In Material Hub, you can search for building products and materials, compare them, save and share your selections, and contact representatives. In this article, we will focus on how to find products. To learn more about saving, comparing, and sharing products, check out these articles.

There are three main ways of starting a search:

Ask Ace, our AI-Powered Co-pilot
From the top search bar, which may return results for products, brands, or resources
From the Manufacturer Directory, which will allow you to see and select products from a brand

Ask Ace

Ace is Acelab's co-pilot that understands project requirements and user preferences. With Ace, you get:

Project-Based Recommendations: Ace analyzes project requirements to suggest the most appropriate products, considering factors like quality, compatibility, and budget
Personalized Research Experience: Ace learns your preferences over time to deliver increasingly tailored product suggestions
Knowledge Research: Ace provides general building material and product information, design and construction best practices, energy codes, and more
Cross-Category Expertise: Ace provides informed recommendations across diverse product categories, from windows to interior finishes
Comparison: Ace evaluates multiple options based on price, features, and performance to recommend optimal options

There are two ways to access Ace:

Click on the Ace icon at the top bar, or
Type on the search bar and select Ask Ace Anything

When Ask Ace is enabled, a chat window will open to the left of the workspace. You may expand, close, or start a new search using the icons at the top of the chat window. Use the text box at the bottom of the window to type your question and hit the arrow/press enter to submit it. Ace's answer will appear in the chat

Ace may ask you additional questions with options to choose from. Select an option and the product search result will appear to the right of the chat window. As you continue to interact with Ace, the results will be updated.

💡 Use the filters on the top of the search results to narrow down and refine your search

Access additional filters by clicking on Show Filters

Tip: For more information and tips on how to refine Ace's recommendations, check out this article.

Using the Search Bar

1. To Find Products - Using the AI-Powered Search

The Search Bar is powered by advanced AI that understands natural language queries. Simply describe what you’re looking for, and the AI translates your input into relevant product parameters to filter results from our vast database.

Begin typing about the product you are looking for and add as much detail as possible
Make sure the Product Search button is selected
The search will return every result in our database (that's thousands of results!) ranked in order of relevance. So, jumping to page 1,000 will give you irrelevant results
Products which meet all your criteria come first. But if nothing matches all of your criteria, you’ll get a list of products which meet some of your criteria, ranked by guessing at which criteria are most important

Use the filters at the top to refine your results. Click Show Filters too see more options.
Click on a filter to access the options in the drop-down menu
To remove a filter, click on the 'x'

💡 Did not get the results you want? Try one of these options:

Start over and try a different set of criteria
Search by Manufacturer and browse through their brand page (see below)
Try Asking Ace (see above)

2. To Find Manufacturers

Begin typing the Manufacturer you are looking for
Select the Manufacturers button in the dropdown
A list of manufacturers that contain the search word(s) your typed will be suggested
Pick the manufacturer your are looking for from the drop-down menu

3. To Find Resources

Acelab gives you access to a number of resources about building products and materials, including Product Guides, Construction Details, Webinars, Case Studies, Insights, and Building Science Courses.

To search for resources using the top search bar:

Begin typing the topic or type of resource you are looking for
Select Resource button
The drop-down will show applicable resource links
Click to open the resource you need

Note: You can access all Resources at https://acelabusa.com/resources

Using the Manufacturer Directory

Access the Manufacturers Directory by clicking on Manufacturers in the left-side menu
The Manufacturers Directory is sorted alphabetically. You can scroll through the pages or use the Divisions filters to the left to narrow down to a particular Masterformat section.
Once you find your manufacturer or brand, click on their name.
This will take you to the Manufacturer's Brand page.

Find Products in your Project

Using the Explore Products feature, you can search for products without leaving your project. Explore Products can be found nested in the Add Products CTA in your project's Schedule.

Explore Products opens the full Acelab catalog in a modal so you can search, filter, and select products without navigating away from your schedule. To learn more, check out this article.