Searching Help

You can search by any field or combination of fields.

To search by County, uncheck the "All Counties" checkbox. Select the county or counties you want to search from the list. To select more than one county, hold down the Ctrl or Shift key while making your selections. Some counties employ a search technique unique to that county. Please refer to the document published on the county information page under ND Recorders.

To search by Document Type, enter all or part of the Document Type. Using the "Starts With" option will locate words from the Document Type field that are in the same order as they are typed. So if Oil is entered it will find all documents with Oil in the Document Type, ex: Oil & Gas Release, Release of Oil & Gas Leases, Oil/Gas Lease Correction, etc. Using the "Advanced option" will allow the use of wildcards. The asterisk (*) is used as a trailing wildcard, the plus sign (+) can be used for required words, the minus sign (-) can be used for words that should not be included, and double quotes ("") can be used for exact word searching.

To search by Document #, enter the number into that field. This field does not need to be combined with other fields as it is a unique identifier.

Recording Date Quick Search Tips:


To search by Recording Date, enter a Start Date and an End Date. The date must be entered in the following format: MM/DD/YYYY. You can also click on the calendar to select the day. To search on one day, enter the same day for the Start and End dates.

Today's Date

Enter "T" in the date field, and the system interprets that as Today's date. Using T Math, enter dates as they relate to today's date. Because these dates relate to today's date, they can be any day of the week or month. This includes weekends, so if no entries display after the search, the date entered using T Math might be a Saturday or Sunday. For example:

  • T - Today's date
  • T-1 - Yesterday's date
  • T-2 - 2 days ago
  • T-4 - 4 days ago

The Start of the Week

Enter "SOW" in a date field, and the system interprets it as the start of the week, which it always considers a Monday but can be any day of the month. If no results display after the search, the date entered using T Math might be a holiday. For example:

  • SOW - The start of the week
  • SOW-1 - The start of last week
  • SOW-2 - The start of the week, 2 weeks ago

End of the Week

Enter "EOW" in a date field, and the system interprets it as the end of the week, which it always considers a Friday, but can be any day of the month. Use EOW to access previous weeks. Enter "EOW" by itself to select the end of the current week (a future date), which likely contains no data. For example:

  • EOW - The end of this week
  • EOW-1 - The end of last week
  • EOW-3 - The end of the week, 3 weeks ago

Start of the Month

Enter "SOM" in a date field, and the system interprets it as the start of the month, which it always considers the first of the month, but can be any day of the week. If no results display after the search, the first of the month might be on the weekend.

  • SOM - The start of the month
  • SOM-1 - The start of last month
  • SOM-6 - The start of the month, 6 months ago

End of the Month

Enter "EOM" in a date field, and the system interprets it as the end of the month, which it always considers the 28th, 29th, 30th or 31st of the month but can be any day of the week. Use EOM to access previous months. Enter "EOM" by itself to select the end of the current month (a future date), which likely contains no data. For example:

  • EOM - The end of this month
  • EOM-1 - The end of last month
  • EOM-2 - The end of the month before last

Start of the Year

Enter "SOY" in a date field, and the system interprets it as the start of the year, which it always considers January 1st. Because January 1st is a holiday, users probably need to modify the date to see results. Use this type of search to find vital records that are not sellable until a waiting period ends. For example:

  • SOY - The start of this year
  • SOY-1 - The start of last year
  • SOY-2 - The start of the year before last
  • SOY-25 - The start of the year, 25 years ago
  • SOY-45 - The start of the year, 45 years ago

End of the Year

Enter "EOY" in a date field, and the system interprets it as the end of the year, which it always considers Dec 31st. Use EOY to access previous years. Enter "EOY" by itself to select the end of the current year (a future date), which likely contains no data. For example:

  • EOY - The end of this year
  • EOY-1 - The end of last year
  • EOY-2 - The end of the year before last
  • EOY-25 - The end of the year, 25 years ago

To search by Book and Page, enter the Book and Page numbers in the appropriate field.

To search by name, enter all or part of the name. The "Starts With" option will locate names that are in the same order as they are typed. So if Brown Ch is entered it will find all documents with Brown Ch as the name ex: Brown Charlie, Brown Charles, Brown Charlotte, Brown Cheryl. The Advanced option allows the use of wildcards. * is used and can be used as a trailing wildcard. $ can be used as a sounds like so that Sara$ will return Sara, Sarah, Sarrah. + can be used for required names. - can be used for names that should not be included. "" can be used for exact name searching.

To search by subdivision enter the capitalized subdivision name or part of the subdivision name and the search field will pull up a list of suggestions from which you may search. Select the appropriate name and then select search to run search.