Request for a better Advanced Search

[sijpie]

As a regular I like this board and the quality of the people (and their replies ) who trawl the board on a regular basis.

However I often see questions on subjects similar to what I have answered or seen answer before, but then trying to locate this post can be quite difficult.

It would be good if we could search on threads where a particular username has contributed (not necessarily started the thread) or search within your own posts

 

[Joe4]

Unfortunately, that is not something we really have much control over. This, and many other internet User Forums, use a third-party software, two of the more common ones are vBulletin and php. This one uses vBulletin (see the very bottom of the screen).

The built-in search functionality on these sort of forums is often not the greatest. But there are ways of getting what you want. See this post from NateO: http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/board-announcements/174000-searching-mrexcel-com-forums-tips.html

The more powerful Google searches usually do the trick. So, let's say that I wanted to see all the posts that you made on MrExcel that had to do with "charts". I would type the following into a Google Search: site:MrExcel.com sijpie Chart

And voila, it would return all those posts.

 

[sijpie]

OK, thanks for the search tips Joe, and yes I forgot that I can use Google more specific...

 

[Peter_SSs]

It would be good if we could search on threads where a particular username has contributed (not necessarily started the thread) or search within your own posts

Unless I've misunderstood, the forum's built-in Advanced Search already allows both of those things - with the proviso that any keywords you search for have to be longer than 3 characters I think.

If you click Advanced Search near the top right, then the Search Single Content Type tab, you can enter the username of your choice along with many other options. If you leave the box next to the username as 'Find latest posts by user', does that not do the first part of your request above? If not, can you explain further?

If you want to search your own posts for something specific, then just use your own username in that field and near the bottom of the search page you may want to 'Show Results as: Posts' to get links to individual posts that you have made that contain the keywords of interest. Does that not do the second part of your request above? If not, can you explain further?

Still, I agree with you that it would be nice if the Search facility was a bit more powerful.

 

[sijpie]

Ah, you are right Peter, most of the functionality is there (and the longer than 3 letter is correct)

I am a happy camper now with all these search options....