The simplest way to use the
search function is to enter one or more search terms into the search
box, with spaces between words. If you are viewing a document when
you click on the search box, a pull-down menu will appear on the
right side of the box to give you the option of searching either
within that document or across the entire site. Notice that as you
type, the site will prompt you by displaying, below the search box,
names of people, places, topics, and events found on the website.
You can select any of the prompt words, or just finish typing your
search terms.
The search results display on the left side of the
screen. The search tool will return documents that include all of
the words searched for. By default, results are sorted by relevance,
meaning that documents with a higher frequency of the search terms,
and with terms found closer together, will appear at the top. By
using the “Sort by” pull-down menu on the upper right side of the
screen, you can choose to sort results alphabetically or
chronologically instead. A four-line preview is provided with each
search result.
Note that any search
automatically includes expanded and variant forms of the search
terms. For example, searching for blessing
will also return instances of bless,blesses,blessed, and blessings. Note that searches are not case sensitive, so
searching blessing will also return instances
of Blessing, and vice versa. As with most
search engines, you can use quotation marks to search for an exact
phrase, such as “pillar of light.”
You can refine any search by using
“Refine search by” in the right column of the search page. The
categories for narrowing are Type, Date, Glossary, People, and
Places. Narrowing by type excludes documents in series or genres
other than the one you have selected. Narrowing by people, places,
and dates excludes documents that do not include the person, place,
or date range you have selected. Clicking “Search transcripts only”
will exclude reference materials, historical introductions, and
other editorial material.
You can continue to narrow by
additional categories if you wish. For example, if you have narrowed
your search to include only the genre “Papers,” you could narrow
further by including only those documents that include Oliver
Cowdery and Independence, Missouri.
When you click on a search result,
you are taken to the first page of the document. Your search term
will be highlighted. Note that some of your results may appear in
footnotes; click on the highlighted footnote markers to see
them.