Choosing libraries and years

Every search looks only in the libraries you have switched on, across every year unless you set a range. The tool remembers your libraries in this browser; a year range lasts only for the browser tab you set it in. After a search, a line above the results says what was searched, for example "Searched 10 libraries, all years.", and its "Change" link opens the Filters tab.

Where the controls are

On the home page, before you search, a row of library chips labelled "in:" sits under the search bar. Click a chip to switch that library on or off. The change takes effect at once; there is nothing to apply.

Next to the chips is the "More Filters" button. After a search, the chips go away and a "Filters" button appears above the results instead. Both open Settings on the Filters tab, headed "Search Filters".

The Filters tab

• Libraries to Search. Twelve chips, one per library. Ten are on by default; Interpreter and the Apocrypha are off until you switch them on. What each library holds is described in The libraries.
• Time Period. "Year Start" and "Year End". Both are blank by default, which searches every year. A blank box means no limit on that side, so "1990" with a blank end searches 1990 onward. Nothing checks that the start comes before the end, so a start year later than the end year will hide every dated document until you correct it.
• How Many Results to Show. Any number from 1 to 100. The default is 20.

Changes are drafts until you click "Apply & Close", which saves them and, if a search is on screen, runs it again with the new settings. Cancel with unsaved changes asks whether to discard them.

What the year range does

Only documents that carry a date are held to the range: talks, magazine and journal articles, speeches. Scriptures, Gospel Topics, Hymns and the Apocrypha have no date, so they always come back in full whatever years you set.

With a range set, older or newer material stays out of view, and the line above the results shows the range highlighted. Clear both boxes to search every year again, or open a new tab: a range is not carried into other tabs or later visits.

The Advanced tab, briefly

• Accuracy Score (lower gets more results). How closely a passage must match before it is shown. The default is 40%. Lower it for more cards, raise it for fewer, closer ones.
• Passages per source. How many passages one talk or chapter may contribute. The default is 2; 0 means no limit.
• Include short chunks. Off by default. Lets very short passages into the results.
• Surface exact-phrase source card. On by default. Shows or hides the source card; the results list is the same either way.

Where your settings are kept

Your libraries, the result count and the Advanced settings are saved in this browser, not in your account, so they do not follow you to another device. Libraries are saved as the changes you made from the defaults, so a library added to the defaults from now on is switched on for you too. These settings also apply to links you open: a shared search or a link from a topic page runs with the libraries saved here, and with the year range of the tab it opens in.

"Clear search" empties the box and the results; your settings stay as they are. If a search comes back empty, the filters are the first thing to check; see When nothing comes back. How the search ranks what it finds is in How search works.