# The SEARCH function????



## TransitioningK (Dec 28, 2003)

I am having trouble using the search function.  If any of you know how to use it please tell me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Also I am trying to find a few threads dealing with dry scalp and dandruff.

TIA 
TK


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## sassygirl125 (Dec 28, 2003)

You could type in 'dandruff' (without the quotes).  Or try: 
+dry +scalp

I had a hard time with new search, too.


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## Nessa (Dec 28, 2003)

I thought it was working fine


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## Spagirl (Dec 28, 2003)

I'm still feeling my way through but here's what I do: I put things in quotes ("keyword") when I search it helps to cut out a lot of other things that don't apply to my search. If you know of someone who posted to a thread your looking for it helps to narrow your search when that field is used in addition to the subject/keyword being placed in quotes.

Nessa how do you go about it?


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## Nonie (Dec 28, 2003)

Make sure you don't type too many words or you'll get every thread that has one of those words. And it's good to put the word you want in quotes as Sassygirl pointed out, but even that can be tricky. 

For instance, if I'm looking for CAT, I have to write "cat". What that does, is tell the Search function to look for everywhere that those letters appear together. But that's a bad choice because they appear together in CATholic CATalyst sCATter... so if I'm looking for the animal CAT I'm more likely to find it if I type "CAT " leaving a space after the word but before the second quotes. Also, I have to know where I expect the thread to appear and specify the appropriate forum by highlighting so as to limit the results that are returned.

Another example, if you're looking for information on "APPLE CIDER VINEGAR RINSE", you could find it by typing "ACV Rinse" if you know it's also called that. But if you didn't know the acronym, then you have to decide which word is less likely to appear in a different topic and use that. If you typed, without quotes, APPLE CIDER VINEGAR RINSE, you might get so many topics that mention each of those words, especially RINSE...even sth so out of topic like "and then I rinsed off the shampoo." But if you instead picked a word like "VINEGAR" and put it in quotes on its own, you might find it on the Off Topic under food discussion or under ACV rinse. So this is where *specifying where to search *ie Hair Discussion forum can help. If that doesn't work, try "APPLE" or "CIDER" again specifying you want the search to take place in the Hair Discussion forum, coz it's very unlikely those words will appear in too many topics that aren't ACV except perhaps shampoo scents or ingredients. 

There's also one last thing that could help. Sometimes specifying that you want the word to appear only in SUBJECT and not _ subject and body_ might get you the most relevant topics. For instance, a thread that has DANDRUFF in the subject will have more info related to Dandruff than one that has it in the body. Coz if it appears in the body, it may just be that someone made a comment on a totally different subject (eg about the weather) about how snow looked like dandruff to her five year old. 

One more thing... If you have an inkling *when* the topic you are looking for was discussed, you can then specify how many months ago the topic is to be searched. But you usually only need to resort to this if you're getting too many relevant threads that aren't the specific one you know you want. 

Sorry that was long but hope it helped.


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## LABETT (Dec 28, 2003)

I still have trouble with the search function I dont like
the new search function at all.


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## Nessa (Dec 28, 2003)

all you have to do is type like the word: surge
then click Hair Dissucion, then click in subject then click on any date, then click search, and it works.


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## TransitioningK (Dec 28, 2003)

Thanks, I will try what you all suggested.

TK


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## butterfly7 (Dec 31, 2003)

Thank you guys for the suggestions.  I've been having problems with it as well.


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