sanctions.io Quick search — How to use it
Quick Search is the real-time name lookup tool built into the sanctions.io App Card on Contact and Company records.
It returns results instantly — without waiting for an asynchronous screening to complete — making it useful for on-the-spot checks during calls, meetings, or demos.
This article explains what Quick Search does, how to use it, and how it differs from a full screening.
What Quick Search does
Quick Search sends a search query to the sanctions.io API in real time and returns any matching results within seconds. You can run a lookup on any name directly from the App Card, without navigating away from the record.
If the Contact has an email address stored in HubSpot, it is automatically pre-populated in the Quick Search field. The sanctions.io API is designed to recognise and handle email addresses in the search query appropriately.
How to use Quick Search
- Open a Contact or Company record in HubSpot
- Locate the sanctions.io App Card in the record panel
- Click Quick Search
- Review or adjust the pre-populated name if needed
- Submit the search
Results are returned immediately in the App Card panel.
App Card not visible? You need to enable it in Settings → Integrations → App Cards. See [Understanding the App Card — How to Enable It and What It Shows].
Quick Search does not save results
This is the most important thing to understand about Quick Search: results are returned for immediate viewing but are not saved to the record. No sanctions result object is created, no PDF is generated, and no App Event is logged to the timeline.
This is a deliberate design decision, not a limitation. Here is why:
The App Card always shows you the Contact or Company record you are currently viewing. If Quick Search results were saved, and a user ran a search for a different name while viewing that record, those results would be saved against the wrong contact — corrupting the screening data. To prevent this, Quick Search results are intentionally transient: they appear, you review them, and they are not stored.
For compliance-grade screening with a saved record and audit trail, always use Screen Now or a HubSpot workflow action instead. These create permanent sanctions.io result objects, log a PDF to the timeline, and update the contact's sanctions.io status and sanctions.io pending count.
Quick Search and your data
Like all screening methods, Quick Search sends a search query to the sanctions.io API — it does not transmit or store your contact or company records externally. The query goes out; any matching results come back. Because Quick Search results are not saved in HubSpot either, no data about this specific lookup is retained anywhere after you close the panel.
When to use Quick Search vs Screen Now
| Quick Search | Screen Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Results speed | Instant (synchronous) | Seconds (asynchronous) |
| Results saved to record | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| sanctions.io result object created | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| PDF attached to timeline | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| App Event logged | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| sanctions.io Status updated | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Counts toward annual allowance | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Subject to evaluation period limit | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Best for | On-the-spot lookups, demos | Compliance-grade screening |
Support
sanctions.io support: help@sanctions.io