In Acelab, 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 four main ways of starting a search:

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

Asking 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

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 wondow
Type your question and hit the arrow 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

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

Using the Top 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 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)
Use the Visual Search option

2. To Find Manufacturers

Begin typing about the Manufacturer brand 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 by navigating to the Resources page from from the left-side menu.

Using the Visual Search

Ideal for product-focused searches since it won't return results for Manufacturers or Resources.

Click on Product Search and select the Products option in the left-side menu
On the search bar, enter a category like 'Windows' or use MasterFormat numbers
- You can also simply scroll down and click on the category you need

You'll be asked a series of questions. This Product Quiz, developed by experts and guided by CSI Masterformat, helps refine your search, narrowing down to the most suitable products for your project's needs
When asked, select the project you are working on. This helps keep your product searches organized
- Note: You may create a New Project, or select General Research if preferred.
Keep answering questions by selecting the relevant option(s) and clicking Next Question
- You may choose to skip some of the questions if you prefer
You'll be offered to get Pro Recommendations from our experts
- If you click Get Pro Recommendations, a request will be immediately sent and you will get a response based on your product quiz answers.
- If you don't need recommendations at this point (you can always connect to experts later), click Skip & Show Results

Using the Manufacturer Page

Click on Product Search, then Manufacturers in the left-side menu
An alphabetical list of manufacturers will be provided
Use the filters to the left to narrow down to a particular Division, if needed
Click on the Manufacturer to select it
Click on the Products tab to browse all the products from the brand