Discussion:
Search for multiple words in outlook express (oe) newsreader
(too old to reply)
Philip Murphy
19 years ago
Permalink
I am really frustrated that I can't search for multiple words (in any order
i.e. not an exact phrase) when searching for text in newsgroups with outlook
express newsreader.

I've been trawling the web for hours and it hard to believe that I couldn't
find one message about this topic. It seems that this is something that a
user would most definitely want to do.

That is, I want to be able to find all messages containing all words in my
search criteria.

e.g. Will Grace

should find all messages with both words Will and Grace, but in any order
i.e. not the exact phrase "Will Grace"

Does anyone know how to do this?

Philip
Jim Pickering
19 years ago
Permalink
Unfortunately, Outlook Express cannot do that. It will search for an exact
word or phrase, but there is no way to use an "and" nor an "or" operator in
the search.
--
Jim Pickering, MVP, Outlook Express
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=F9F51EF1-4AE3-4D23-B2D8-1171988A62D6
Please deliver feedback to the newsgroup, so that others can be helped.
Thanks.
...
Philip Murphy
19 years ago
Permalink
Thanks for the reply. I would recommend this as a good feature request.

Cheers,

Philip
...
Jim Pickering
19 years ago
Permalink
It would be, but Outlook Express has reached the end of the line concerning
development. New mail products are on the horizon and now we get to
discover all the bugs and problems in the new products. There will not be
any further upgrades or development concerning Outlook Express by Microsoft.
--
Jim Pickering, MVP, Outlook Express
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=F9F51EF1-4AE3-4D23-B2D8-1171988A62D6
Post by Philip Murphy
Thanks for the reply. I would recommend this as a good feature request.
Cheers,
Philip
Robert Aldwinckle
19 years ago
Permalink
Post by Philip Murphy
I am really frustrated that I can't search for multiple words (in any order
i.e. not an exact phrase) when searching for text in newsgroups with outlook
express newsreader.
I've been trawling the web for hours and it hard to believe that I couldn't
find one message about this topic. It seems that this is something that a
user would most definitely want to do.
That is, I want to be able to find all messages containing all words in my
search criteria.
I have answered this before in various discussions.

There are essentially two approaches to handling compound searching in OE:
- multiple passes which capture or mark (or unmark) results
- exporting messages to be processed by a separate search procedure
(such as findstr which also may require multiple passes but can be
more flexible and easier to use.)
Post by Philip Murphy
e.g. Will Grace
should find all messages with both words Will and Grace, but in any order
i.e. not the exact phrase "Will Grace"
Does anyone know how to do this?
Simplest would be two passes. Assuming the Flag marker is not currently
being used or, if it is, that no messages currently marked contain Will:
1. Open a Find window for the least frequently used of the two strings
Ctrl-Shift-F Alt-a,Grace Enter
2. then Flag them all. Ctrl-a,Alt-M,a
3. then search for the other string only among the flagged ones
Alt-a Will Alt-g Enter
4. The result would be all the messages which contain both Will and Grace

Note: Forego the optimization of step 1 (the "least frequently used" selection)
if you already have flags in use which you think may contain Will but not Grace
and reverse the order you search for the two strings. If you happen to already
have flagged messages which contain Grace only, then you will be getting
incorrect results. If you suspect that this is possible you would have to do
something to avoid that problem--simple and doable but more work.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

Loading...