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How can I do an 'AND' search

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    Very simple question. If I search for two words in a forum it returns all threads that contain either of the two words. I only want to see those  threads that contains both words. How can I do that? 
    Thursday, October 10, 2013 11:47 AM
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    Sorry, there is no provision for that. The more words you add to a search, the worse the results. However, if you search for two words I find that the first posts in the list generally have both words.

    Richard Mueller - MVP Directory Services

    Thursday, October 10, 2013 12:57 PM
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    This is a workaround and doesn't always give the best results, but you can use your favorite search engine and restrict the search with the site: keyword. I've never been able to search a specific forum with this method though.

    Don't retire TechNet! - (Maybe there's still a chance for hope, over 12,110+ strong and growing)

    Thursday, October 10, 2013 1:31 PM
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    you can use your favorite search engine and restrict the search with the site: keyword. I've never been able to search a specific forum with this method though.

    In that case, if "your favorite search engine" is Google, you can use its  inurl:  search term attribute to do that.  There is also a limited amount of path that you can add to the site: attribute for both search services which may be enough to try to filter out redundancy by language (though both have their own versions of a language: specifier.)   A problem with both forums is, especially Answers, that Google is not being shown all content, so even when you know something is there, unless you have saved a URL for it you may never see it again.

    Ref:

    https://sites.google.com/site/gwebsearcheducation/advanced-operators

    http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/ff808421.aspx

    <quote>

     You can use site: to search for web domains, top level domains, and directories that are not more than two levels deep.
    </quote>

     

    So, maybe this is BING's (weak) alternative to inurl:   Live Search once provided inurl: but it was soon dropped, citing misuse by "data-miners".  

     
    FYI


    Robert Aldwinckle
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    Thursday, October 10, 2013 3:59 PM
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    Hmm, interesting. I'm a DDG fan myself, but perhaps I'll have to give the googs another try.

    Don't retire TechNet! - (Maybe there's still a chance for hope, over 12,110+ strong and growing)

    Thursday, October 10, 2013 4:03 PM
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    I have the same question.

    Search should default to AND (finding post that contain all search-words only).
    Not offering AND makes search useless.

    And the number of results found should show at the top of the result list, not the bottom (as Google and Bing do it).

    • Edited by pmeinl Thursday, October 17, 2013 4:07 PM
    Thursday, October 17, 2013 2:54 PM
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    Sorry, there is no provision for that. The more words you add to a search, the worse the results. However, if you search for two words I find that the first posts in the list generally have both words.

    Richard Mueller - MVP Directory Services

    Right. The idea is that it gives the best matches at the top.

    Thanks!

    Ed Price, SQL Server Customer Program Manager (Blog, Small Basic, Wiki Ninjas, Wiki)

    Answer an interesting question? Create a wiki article about it!


    Thursday, October 17, 2013 11:25 PM
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    Sorry, there is no provision for that. The more words you add to a search, the worse the results. However, if you search for two words I find that the first posts in the list generally have both words.

    Richard Mueller - MVP Directory Services

    Right. The idea is that it gives the best matches at the top.

    Thanks!

    Ed Price, SQL Server Customer Program Manager (Blog, Small Basic, Wiki Ninjas, Wiki)


    Seriously?  That's all you can say about this embarrassing lack of functionality in the search tool?  You're the one who was wondering aloud why people were so annoyed with the forum redesign.  You are the one who asked "Isn't it easier to search for things now?"  Come on, Ed.  Why can't you guys admit that not allowing quoted text or logical operators in a search tool is pathetic?  I remember when there were 9 or 10 different internet search engines and no one was sure which one was going to filter to the top.  This was in the 90's and 00's.  Even back then there were logical operators and quoted text.

    Allowing the use of only two words to get even a semblance of a decent search result is nothing but lazy, sloppy coding.  In every single other search tool I have ever used, you get better results when using more keywords because it refines what you are looking for.  These are concepts that shouldn't even need to be explained to someone coding a search tool.

    Are you serious that this is the best the crack Microsoft team can do?

    Please do not read this sentence. Please ignore the previous sentence.



    Friday, October 18, 2013 2:54 PM
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