# Turning a search into a filter (Save as Filter)

Source: Tender Navigator Knowledge Base, https://tendernavigator.com/knowledge-base/save-search-as-filter (canonical HTML). Category: Finding tenders. Published 2026-09-08, last updated 2026-09-08.

> Save as Filter creates a Tender Navigator filter from the current search or from an open notice. The new filter keeps the keywords, countries and classification codes, gets an AI prompt seeded from the search with a TODO line for your business context, and starts paused until you finish and activate it.

## Where the button is

- Above the results in the dashboard Pre-search tool, once a search has run.
- Inside the side panel and on the notice page of any tender, for signed-in users with an active plan.

Visitors do not have it: a filter needs an account and an active plan.

## What the dialog shows

The **Save as Filter** dialog shows a snapshot of what will be saved (keyword chips, country badges and code groups), a **Name** field, and a note that the filter is created paused with a seeded prompt.

The name is suggested from the search: "Search · cloud, migration, kubernetes" from the first three keywords, or "Search · DEU, FRA" from the countries when there are no keywords, or "Saved search". Edit it freely, up to 80 characters.

## What carries over

| From a search | From an open notice |
| --- | --- |
| Every keyword chip becomes one filter keyword; phrases stay intact | The notice title becomes the keyword |
| The selected countries | The notice's buyer country |
| The selected CPV, NAICS and UNSPSC codes | The codes the notice carries |
| An AI prompt that restates the search | An AI prompt that names the notice as the example of what you are looking for |

Not carried over, and left to the filter editor: the budget range, the email schedule (a new filter starts on a daily digest) and the AI model (the current default).

## The prompt ends with a TODO

The seeded prompt states what the search was and ends with a line starting with **TODO** that asks for your business context: what makes a tender worth bidding on, what rules one out, and where you actually win. The filter can be saved with the TODO in place, but do not activate it that way: the prompt is the text every tender is judged against, and a placeholder produces placeholder verdicts. See [Writing the AI prompt](/knowledge-base/writing-the-ai-prompt).

## What happens after you save

1. A toast confirms "Filter saved".
2. Tender Navigator opens the new filter's page. The guided tour "Finish and switch on a filter" starts there automatically, once, and walks through the prompt, the setup checklist, saving, and the Active switch.
3. The filter stays **paused** until you switch it on. A paused filter does not search and does not evaluate anything.

## Why it starts paused

A filter consumes AI evaluations from your plan for every tender it picks up. Starting paused gives you a moment to write the prompt, check the four setup items (keywords, countries, at least one code, the prompt) and only then let it run. See [Activating, pausing, duplicating and deleting filters](/knowledge-base/activating-and-pausing-filters).