# Survey a collection

> Let Topic Map propose what a collection is about and the fields you can filter its books by.

A survey reads a sample of each document and proposes two things for the collection note: its `context` (what the collection is about) and, for books, each book's **fields**. For the nonfiction lens these include the author's role and whether they write from their own experience. Each proposal comes with a quote behind it.

Fields are what the search filters use.

## Steps

1. Run **Survey…** (the panel’s ⋯ menu) and pick the collection. Or select **Survey…** in the collection's dialog.
2. Read the dry run: the documents, the size of what would be sent, and the number of calls. No model has been called.
3. Set a spend limit if you want one, and run it.
4. Read what it would change in the collection note, shown as old → new.
5. Select **Write** to accept. Nothing is written until you do.

A collection of notes or Base rows gets its `context`, and a table of the properties its notes use:

![The survey’s table of properties: status, project and tags, with how many notes use each](img/notes-survey-properties.png)

For each property the table shows the share of notes that have it, how many different values it takes, and a few examples. Tick a property and **Write** adds its name to the collection note’s `fields`, so it is read into every prompt and can be filtered by in search. The properties the lens already reads (for the notes lens: `tags`, `status` and `created`) are always read, so they show ticked and can’t be unticked. Ones already in `fields` show ticked too.

Only properties worth filtering by are offered: those on at least 30% of the notes, with 2 to 50 different values. Writing the survey is logged, and **Undo a run** puts the note back as it was.

If you close the dialog, the result stays reachable from the panel’s **Runs** tab, under **Review**.

## Related

- [Search a collection](search.md)
- [Undo a run](undo-a-run.md)