VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Forum Questions Search function tips

Here's a write-up I did about using the VCCA Chat Search function. Hope this is useful.

• Click (select) the magnifying glass search icon in the upper right corner of each page.
• You can do a 'simple' search by putting your search criteria in the little window that pops up and hitting Enter.
• To access the Advanced Forum Search window, select the Advanced Forum Search link/phrase in the little popup window. The rest of this post describes how to use the Advanced Forum Search.
• Select the Forum or Forums that you want to search from the list on the left.
  
  - The default is to search all forums (All Forums is highlighted).
  
  - Selecting one forum will search in just that forum.
  
  - Selecting a category will search all the forums within that category (for example Technical - Prewar -----)
  
  - Selecting multiple forums will search only within those selected forums. To select more than one forum, hold the ctrl key down when you click (select) the additional forums after selecting the first forum to be searched.
  
  
• To the right of the "Forum(s) to search" enter your search criteria (a keyword or keywords) into the Keywords Search Terms field.
  
  - Entering a single keyword will search for all instances of that word.
  
  - Entering 2 or more words will search for EACH word, as if there were an OR operator between the keywords. So entering motor mount will search for posts containing motor OR mount.
  
  - Entering 2 or more words WITH PLUS SIGNS will search as if there is an AND operator between the keywords. So entering +motor +mount will search for posts that contain motor AND mount but they do NOT have to be adjacent to one another in the text string.
  
  - Entering 2 or more words IN QUOTATION MARKS will search for the exact phrase as entered. Entering "motor mount" will search for posts that contain the PHRASE motor mount and will not return any results, or posts, that contains only one of the words.
  
  - Entering 2 or more words with A MINUS sign will exclude words from the search. So entering +motor -mount will search for posts which have the word motor in them and DO NOT have the word mount.
  
  - You can mix and match search operators. For example, entering "motor mount" -235 would return posts containing the PHRASE motor mount and NOT containing the term 235.
  
  - Entering "motor mount" +216 -235 would return posts containing the PHRASE motor mount AND containing the term 216 but NOT containing the term 235.
  
  
• Below the Keyword Search Terms box you can choose whether you want to search just the subject or the subject AND the body of the posts.
  
  
• Under the Display Name Search section, you can enter a username as a search criteria. This can be done with or without keywords, so entering "rube goldberg" +wheel +puller in the keywords and the username of rustoholic would return posts containing the PHRASE rube goldberg AND the term wheel AND the word puller posted by the user rustoholic. Leaving the other options blank and just entering the Username in this section will return only posts made by that particular Username.
  
  
• Next select a date range. There's an option to search all posts, or search for posts newer or older than a certain criteria (20 years being the maximum). Narrowing down the search time will increase the speed of the results, although the search is very fast in either case.
  
  
• You can choose how many results per page you wish to view. The default is 25.
  
  
• If you like you can choose to view a preview of the post’s body section. If selected, this option will result in the display of the first 50 words or so from the body of each post.
  
  
• When you are finished defining your search criteria click the "Submit" button. Note that searching for words with less than 4 characters will return unpredictable results. Also, the search engine omits certain common words like the, be, is, or etcetera.
  

Happy searching! Dean

Excellent post. Each person should have it saved as a reference when ever they need to find previous post(s).

Just saved it in my file.

For increased usability, I suggest changing the link for the "Look HERE for Advanced Search Tips" on the Search page (see the red circle in the pic below) to point to the post at the top of this thread.

Thanks, Dean

Thanks Dean, you're awesome.

Best wishes, Mike

I see the forum but where do I enter the category?

Thanks for the comment, 41_Chevy_Coupe. I revised the hints and tips based on your observation.

You can select a category to search all the forums within that category. For example, select Technical - Prewar to search all the following forums:

Chevrolet Speedsters
1912-1928
1916-1922 - Model 490 Only
1917-1919 - Model D & D5 Only
1929-1932
1933-1936
1937-1941
1942-1945 - Military Vehicles

Cheers, Dean