# How do I do a proper 'find'?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-proper-find/937334>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 6, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-proper-find/937334 "2021-03-06T14:42:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-proper-find/937334/21 "2021-03-10T08:38:20Z")

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> [@SCAdian](#):
>
> I did that twice – searched that thread for “Mustang”, once using the magnifying glass and once using Ctrl-F. Both times I got the same results **mordecaiB** did.

That’s because both the magnifying glass and ctrl-f bring up Discourse search; it overrides the standard browser ‘find in page’. You can still open it from the menu, or press ctrl-f twice to get it. I tried browser search on that thread just now and got no results for ‘mustang’.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-proper-find/937334/22 "2021-03-10T15:11:51Z")

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How is that different? I thought Ctrl-F _was_ using the browser.

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-proper-find/937334/23 "2021-03-10T19:44:10Z")

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If the topic is larger than the page size (I think 20 posts) then you’ll get the Discourse find by default.

- The browser find is attached to the address bar of the browser, at least in Chrome, and **can only find posts currently visibly loaded in the webpage**.

- the Discourse find will appear in the body / page of the browser where the content goes, and can find any posts or topics anywhere on Straight Dope discussions.

Oh and if you get the Discourse find and prefer the browser find (and understand its limitations, that is, it’s only searching what is currently loaded on the page), press ctrl+f twice.

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