtering results by sub-accounts. This feature allows administrators to narrow search results to specific parts of their institution’s account hierarchy—especially helpful in large or multi-campus environments.

When you launch Atomic Search from a Canvas account as a root or subaccount admin, you’ll see a new option in the My courses dropdown labeled Selected accounts. This allows you to choose which sub-accounts you want to include in your search.

Accessing the Filter

1. Launch Atomic Search from the account or global navigation in Canvas.

   1. Sub-account admins will only see the Selected accounts scope option for accounts they are an admin of and can only access it through the account navigation.

2. Run a search and open the My Courses dropdown at the top of the search page.

3. Select Selected accounts.

4. A modal window will open, showing a hierarchical tree of your available sub-accounts.

Note: You must be an administrator in the Canvas account to see this option. Students and instructors will not see the Selected accounts scope option. 

Using the Sub-Account Filter

Account Selection Tree

• The modal displays a tree view of your account structure.

• The first level of sub-accounts is expanded automatically.

• You can expand and collapse individual branches.

• Each account includes a checkbox for selection:

  • Checking a sub-account selects that account and all of its descendants.

  • Unchecking a sub-account deselects that account, all of its descendants, and its parent accounts.

  • If a sub-account is unselected but has selected descendants, it will show a horizontal line to indicate partial selection.

Searching for Accounts

• Use the search box in the modal to filter sub-accounts by name.

• When searching, the account list is shown as a flat list instead of a tree.

• Selections are preserved even when switching between search and tree views.

Applying Filters

• The Apply button is enabled only after selecting at least one sub-account.

• Clicking Apply scopes the search results to only the selected sub-accounts.

• Your selected sub-accounts will be:

  • Remembered if you refresh the page.

  • Pre-loaded the next time you open the filter modal.

Additional Notes

• If you are an admin in multiple root-level accounts, and have used Atomic Search’s Find and Replace tool recently, all accounts you have access to will appear in the tree—even if some are nested under others.

• If your access token is limited or expired, the filter will only show the current account.