Using this discussion forum - searching/navigating

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Level 1

0 points

Using this discussion forum - searching/navigating

Is there a way to search for posts other using keywords other than those offered in the 'refine' list. (For example I want to look for posts that are concerned with user accounts). Or to restrict the search to discussions with correct answers. Also, when I am going through the pages of discussions, if I find a discussion topic that I want to look at, when I then press the back button at the top left of the window I end up back on page 1, which is a bit annoying if I have got all the thru to page 10 or 11 as, as far as I can see, I then have to page thru those 10/11 pages one at a time to get back to where I was before I looked at the topic. Cheers!

Posted on May 9, 2011 2:06 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

DavidK2010

Level 2

160 points

May 10, 2011 2:33 AM in response to stormy234

The new forum is rubbish, i have same issues click back you go back to the first page, The new format also means that pages you view dont get saved in IE9's history due to privacy.. pathetic

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Answer 2

Tuttle

Level 7

29,541 points

May 10, 2011 6:23 AM in response to DavidK2010

The new format also means that pages you view dont get saved in IE9's history due to privacy

Never used IE9, myself, but I've seen it said that while https pages aren't saved to IE9 history by default, that can be changed from site to site via a setting in that browser.

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Answer 3

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

May 10, 2011 9:29 AM in response to stormy234

stormy234 wrote:

Is there a way to search for posts other using keywords other than those offered in the 'refine' list.

Check the Searching tutorial & the Search Tips pages for ways to narrow your searches.

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Answer 4

stormy234 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 10, 2011 3:10 PM in response to R C-R

Thanks. Got some useful hints on those pages. I think the thing where it goes back to page 1 every time you look at a question though, and then press the back button, is a bit silly. It should go back to the page that the question appeared on so you can continue searching from where you were...

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Answer 5

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

May 10, 2011 4:34 PM in response to stormy234

Frankly, I almost never use the ASC search engine for anything. It isn't very sophisticated & by default the latest incarnation searches all of ASC's content -- probably in excess of 15 million posts, more than 2.5 million users, & so on -- so without using the arcane constructions mentioned in the search tips to limit the results, it isn't very useful.

When I want to search ASC I use Google instead, & append the search term with "site:discussions.apple.com" to limit the results to this site. Not only is it much faster & usually ranks what I'm looking for near the top, I can right click on the results to open them in separate tabs.

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Answer 6

timoto

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2016 4:30 AM in response to R C-R

Yes, google definitely wins on search, of course Apple couldn't possibly bring themselves to use google's engine on their own sites. But at least we can google "site:discussions.apple.com how to search community" 🙂

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Oct 10, 2016 5:15 AM in response to timoto

Five years on and this site is very different from the one being described then. That said getting the best out of search here still takes a bit of effort. For myself I generally switch the Sort by: option from Relevance to Last modified: newest first. See also Site map of Communities and Categories for tips on navigation.

tt2

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