You can search for boards or specific messages by using the grey Search box found at the top of most pages in Yahoo! Message Boards.

1. Enter a keyword into the Search box.
2. Use the pull-down menu to choose the category or board you want to search in. You can also choose to search all message boards.
3. Clicking the "Advanced Search" link also allows you to:
• Select whether to search within some or all of the author, body, and subject fields.
• Search only the first message in a topic/thread or all messages.
• Search only within a limited date range.
4. Click the "Search" button.

Any matches found are displayed on a page with two sections. The top section includes a list of boards that matched your search and the bottom displays the individual messages matching your search.

If no results were found, you are asked to search again.

Here are some tips for using the Search feature.

Choose Words Carefully
Use specific words to describe exactly what you're looking for. More general terms return a larger number of results, so try to narrow your search.

For example:
try: "19th century chairs" instead of "old furniture"
use: "digital camera reviews" instead of "electronics"
Make sure to watch for words with more than one meaning. If you're looking for information on modeling, make sure you specify "fashion" or "clay."

Including and Excluding Words
By default, Yahoo! Search returns only pages that include all of your search terms. The exception is very common words such as "it" and "how." These appear in so many places, they usually won't improve your results.

Including Words: To include words, just type a plus sign (+) in front of each one. For example: If you want to see pages about the latest "in thing," search for "+in thing."

Excluding Words: To exclude words, type a minus sign (-) in front of them. No pages containing those words will show up in your results. For example, if you want to see pages about dogs with no mention of poodles, search for "dogs -poodles."

Either/Or
If you're equally interested in two or more alternatives, use OR in capital letters. For example, search for "new zealand kayaking OR biking."

Word Order
To search for an exact phrase, just put quotation marks around two or more words. For example, search on "to be or not to be" (typing the quotation marks into the box).