> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.assetinfinity.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Lost & Found
> What was reported missing, what was handed in, and the match, handover and disposal that connect them — with every field on both forms.
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 header
| Item | What it tells you |
| - | - |
| **reports** | Reports matching the current filters |
| **waiting to be collected** | Reports matched to a found item that the owner has not yet collected — somebody has been told their phone is here and has not come for it |
| **footage unwatched** | Reports naming a camera whose footage nobody has reviewed yet. The camera's recording will be overwritten, so this window closes |
| **Export** | Downloads the list. Needs **Export lost property reports** |
| **Categories** | Opens [Lost & Found settings](/config/lost-and-found) — the categories and their holding periods |
| **Report something lost** | Opens the report form. Needs **Report lost property** |
**Still open** shows only reports that are not yet closed. **Search descriptions** matches the description.
### Columns
| Column | What it shows |
| - | - |
| **What is missing** | The description, with make, colour and serial number underneath |
| **Whose** | The owner's name, with their ID number and phone |
| **Standing** | Where the report stands (below) |
| **Matched to** | The found item it is linked to, by reference |
| **Reported** | How long ago it was reported |
| (actions) | A paperclip for photographs and paperwork, **Document** for the printable report slip, **Find it**, and a close button |
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:
| Standing | Means |
| - | - |
| **open** | Reported, nothing matched yet |
| **open, going cold** | Open for a while with nothing matched |
| **footage not reviewed** | A camera covers it and nobody has watched the footage yet |
| **waiting to be collected** | Matched to a found item that has not been handed over |
| **returned** | Back with its owner |
| **cancelled** | Closed without a return — found elsewhere, reported in error, or nobody came back |
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
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**
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Category** | The kind of thing — phone, wallet, keys | From [Lost & Found settings](/config/lost-and-found) |
| **Description** | What it is | Required |
| **Make or brand** | The manufacturer | |
| **Colour** | Its colour | |
| **Serial Number** | An IMEI, a serial or a service tag, if they know it | A matching serial is the strongest signal when matching |
| **Distinguishing Marks** | A cracked corner, a sticker, a name inside the collar | |
| **Estimated Value** | What it is worth | |
| **Photographs** | A picture of it, if there is one | |
**Where and when**
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Site and location** | Where they last had it | Required. Choose a site, or a place inside one. A named location narrows which found items are worth looking at |
| **Where exactly** | Whatever the location tree does not say | "Third-floor canteen, table by the window" |
| **When it went missing** | Date and time | As close as they can get. Empty means nobody knows |
**Whose it is**
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Name** | The owner | Required |
| **Who they are** | Employee (default), contractor, visitor, vendor, customer or other | |
| **Kind of ID** | Employee ID, national ID, passport, driving licence, visitor pass, student ID or something else | Optional — a visitor who has lost their pass has no number to give |
| **ID number** | The number on it | What the desk checks against at collection |
| **Phone**, **Email** | How to reach them | |
| **Owner's account** | Their sign-in account, if they have one | |
**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.
| Field | What it means |
| - | - |
| **Camera covers it** | A camera covers where it went missing |
| **Camera or recorder** | Which one |
| **Footage from**, **Footage to** | The window worth watching |
| **Footage reviewed** | Somebody has watched it. Until then the report reads **footage not reviewed** |
| **What the footage showed** | What they saw |
**The report itself**
| Field | What it means |
| - | - |
| **Reported at** | When the report was made |
| **Reported by** | Who took it, if not the owner |
| **Notes** | Anything else |
| **Files** | A receipt proving ownership, a still from the camera |
### 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 header
| Item | What it tells you |
| - | - |
| **in store** | Items currently held |
| **claimed, not collected** | Items matched to an owner but not handed over |
| **past its holding date** | Items held past the date by which somebody should have decided what to do. A note under the list repeats it: nothing is thrown away automatically — somebody has to say what happened |
| **Export** | Downloads the list. Needs **Export the found property register** |
| **Categories** | Opens [Lost & Found settings](/config/lost-and-found) |
| **Book something in** | Opens the found item form. Needs **Book in found property** |
**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
| Column | What it shows |
| - | - |
| **What it is** | The description, with **valuable** on items held as valuables, and make, colour and serial underneath |
| **Where it is** | Where it is stored |
| **Standing** | Where the item stands (below) |
| **Held until** | The date after which nobody is expected to claim it |
| **Claimed by** | The lost report it is matched to, and the owner's name |
| (actions) | A paperclip for photographs and paperwork, **Document** for the handover receipt, **Whose?**, **Hand over**, an unlink button on matched items, and a dispose button on items past their date |
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**.
