Putting a phrase in search box

[susan-y]

I have tried brackets etc. to put a phrase in the search box, but I end up getting a multitude of threads for each word in that phrase. for example.. ( looking 4 kin ) is a website and I wanted to put it in the search to make sure there weren't any comments or threads before I started a new thread. Suggestions please. It would be like wanting to specify Jones from London, not all of England...., but the search would show all the Jones as well as everything from London... does that make sense:confused:

Sue

[MarkJ]

Yep - perfect sense Sue :)

The B-G search engine doesn't seem to have the ability to cope with anything other than simple words unfortunately. We did some experiments a while ago testing out various common "advanced" type searching methods and, from memory, none worked.

Although it makes things a bit annoying, a better method if looking for older threads, may be to use a more powerful search engine, such as Google or whatever you are familiar with and search for B-G threads with your specified words that way.

Mark

[susan-y]

Thanks to Mark and Finbar for understanding and replying :)

I'll try your suggestion, Finbar. As for Google searches,,, I'm afraid I always have a hard time figuring out just what to put in the boxes and end up with all sorts of stuff that isn't relavant. |help| That will be ME as I am not really computer savy. I need to be walked through something step by step with a tutor standing over my shoulder and then I can understand it.|oopsredfa

Thanks again.

Sue

[Jan1954]

Sue,

Another trick that I would use on Google and such like, is to put the website name in (if you know it or part of it) - without spaces. So, in your example, type looking4kin :)

[susan-y]

BUT... I just wanted to check on here ( Brit-Gen )and make sure I wasn't duplicating an earlier post before I started a new one!!

Sue

[MarkJ]

Thanks to Mark and Finbar for understanding and replying :)

I'll try your suggestion, Finbar. As for Google searches,,, I'm afraid I always have a hard time figuring out just what to put in the boxes and end up with all sorts of stuff that isn't relavant. |help| That will be ME as I am not really computer savy. I need to be walked through something step by step with a tutor standing over my shoulder and then I can understand it.|oopsredfa

Thanks again.

Sue

When you have a spare five minutes, it is worth perusing the thread below which has a number of useful tips about getting the best from Google - using the plus and minus signs for example to include or exclude certain words ;) All fairly easy to follow - but it may help to have a browser window or tab open to try a few of the tips as you go so you can see what they do.

The thread is -
http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21015

Mark

[Lesley Robertson]

Thanks to Mark and Finbar for understanding and replying :)

I'll try your suggestion, Finbar. As for Google searches,,, I'm afraid I always have a hard time figuring out just what to put in the boxes and end up with all sorts of stuff that isn't relavant. |help| That will be ME as I am not really computer savy. I need to be walked through something step by step with a tutor standing over my shoulder and then I can understand it.|oopsredfa

Thanks again.

Sue


In Google, there's a couple of tricks. Use the quotation marks to keep words together, use a - for something you know you might get and don't want, and make one term stronger by adding a +

For example, there's a farm called Hilton in my OPS. In order to avoid huge numbers of irrelevant stuff, I search on:
+Hilton -Paris -hotel -hotels Berwickshire.
I still find that if I search for "Hilton parish", it immediately assumes I mean Paris....
Lesley

[MarkJ]

BUT... I just wanted to check on here ( Brit-Gen )and make sure I wasn't duplicating an earlier post before I started a new one!!

Sue

Okies, the B-G search box may be able to help in this case.

If you click the Search thing, you can choose Advanced.
In the Advanced search, enter your chosen word(s) in the first box (Search by Keyword) but pick yourself as the Search by User name.

So if I put in the word kin into the Search by Keyword, and susan-y into the Search by User, I get two results. One is this thread, the other a thread from May 2008.

Is that the sort of thing you wanted Sue?

Mark