I would love to recommend Windows Central "How To"

[holdum333]

Hi! I love this forum. I like helping our members with issues. I would love to use the "How To" here on the forum and then recommend them to members with problems.
Here's my gripe. I know WC has some excellent "How To" guilds. The problem I have is trying to find for them. IMHO the search engine on WC sucks.
You don't have to know the answers, you just need to know where to find them. I'll tell you a little secret. 90% of the time I copy and then paste a members issue in Google search. Then I post what I find, that I think that might help the OP with their issue. Even though I might already have a suggestion, I go on the web and see if I can find it a little better explained; better then how I might try to explain the solution. I'm no stranger to help forums and I love being on them; to learn and pass forward things I have learned is my number one hobby.
If you follow me on WC, you will see I post a lot of links to HTG. I have been a big fan of there's for years. It's hard for me to break that habit. I would love to recommend a tutorial from WC instead, if I could find it by searching. If anyone has away to find these tutorials on WC with the search engine, please tell me how.
I would love posting the WC tutorial instead of HTG!:winktongue:

 

[Guytronic]

Moved to "Feedback and help"

How to Geek is a great site and easy to navigate.
I used to go there for the registry hacks and one touch scripts.
Windows Central is more like a neighborhood of people emulating all kinds of subjects and opinions.

I ended up here in the beginning as a Windows Phone user.
Personally I'm more about the phones, yet dialog concerning Windows on any device is important and welcome in this place.

 

[holdum333]

Hi friend! Thanks for your reply. I hope the big dogs here on WC have a answer for my search issue. There are some great "How to" on WC . There are a bunch of them,but no way to search and find the one you need to help a member!
Thanks for moving this thread. I hope the staff sees this and has a answer for me.
You are appreciated my friend!

 

[tgp]

There are a bunch of them,but no way to search and find the one you need to help a member!

I've found that it is often easier to find something on WC by using Google. Just put in what you're searching for and add the words "Windows Central" or "windowscentral" or something like that. It's not perfect, but it sure beats WC's search!

 

[Guytronic]

I've found that it is often easier to find something on WC by using Google. Just put in what you're searching for and add the words "Windows Central" or "windowscentral" or something like that. It's not perfect, but it sure beats WC's search!

So true about forum searching.
Tried and failed so many times.

 

[holdum333]

I've found that it is often easier to find something on WC by using Google. Just put in what you're searching for and add the words "Windows Central" or "windowscentral" or something like that. It's not perfect, but it sure beats WC's search!

Hi friend! Thanks for your reply! I have used that way on occasions. It does beat WC's search, but surely WC can come up with a better search engine. They have so many good tutorials and it's a shame you can't find them. There's no excuse for that IMHO.
Thanks for your reply. You are appreciated.

 

[Guytronic]

It always helps us to report misplaced threads.
We can easily move them to a better place for visibility.

Also if I may I'd like to ask why I've had difficulty editing or adding tags to threads as a moderator?
Tried a few times to change tags on threads and have been disallowed.

I thought if the threads were tagged appropriately site searching would improve.
Maybe I'm not understanding how tags work.

 

[holdum333]

Hi! This should get me into a lot of trouble, but I feel real strongly that it needs to be said by someone.
All that wealth of knowledge in the "How to" section of this forum, and no search engine to find what you need. That's pretty darn sad my friends.
Is anyone aware of all the knowledge in "How to" that's going to waste because there's no search engine. That makes this old country boy sad.:crying:
There's a treasure of knowledge there and it's rarely used; because the search engine sucks! I haven't been through all of it, but this ain't my first rodeo and there is a ton of how to tutorials there that I want to use to help WC members with their issues.
I'm going to bed now and hope someone here sees what a treasure WC has, and is letting it go to waste! Please fix this issue!
If you agree with me on this, please comment and hopefully some thing will get done!
Here's quote from "How to"! Really nice! Now fix the search engine!
In Short

Windows 10 is Microsoft's all new operating system for everything. From PCs to phones, Xbox to IoT, Windows 10 is on them all. As with all things new there will be a learning curve. There will be problems, questions, tips and tricks. That's where we come in.

