Skip to main content
Lost & Found records what people report missing and what is handed in, and links the two so the right thing goes back to the right person. Open it from Property → Lost & Found.
If you don’t see this in your navigation, your administrator can switch the module on under Administration → Modules, or it may not be included in your plan.
Somebody found a phone in a meeting room. Somebody else reported a phone missing three days ago. Lost & Found turns “we have an unclaimed phone” and “I lost my phone” into the same phone — and keeps the paper trail if anybody asks later where their property went. The screen holds two registers, reached by the tabs Lost reports and Found property. They are tracked separately because they have different lives: an item can be handed in with no report ever filed against it, and a report can stay open with nothing found to match.

​
Lost reports

The lost reports register The lost reports register

​
The header

Still open shows only reports that are not yet closed. Search descriptions matches the description.

​
Columns

Hidden columns: Category, Where (site and location), Last known (the note on where exactly), Went missing, the camera (or no camera), Who they are, Taken by, and How it ended.

​
Standing

The standing is worked out from the report’s status and dates, and leads with what needs doing: Behind the standing, a report has one of four statuses: Open, Matched, Returned or Cancelled. These are fixed rather than configurable, because the matching and handover steps depend on them.

​
Reporting something lost

The new lost property report form The new lost property report form Describe it the way the owner would. Colour, make and anything unusual are what a match is actually made on — a black phone matches four a week. Click a row later to edit the report (needs Edit and close lost property reports). What is missing Where and when Whose it is CCTV — recorded whether or not anybody has looked yet, because footage is overwritten and a report that names the camera a fortnight late names nothing. The report itself

​
Closing a report

The close button on an open report opens Close this report, which asks why — “Found it in his own car the next morning”. Both endings live here: they found it themselves, or nobody ever came back. The reason is what tells them apart. It needs Edit and close lost property reports.

​
Found property

The found property register The found property register

​
The header

Still held shows only items still in store or claimed. Search descriptions matches the description. You can also log a found item from anywhere with New → Found item in the header.

​
Columns

Hidden columns: Category, Handed in, Days held, Found by, Found at, Found, Qty, Booked in by, Handed over by (with signed for where a signature was taken) and What became of it. Behind the standing, an item has one of four fixed statuses: In store, Claimed, Collected or Disposed of.

​
Booking something in

Describe it as somebody who has never seen it would have to. The description is what a claim is checked against, so a detail nobody would guess is worth more than three everybody would. The new found item form The new found item form What it is Where it was found Who found it — worth recording even for a member of staff, because they are the only person who can say exactly where it was. Where it is kept — specific enough that a different person on a different shift can put their hand on it.

​
Matching an item to a report

From either side:
  • Find it on an open lost report asks Which of these is it? and lists found items at the same site handed in since it went missing.
  • Whose? on an item in store asks Whose is this? and lists open lost reports at the same site that it could answer.
Candidates are ranked by how closely they match — serial number, category, make, colour and how alike the descriptions read — and labelled rather than scored: serial number matches, closest match or worth a look. Choose one, write Why you think it is the same thing (“Serial matches · name written inside · owner described the crack”), then This is it or It is theirs. The reason is kept on the record for whoever reads it if the match turns out to be wrong. Linking moves the report to Matched and the item to Claimed, and tells whoever reported it that you have it. Nothing is released yet. If the match is wrong, the unlink button on the item asks Not theirs after all with a reason and puts both back. Matching needs Link found property to the person who reported it lost.

​
Handing it over

Hand over opens Hand it over — for a claimed item, or an item in store with no report at all, which is the ordinary case at a counter. Handing over a found item Handing over a found item Record the handover marks the item Collected and any matched report Returned. That name is your evidence if someone comes back later asking where their property went. Document on the row prints the handover receipt.

​
Disposing of unclaimed property

Each category carries its own default holding period, set in Lost & Found settings, so a phone might be held for weeks and an umbrella for days. Once an item in store is past its Held until date, a dispose button (Nobody came back for it) appears on its row. It shows how long the item was held and asks: Record it marks the item Disposed of.
Disposal is final. Once an item is recorded as disposed of, there is nothing left in store to hand over against a late claim.
Handing over and disposing need Hand property over, and record what became of what nobody claimed.

Lost & Found settings

The categories your desk uses, each one’s holding period, and which need a signature.