BEFORE POSTING...

[devinganger]

Then stop using an external service/software that is just plane stupid.

I think you meant "plain stupid." HTH. HAND.

[FredBob]

Thanks for the catch.

[KB]

Then stop using an external service/software that is just plane stupid.

Sometimes I think it's stupid having a forum at all.

[ahad]

On this site, it's a bit "hidden" but if it helps, @FredBob , when you click the magnifying glass on the search bar without any key words, you get to the "Advanced Search" feature of phpBB.

When you do that, you can elect to select a keyword search (any terms), or a phrase search (query as entered) by clicking the appropriate radio button: "Search for all terms or use query as entered" vs "Search for any terms"

There's also helpful text on the left indicating how to filter the search:

Search for keywords:
Place + in front of a word which must be found and - in front of a word which must not be found. Put a list of words separated by | into brackets if only one of the words must be found. Use * as a wildcard for partial matches.

You also have additional search options you can select, such as:

* which forums or sub-forums to search against

* if you want to search within, e.g. Post subjects and message text, Message text only, Topic titles only, First post of topics only

* displaying results as posts or topics

* how to sort the results

* limiting results by a certain time frame

* and how many results to return

Image attached (very zoomed out / kind of blurry):

Advanced Search Page as of 10-14-2018

Advanced Search.PNG (63.91 KiB) Viewed 21548 times

HTH.

[FredBob]

Thank you for your responses.

There is no way to search for and find a specific term using what no longer is recognized: placing quote marks around the phrase used to search for the exact phrase.

I search for "manual saving" and I get 271 "matches." Most do not have the exact phrase. The second listing does have the phrase, but is looks to be coincidental.

This is why I posted. Google, and many forum applications no longer recognize this fundamental search format. But there is forum software that does honor this very reasonable function.

When i want to search for an exact phrase it is because i need only those results. Not thousands of variations and spellings. This forum searches for all the words in the phrase.

So, the instruction to search for other posts about the same issue/feature/suggestion. is a non-productive time waster.

I am sure the instruction originated when the forum software did perform better.

(((And: light grey on white is childish. "Look what i can do!" another reason to change forum software. )))