Answers.Body: <p>There is a non-code fix for this:</p>
  
  <p>You could make a profile with the fields you want to display.</p>
  
  <p>And then you search using Advanced Search, and you could select that profile in the "display result as".</p>
  
  <p>Edit:
  As pointed out by Philipp Michael in the comments below, you could also choose a certain profile as the default one, in the admin settings ( at /civicrm/admin/setting/search?reset=1.)</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-03-25T15:31:27.287Z
Answers.Text: @Link Swanson Sorry, I saw now that you already had discovered this feature. May I ask why this way of doing it is insufficient for your need?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Flying
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-03-25T15:47:13.947Z
Answers.Text: Using profiles in advanced search is fine, but I wanted to know how to change it globally, for all contact searches. I'm just verifying that there is not some alternative. I have used hook_civicrm_searchColumns but it is not ideal in terms of long term maintenance and gets complicated with custom fields.
Answers.UserDisplayName: LunkRat
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-03-25T17:03:26.750Z
Answers.Text: @LinkSwanson You can set this custom search profile with the reduced columns as a default for all contact search results (besides participants) in /civicrm/admin/setting/search?reset=1. So your users don't have to select it by themselves.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Philipp Michael
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-03-25T17:55:43.713Z
Answers.Text: @PhilippMichael - Brilliant! That is exactly what I wanted to know. I didn't know about this setting, so I assumed that profiles could only be used as Search Views in Advanced Search. I just tried it and it gave me exactly what I was looking for. I'm off to do this on the other half-dozen CiviCRM instances that I support ...
Answers.UserDisplayName: LunkRat
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-03-25T15:29:16.887Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-03-25T17:58:03.053Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2015-03-25T17:58:03.053Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Flying
Body: <p>Very frequently I get users asking if we can remove Address/City/State/Postal/Country columns from the default search results table. Often they want to show some of our custom fields instead. Or to just remove clutter. </p>
  
  <p>I know this is a common question, and I am aware of <a href="https://civicrm.org/blogs/lobo/introducing-hookcivicrmsearchcolumns-modify-search-results-meet-your-needs" rel="noreferrer">hook_civicrm_searchColumns</a> and <a href="http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Format+Advanced+Search+Result+Columns" rel="noreferrer">how to use profiles with advanced search</a>. </p>
  
  <p>But I am asking here to get verification that there is not a better way to simply remove some columns from the results of civicrm/contact/search</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/6a6Lh.png" alt="CiviCRM default search results page"></p>
  
Tags: <search><default-settings><search-results>
Title: Change the default fields (columns) in contact search results
ThreadText: # Change the default fields (columns) in contact search results
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-25)
  
  Very frequently I get users asking if we can remove Address/City/State/Postal/Country columns from the default search results table. Often they want to show some of our custom fields instead. Or to just remove clutter.
  
  I know this is a common question, and I am aware of [hook\_civicrm\_searchColumns](https://civicrm.org/blogs/lobo/introducing-hookcivicrmsearchcolumns-modify-search-results-meet-your-needs) and [how to use profiles with advanced search](http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Format+Advanced+Search+Result+Columns).
  
  But I am asking here to get verification that there is not a better way to simply remove some columns from the results of civicrm/contact/search
  
  ![CiviCRM default search results page](https://i.sstatic.net/6a6Lh.png)
  
  **Tags:** search, default-settings, search-results
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2015-03-25. Score: 13 | Accepted answer
  
  There is a non-code fix for this:
  
  You could make a profile with the fields you want to display.
  
  And then you search using Advanced Search, and you could select that profile in the "display result as".
  
  Edit:
  As pointed out by username_2 in the comments below, you could also choose a certain profile as the default one, in the admin settings ( at /civicrm/admin/setting/search?reset=1.)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: @Link Swanson Sorry, I saw now that you already had discovered this feature. May I ask why this way of doing it is insufficient for your need?  
  > **username_0**: Using profiles in advanced search is fine, but I wanted to know how to change it globally, for all contact searches. I'm just verifying that there is not some alternative. I have used hook_civicrm_searchColumns but it is not ideal in terms of long term maintenance and gets complicated with custom fields.  
  > **username_2**: @LinkSwanson You can set this custom search profile with the reduced columns as a default for all contact search results (besides participants) in /civicrm/admin/setting/search?reset=1. So your users don't have to select it by themselves.  
  > **username_0**: @PhilippMichael - Brilliant! That is exactly what I wanted to know. I didn't know about this setting, so I assumed that profiles could only be used as Search Views in Advanced Search. I just tried it and it gave me exactly what I was looking for. I'm off to do this on the other half-dozen CiviCRM instances that I support ...  
  
  ---
  
  