Help! I Can't Find Information! - your guide to the search function

[alloy61]

The search button is your friend, it will help you in many ways:

1. When you need :sign_help , be it for scenarios, tech support or a general issue you're having with your guests
2. When you have seen a download in a show and tell thread and need to find it

3. When everyone in a thread is talking about something and you want to catch up with the news without trawling through dozens of pages:sleeping:

4. Finally it will help you to start new topics responsibly, without getting unwanted attention from the ZA staff :bigboss5j

[alloy61]

First off, the main search button - you'll see this at the top of your screen - forum search

When you click on that you will see a link to the 'advanced search', more on that later.

Let's say you are looking for help with the Javan Rhino scenario in Zoo Tycoon 2, so we enter 'Javan Rhino' into the search details. The results would be something like this: search results

As you can see there are a lot of topics to look through. The fastest way to find what you want from these results is to look at the column on the right, which tells you what section the thread is in. In our case we want "ZT2 Scenarios & Challenges".

[alloy61]

There is a way that will narrow these results even further. Enter the section you want to be in
(using the same example as before we enter "ZT2 Scenarios and Challenges")

Near the top of the screen you will see another search button - section search button

If again we enter 'Javan Rhino' to look for help we get these results - search results

Not only is this information more relevant to you, there are also now only 4 topics to look through instead of 85 topics!

[alloy61]

When you are in a topic and want to catch up with the latest gossip, a well phrased search can help you.
Inside a thread you will see this button in the corner - search thread

In this example we will be in the "Steve Talks Dino and More..." thread, and let's say you wanted the latest news on the Addax.
Enter 'Addax' in the search button and you will get a list of all the posts in that thread containing that word - like this.

Useful no?

[alloy61]

And here we come to the Advanced Search.
Use the main search button and click on 'Advanced Search', you should get a page that looks like this - advanced search page

In the Keywords area, enter what you want to search for. Unless you are looking for a thread you remember the name of, it is best to leave the option on 'Search Entire Posts'.

'Find Posts by User' is handy if you're looking for a particular show and tell or projects thread, set the option in the dropdown box below to 'Find Threads Started by User' and enter the members name inside the box.

'Sort Results' - You may find it easier sometimes to change the boxes to 'Title' in 'Ascending Order', or to 'Forum'. The first will arrange the results alphabetically (making it easier to know where you have already looked) and the second will arrange the threads by the areas they are from.

Selecting the forum area you want to search is usually the fastest way to the results you want - holding down 'Ctrl' whilst you select will allow you to select more than one forum to search at the same time.

[alloy61]

When you are in the downloads section, the search button can be found in red in the middle of the page - here

The best way to search here is often to use the designer name if you know it.
If you are entering more than one word here you need to separate the phrases with a comma (,) - the search will focus on both words and present all results that contain either word/phrase.
If you don't enter the comma between the phrases it is very likely your search will have no results.

Often the less search terms you enter, the better your search will be.
For example if you were looking for the 'penguin jeep' by penguinman:

You enter "penguinman, penguin jeep" and you will get all of penguinman's uploaded files and all other mentions of the penguin jeep - BIG list : :

If you type in just 'penguin jeep' however, you can see the results are much better - success! :original:

[alloy61]

It is worth knowing that words of 2 letters or less are ignored in the main searches, along with a few common words  (e.g. the, many, who, what, where, help).
The downloads search option is slightly different - you can enter in part of the download name - e.g. if you search for 'monk' it will show you all the monkey downloads. The search engine will ignore phrases of 3 letters or less however.

Choosing the right words to include in your search can mean the difference between success and failure, so be sure to try out a few different combinations. :hacker:

And remember - your default browser settings will hide very old threads from your view in the forums normally, but the search button will include them! So even if you don't see a topic in a forum area it doesn't mean that one isn't there to help you out.

:supersmil
Now you have mastered the search option you will be able to fly through the forums, getting fast and helpful information!

Of course, if after all this you still cannot find the information you are looking for then it may be your question hasn't cropped up before. If there's a topic that seems relevant to what you want, add the question into there. If not by all means start a new thread.
Above all though, make sure your post adheres to our Forum Rules.