Since early summer, Act! has been on a mission to reinvent the lookup experience in Act! Premium Cloud (APC). What started as bold, disruptive changes has evolved into a polished, powerful feature set that not only matches the desktop experience—but in some ways surpasses it.
The latest update, released in early November, marks a turning point: Cloud lookups are now faster, smarter, and more intuitive than ever before and finally include the right-click lookup feature within fields from the Detail view—a favorite lookup style amongst desktop users of Act!.
Let’s take a quick journey through the improvements that shaped this transformation.
June 19 – APC25_10: The Big UX Overhaul
The June release introduced a modern Lookup drawer, replacing the old dropdown menu. This wasn’t just a facelift—it was a complete workflow redesign:
- One-click access: Click Lookup in the top-left navigation to open the new drawer.
- Streamlined search building: Select entity and field, build lookups with dropdowns—no manual typing.
- Active criteria at a glance: See and manage your lookup filters instantly.
- Modify without losing results: Replace, narrow, or add to your current lookup.
- Quick access to history: Instantly re-run your five most recent lookups.
- Saved queries on demand: Launch saved searches directly from the drawer.
- Profile-based My Record: Moved under the profile button for easier access.
- Advanced Query: can easily be created within the same Lookup Drawer, where previously you had to leave the lookup screen
While this update delivered a sleek, unified experience, the hard cutover challenged long-time users. Act! responded quickly with refinements in subsequent releases.
July 3 – APC25_11: Smoothing the Transition
https://support.act.com/s/article/Release-Notes-Act-Cloud-25-11-SaaS?language=en_US
Key enhancements included:
- Sticky fields: Lookup fields now remember your last selection.
- Quick Lookup shortcut: Added to the left navigation panel.
- Lookup visibility: Current lookup info displayed on list views.
- Easy reset: Clear lookup and return to All Contacts/Companies/Groups/Opportunities with one click.
- Flexible entity switching: Modify or replace active lookups without restrictions.
August 14 – APC25_14: History List Lookup
https://support.act.com/s/article/Release-Notes-Act-Cloud-25-14-SaaS?language=en_US
This update introduced History List Lookup, enabling users to:
- Perform contact lookups for invitees and associated contacts within the updated History List.
- Select multiple history entries to lookup all matching contact records.
September 23 – APC25_16: UI Refinements
https://support.act.com/s/article/Release-Notes-Act-Cloud-25-16-SaaS?language=en_US
Small but impactful UI tweaks brought the Lookup drawer closer to the overall Act! design style, and included a new "Most common" field selector option in the dropdown to expedite popular field searches.
November 6 – APC25_20: Power at Your Fingertips
https://support.act.com/s/article/Release-Notes-Act-Cloud-25-20-SaaS?language=en_US
The November release delivered two major usability wins:
- Right-click lookups: In Detail view, right-click any field to perform lookups instantly.
- Collapsible quick search: The NAVBAR quick search field is now optional—visible only when you need it.
- Search Count: Display the number of contacts from a lookup in the footer
- Increase the number of records displayed in lookup
| Prior versions: | New version with 25_20 |
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November 21 – APC25_21: Navbar cleanup
UI Cleanup - “Search” is no longer in the left nav by default. Users can add this function back if desired by enabling it in the “Navigation Pane Options.” Users can still access the search function by using the Search field at the top of the view.
The Bottom Line
Act! Premium Cloud’s lookup experience has come a long way since June. Today, it’s fast, intuitive, and feature-rich, giving users the flexibility they need without sacrificing simplicity. For long-time desktop users, the Cloud is no longer playing catch-up—it’s setting the pace.
