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JulieM
09-02-2009, 09:20 AM
Does anyone know how you can search the forum to limit the search results to exactly what you submit? In other words, I was looking to see if anyone had started a thread about the "Clean Food" book by Terry Walters. (It's on sale at B&N.)

So of course the results of a search gives me everything with the word "Food" in it.

I looked under "FAQ" which had a section about searching, but didn't provide any search tips such as using AND and OR, or putting the phrase in quotes. I think I've tried that before and it didn't work. Is it simply that the search function is limited or am I doing something wrong?
Gumbeaux
09-02-2009, 09:31 AM
Use this (http://www.google.com/cse?cx=018187912605640363751%3Apiy9ljr98cc&ie=UTF-8&q=%22clean+food%22) and it will give you the results that you are looking for. If you type "clean food" (note the parentheses) in the search box the results will show only those words when they are next to each other.


http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?p=1511490
ebseckar
09-02-2009, 09:33 AM
I have had better luck using google's advanced search feature. There you can search for an exact phrase within a specific site. To limit matches to the CLBB, I type in community.cookinglight.com where it says "search within a specific site or domain". I hope this helps you.
JulieM
09-02-2009, 09:50 AM
Wow, that's great! But how do you get to Google's Custom Search page. I just bounced around their page and couldn't find it.
Gumbeaux
09-02-2009, 10:03 AM
Wow, that's great! But how do you get to Google's Custom Search page. I just bounced around their page and couldn't find it.


The link I provided is Google's Custom Search made even more custom. ;)


Here is the Custom Search Page.

http://www.google.com/coop/cse/?hl=en
JulieM
09-02-2009, 02:03 PM
That's really neat! It took me a few minutes but I finally got the gist of it. The key is to pay attention to setting up the URL. The first time I didn't pay attention and didn't put the * after the URL so the search didn't work. Now it works like a charm! Now I'm brainstorming all the things I want to know from the forum that I knew in the past would be too time consuming to find. (Although admittedly I always find other great recipes in the process!:p)

It's a shame the forum's search function doesn't have search perameters to make it easier to find something on such an active forum. But this Google solution will save me a lot of time. Thanks so much for sharing!
Gumbeaux
09-02-2009, 02:26 PM
It's a shame the forum's search function doesn't have search perameters to make it easier to find something on such an active forum. But this Google solution will save me a lot of time. Thanks so much for sharing!

You're welcome.

I wish that CL would put Google Custom Search engine on this site.