| Standing | Means |
| - | - |
| **in store** | Logged and held, awaiting a claim |
| **unclaimed, date approaching** | Still held, and its holding date is near |
| **unclaimed, past its date** | Held beyond its holding date — somebody needs to decide what to do |
| **claimed, awaiting collection** | Matched to an owner, not yet handed over |
| **collected** | Handed over |
| **disposed of** | Cleared out after nobody claimed 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.
**What it is**
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Category** | The kind of thing | From [Lost & Found settings](/config/lost-and-found). Sets the default holding period and whether a signature is needed at handover |
| **Description** | What it is | Required |
| **Make or brand**, **Colour**, **Serial Number**, **Distinguishing Marks** | As on a lost report | Used to suggest matching reports |
| **Quantity** | How many | For a bag of keys or a box of items |
| **Estimated Value** | What it is worth | |
| **Photographs** | So somebody can recognise it | The picture is often what settles a claim at the counter |
**Where it was found**
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Site** | The site it was found at | Required |
| **Found at location** | Where on the site | From the site's location tree |
| **Where exactly** | The part the location tree does not carry | "Under seat 14C on the shuttle bus" |
| **Found at** | Date and time 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.
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Found by** | The finder's name | Required |
| **Who they are** | Employee (default), contractor, visitor, vendor, customer or other | |
| **Phone** | How to reach them | |
| **Finder's account** | Their sign-in account, if they have one | |
**Where it is kept** — specific enough that a different person on a different shift can put their hand on it.
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Handed in at** | When it reached the desk | Often a day after it was found |
| **Booked in by** | Who logged it | |
| **Stored at location** | The room or store it is kept in | |
| **Where in there** | Cabinet and shelf | "Cabinet 3, shelf B" |
| **Held until** | The date after which nobody is expected to claim it | Defaulted from the category's holding period when the item is booked in, and can be moved. Nothing is deleted or disposed of automatically |
| **Held as a valuable** | Cash, jewellery, passports and phones | Flagged rather than inferred from value, because a wedding ring worth nothing is still what somebody comes back for |
| **Notes**, **Files** | Anything else | |
## 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.
| Field | What it means | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Who is taking it** | The name they give | Required. Not always the owner — a colleague collects a phone, a parent collects a coat |
| **What they showed** | Nothing, employee ID, national ID, passport, driving licence, visitor pass, student ID or something else | Optional — a visitor collecting a coat has nothing to show |
| **Number on it** | The ID number | |
| **Anything worth noting** | A note | "Checked the badge against the report at the counter" |
| **Sign for it** | A signature drawn with a finger, stylus or mouse | Required when the item's category demands one (the label then reads **Sign for it — required for this kind of thing**); offered on every handover. Printed on the handover receipt |
**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](/config/lost-and-found), 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:
| Field | What it means |
| - | - |
| **What was done with it** | **Donated**, **Destroyed**, **Handed to the police**, **Kept by the site**, **Given to whoever found it** or **Sold** |
| **By whom, and where it went** | "Sent to the shelter with the winter collection, signed for by their driver" — the whole record of what happened to somebody else's property, so write it as though they will ask |
**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**.
The categories your desk uses, each one's holding period, and which need a signature.
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