User Guidelines & General Information

[mod-moose]

Searching

How do I search for information?

To search the Community, type keywords for your topic into the Search Community text box and click the search icon. A page of search results will be displayed. Browse the search results in the same manner you would a message board.

To perform a more in-depth search, click the Advanced link found on the left side of most pages. This search allows you to limit your query to a specific board, specific parts of the message (subject vs. body) and other advanced parameters.

You can also search for Community members by clicking the Users tab on any search results page and using the search options on this page.

How does auto-suggest work?

Auto-suggest accelerates your search by displaying results as you type search terms. When you see the post or user you're looking for, you can go to the post or the user's profile right from the auto-suggest results.

To turn auto-suggest off, click Turn off suggestions in the auto-suggest list.

To turn auto-suggest on, click Turn on suggestions below the search entry area.

How do I filter search results?

Interactive search filters on the left side of the page let you refine the search results based on a variety of criteria: location, author, date, and others.

Filtering results is as easy as clicking one (or more) of the search filters. Want to limit your search results to accepted solutions? Just click the check box for Solved. Want only the most recent results? Use one for the date filters to see results for a day or a week ago.

You can also filter your results by both individual authors or all results from members who have the same rank. For example, you could look for results by a specific community member, or look for all results written by community experts. Auto-suggest will help you as you type a screen name or rank.

Search filters work together, so you can see just the results in accepted solutions for the last month, for example. However, the filters for the type of post work a little differently than the others. If you choose Forums and Blogs, you see results from either forums or blogs (not results that are both forum and blog posts -- it would be hard to be both).

You can see which filters are active at the top of the results list. To turn a filter off, click the X (Remove) button to the right of the filter.

How can I customize search results?

There are a lot of ways you can customize your search results to make them more meaningful.

• You can use the interactive filters on the left side of the page to refine the search results based on a variety of criteria: location, author, date, and others.
• You can see which filters are active at the top of the results list.
• You can turn an active filter off by clicking the X (Remove) button to the right of the filter.

How do I search for posts?

You can search for posts and knowledge base articles at any level of the community. When you type a search term, the system automatically searches at the current level. For example, if you're on the community front page, the system searches the entire community. If you're looking at a forum or blog page, the system searches that forum (and the associated knowledge base, if any) or blog.

Tip: Searches for posts always include relevant knowledge bases. However, you can also search just in knowledge bases.

To search for posts:

1.      Choose the scope of the search in the drop down list to the left of the Search button.
You can search at the current level and above in the community.

2.      Start typing the search term.
Auto-suggest shows the topics that match the term you're typing.
Tip: You can enter the full search term, or use an asterisk as a wildcard in your search.

3.      If you don't see the term you're looking for in the auto-suggest list, click Search to see the full search results.

When you get your search results, you can use the filters on the left side of the page to limit the results as needed.

How do I search for people?

You can search for community members by name or by rank. The results show you profile capsules for the users who match your criteria. The name you search for must be at least three characters long.

To search for users:

1.      Choose Users in the drop down list to the left of the Search button.

2.      Start typing the name of an individual user or the name of a rank.

Auto-suggest shows the names of users who match the name you're typing. When you enter a rank, auto-suggest lists all users who have that rank.
Tip: You can enter the full user or rank name, or use an asterisk as a wildcard in your search.

3.      If you don't see the user you're looking for in the auto-suggest list, click Search to see the full search results.