If you're looking for a post made by a specific person click on one of their messages and copy their account ID. Then put that number in the account ID box of the search page. Next try to think of a word they might have used in the message for which your searching. Sometimes they use an odd word or specific word that stays in your memory, and that can take you to their post. You do not need to choose a forum, and it depends on the nature of your search, as to whether you would want to narrow it that way. If you know it had a link or a picture, you can filter for those by checking the respective boxes.

The search engine does not look for alternative spellings, so it's up to you to get it right, and hope the post you're searching for also has it spelled correctly. If you don't find what you want, try another descriptive word. The broader your vocabulary, the better your chance of finding exactly what you want.

Of course you do not need to search for a post by a specific person. Just leave that field blank and search by key word - usually narrowing it by forum. For example:

I open the search page.

In the "Search for" box, I enter the word "reliability"

I skip the "account ID filter"

I leave the "search type" at the default "all sections"

I skip the link and/or image filters.

I select the A3 forum.

I leave the date range open to default.

I hit "Search!"

Voila! 170 hits! in descending order by date.

Now I usually open another window and drag those individual links into the spare window, thus allowing me to cross reference and/or jump back to the original search.

All this takes less than 2 minutes to do.

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As a side note, if I think this is a post I will want to find easily in the future, I try to think of the most common words that might be used to search for it, and I incorporate them into the message. The most helpful thing when making searches on virtually any search engine, is to have a flexible vocabulary.

Alfas
One Milano
Two Milano
Three Milano,
Four,
then you need to add
a 164

06 A3 2.0T (gone, sniff, sniff)
00 Dakota R/T
98 F355
08 RS4 Cab


You're not a proper petrol head until you've owned an Alfa. (Jeremy Clarkson)

Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence. (Napoleon Bonaparte)

IMPORTANT LINKS BELOW

"nOOb guide to AudiWorld in general"

"How to make a search on AW"

How to post multiple pics in one message.
[img src ="http-link-to-your-picture.jpg"]
Just replace the [ and ] with < and >