All our Windows 10 help and how-to posts can be found right here. From beginner topics through to the more advanced users, we're here to help everyone who uses Windows 10

 

[Laura Knotek]

I've passed your message on to our Community Manager so that he may take a look.

 

[holdum333]

I've passed your message on to our Community Manager so that he may take a look.

Thank you my friend!

 

[Laura Knotek]

Thank you my friend!

You're welcome.

 

[RumoredNow]

We have a few ways to skin the search cat... Which are you using?

Search Button:
In the left corner of the top bar, there is a Search Button.


I find this one is best for searching Blog Articles. It will return threads, but seems geared toward the Blog and is a straight keyword/tag search...


Advanced Search:
A bit further down the page you will find the Advanced Search option which is, IMHO, a very powerful tool for searching content on the forums.



Here you can fine tune things quite a bit...


I always use the "Search Single Content Type" tab as I find it more useful. I generally search Posts, and add Keyword(s). Sometimes I also add a User Name, if I recall that I saw some specific help from a certain member... You can also search all forums or just specific ones. You may also select to "Show Results as Threads" or "Show Results as Posts" (not pictured, but further down the page. "Show as Posts" is often more helpful for scanning the results because it shows more detail.


The results are generated quickly.


You can enter results at the thread level (upper check mark) or even into the specific posts that contain your keyword(s) (lower check mark). This is a major reason to "Search by Posts" as it gives you more options working off the results.


Inside the results, you even see your keyword(s) highlighted to help your eye focus in on the content you were searching for.


A simple use of the back arrow returns you to the results page and you can comb through relevant content quite quickly if you set up your search parameters correctly.


Several Forums have Help / How To / Guides sections:
You may find it useful simply to browse the Help areas on the board.

• Windows 10 How-to Guides
• Windows 10 Mobile How-to Guides
• Windows Phone 8.1 How-to Guides
• Windows Phone 8 How-to Guides
• Guides, Tips, Tricks & How-tos (Photography sub-forum)
• Forum Help Videos & Guides

Each Member Profile Has Search Features:
You can easily search all of the recent Threads or Posts from a specific member by clicking anywhere you see their name highlighted and going to their page.


If I'm not mistaken, the limit is the last 500 Posts or 500 Threads. This type of search is useful for when you want to find some specific content you saw recently...


Perhaps the most underused search type is our Q&A section:
On the top bar, click on your avatar in the upper left, scroll down and click "Question & Answer."



Inside the Q&A area you can:

• Search by keyword(s)
• Refine the search by category
• See Recent Results or get specifics by using the search parameters outlined above
• Results will also show if the Question has been marked with a "Best Answer"

There are some limitations on this type of search. The OP (Original Poster) or a member of the volunteer staff must have marked the thread as a question and someone (OP or staff) must have marked an answer. Some questions are never marked as such and some "Best Answer" posts may not have been tagged. Still, if it returns a marked answer for a relevant keyword "question" it can be useful to search here.


In the end, IMHO, I think we have a LOT of tools in the toolkit and it goes toward selecting the right tool for the job.

Happy Searching. Hope you find your answers.

 

[holdum333]

Wow ! Cool ! Thanks! I'll give it a try!

 

[holdum333]

Hi I did a little playing around with the advanced search. That worked pretty well. I suppose WC being such a large forum; the search feature needs to be complicated and filtered. Thanks @RumoreNow. I'll keep playing around and hopefully learn how to use the search feature here on WC.
I 'll keep using the add Windows Central on the end of my search until I get the hang of WC search feature.:grin:
Thank you! You are appreciated!

 

[RumoredNow]

Keyword search in Advanced Search is borked ATM. I have reported it to Tech.

 

[holdum333]

Hi ! Played around with advanced search. It's OK, but I'm not impressed at the moment. Will keep trying. I'm probably not doing some thing right??
Don't have any suggestions, but I would hope it could be a little more simplified.

 

[holdum333]

Hi ! Here's my biggest interest here on WC. It's searching 'How to' on WC. I might be missing some thing, but I see no search engine in this section. If there's one, please show me. I have a old and tired brain, and it only down loads for awhile and then it BSOD, so KISS! LMAO