# Question about searching by date

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 28, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081 "2017-10-28T16:48:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081/1 "2017-10-28T16:48:09Z")

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I am trying to search for a thread, related to the 2012 US federal election and I thought that there was a function that presented a drop-down calendar that allowed searchers to more precisely choose date criteria for a search. Is there a means of doing that or am I using the search function incorrectly?  
Thanks

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081/2 "2017-10-28T19:29:12Z")

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Google search has a calendar (click tools -\> custom range on your search results).

The SDMB’s search engine only has the one drop-down menu with 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081/3 "2017-10-30T18:59:31Z")

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> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Google search has a calendar (click tools -\> custom range on your search results).
> 
> The SDMB’s search engine only has the one drop-down menu with 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc.

As I’ve pointed out in the other thread several times, the new skin does not offer anything other a year ago (or shorter) and any date. No option for 2 years, 5 years, etc. Is there some reason this has not been fixed? We’re always hearing how taxing searches are on the system, so it would seem that we’d want people to avoid “any date” searches when possible.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081/4 "2017-10-30T19:08:05Z")

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I don’t know what is going on with fixes for the new skin. I’ll see what I can find out for you.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-searching-by-date/800081/5 "2017-10-31T13:56:22Z")

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> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> I don’t know what is going on with fixes for the new skin. I’ll see what I can find out for you.

Thanks. I don’t know how easy or difficult this fix is to do, but it seems like it should be on someone’s list to fix, if it’s not already.