Open the Adjust Search Settings box.
Press the button labeled 'Automate Search' in the bottom right corner of the box.
This will open the 'Automatic-Update Settings' window.
You can automate any Search to send you periodic updates of new data that has been added to the database. Automated Searches are periodically submitted to the database, and only results that have been added or modified since the last automatic search are returned. These results can be e-mailed to you, saved to your account on the BioQuery server, or both. You do not need to be logged in to your account or have BioQuery running on your computer to get your results. Once you turn on the automate function, you will receive your periodic updates until you turn it off again. You can adjust your Search to check for updates anywhere from once a day to once every six months.
To automate your Search and receive periodic updates:
Open the Adjust Search Settings box.
Press the button labeled 'Automate Search' in the bottom right corner of the box.
This will open the 'Automatic-Update Settings' window.
Note that the 'Automate Search' button will not work unless there is at least one line in the Search History.
This window appears when the Automate Search button is pressed and contains all of the controls needed to receive automatic updates. At the top of the window are 3 labels telling you the name of the Search, the date it was last submitted, and the date it was last modified.
Near the top of the Automatic-Update Settings window is a box labeled: 'Auto-submit is:' and has 'On' and 'Off' choices. This controls whether the Search will be periodically sent or not. This is the master switch, once it is turned on you will continue to receive periodic updates until you log back in, open this Search, and turn it back off.
Please note that you must save the Search to the BioQuery server in order for these settings to take effect. When you press 'OK' at the bottom of the Automatic-Update Settings window you will be prompted to save the Search. It is best to save it immediately (you can still continue working and resave it later). If you can decline to save it then, you must remember to save it at some point or your changes to the Automated Search settings will be lost.
The next control in the Automatic-Update Settings window is labeled 'line number to auto-submit:'. Click the drop-down list and select a line number. This is the line number in the Search History that will be sent to the database. Only one line for each Search can be periodically submitted. If you want to have multiple different Searches sending you periodic updates, you must create multiple Search files and automate one line from each one (see Copying Files for an easy way to do this).
Notice that when you choose a line number, the text of that Search line is shown in the box at the right. This should make it easier for you to choose the right line without having to go back and look at the Search History.
No. You must save multiple Search files to automate multiple Search lines. See above.
The interval between automatic updates is determined by the 'Get Latest Results' box in the middle of the Automatic-Update Settings window. This box has 3 choices: Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. For each choice, the box to the right of this one will allow you to select exactly when the results are sent. You can thus have then sent to you every 3 days, every week on Tuesday, or every other month on the 11th, etc.
Once you Automate a Search, only the items that have been added or modified in the database since the last automatic search was submitted are sent to you. If you manually run BioQuery and submit the Search, this will not change the "last update" date in the Search. Hence, if you receive updates once per week on Monday, but Thursday you open the Search and get the results, the next Monday you will still receive all of the new updates added since the last Monday. The mid-week manual search will not affect which items are returned in your update.
The first time a Search is automated, it returns all results that were added or modified since the date of it's creation. Hence, if create a new Search, submit it manually and get back the results, and then turn on the automation feature, you should have a complete set of items without any overlap or omissions.
Your periodic updates can be sent to you via e-mail, saved to a file in your BioQuery account, or both. Once you have told the program where to e-mail the results, you will continue to receive the results without having to log in through the BioQuery program. On the other hand, you must run BioQuery and log in to your account to get results that are saved to our server, and you must log in to your BioQuery account through the program to turn off the Search automation. E-mailed results will have a link that allows you to turn off the automation directly from your e-mail account, in case you can't remember how to turn it off.
Each Search file you have automated will send you your update as a separate e-mail and/or save it as a separate file to your account.
Please do not leave inactive or unused Searches in automated mode! If you are not actively using your results and are not interested in them, turn off the automation feature for that Search! This is especially important if you are not receiving e-mail updates but are saving files on our server. What is out-of-sight and out-of-mind for you is still consuming BioQuery server resources.
To have your updates sent via E-mail:
In the Automatic-Update Settings window there is a box near the bottom left labeled: 'What should I do with your updates?'. You have 2 choices: 'E-mail to me', and 'Save to my account'. Click 'E-mail to me'. There is a box to the right labeled 'E-mail address'. If this box is blank or does not contain the correct e-mail address, press the 'Change' button and enter your correct E-mail address. After you press 'OK' at the bottom and save the Search, you will receive periodic updates to this address.
Please note that e-mail addresses are not saved with your account. Instead, they are saved internally within the Search file. Hence, you have to re-enter your e-mail address for each Search you automate. The e-mail addresses are not collected or passed to any organizations, and there is no other personal data to associate with them.
To have your updates saved to your account:
In the Automatic-Update Settings window there is a box near the bottom left labeled: 'What should I do with your updates?'. You have 2 choices: 'E-mail to me', and 'Save to my account'.
Click 'Save to my account'.
There is a box to the right labeled 'Folder to save to'. This will initially contain your main account folder (this is your username and represents the 'root' or top-level folder for your account). Since each update for each Search is saved as a separate file, you may not want to save them to your top-level folder as it will soon get crowded with many files.
To change the folder, press the 'Change' button near the bottom of the window next to the 'Folder to save to' box. A window titled 'Set Updates Folder' will open. You can either highlight an existing Folder, or at the top right of this window press the 'New Folder' button to create a new one. Select the Folder you want your updates saved in and press the 'Set Update Folder' button at the bottom. In the 'Automatic-Update Settings' window you should now see the correct Folder name in the 'Folder to save to' box at the bottom.
Press 'OK' to apply your Automatic-Update settings to the Search. When asked, press the 'Save Now' button to save the Search. You must save the Search to the BioQuery server for the Automatic-Update settings to take effect.
Next Help topic: Saving and Opening files