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Help and FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
General Help
Other tips
Where to Search
By default, Searchtempest allows you to search all craigslist cities based on distance from your zip code.
If you prefer to choose states and cities manually, or if you live outside of the US and Canada, you can switch to manual or worldwide mode by clicking the Options link at the top-right of the homepage.
Keywords
Find ads with ALL or ANY of your keywords, or a complete phrase, using the buttons provided.
Enter keywords to search for in the first box, and keywords to exclude in the second box. (Ads containing ANY of the keywords in the second box will not be found.)
You can also combine these options using the new advanced keyword option. There are several options available.
Advanced Keyword Options
- Search for single words and phrases together:
"fire engine" red toy
- Combined AND/OR searches! Put OR terms in (parenthesis|with|pipes) AND terms are separated by spaces. IE:
(refridgerator|refrigerator|fridge) (cream|beige)
Note: The pipe character '|' can be typed by pressing Shift + backslash '\'. - You can also include negative keywords prefaced by hyphens:
(refridgerator|refrigerator|fridge) (white|cream|beige) -broken -"not working"
- Finally, use an asterisk* to end a keyword with a wildcard:
BMW (325*|328*|330*) (1998|1999|2000)
That gives you everything from a 1998 BMW 325i to a 2000 BMW 330, all in one search!
***Somebody at craigslist is playing with their keyword system at the moment, and they have 'temporarily' broken wildcard searches and phrases in OR searches. It looks like if you remove the parentheses and put your phrase at the beginning, one phrase will work, but not more. IE:"m3 convertible"|z4|335ci
is ok, but("m3 convertible"|z4|335ci) or "m3 convertible"|z4|"335ci convertible" or z4|335ci|"m3 convertible"
aren't. Hopefully they'll be fully working again soon (although I wouldn't hold my breath ;) ).
Note: There are some other limitations that have always been there. For whatever reason, it appears that including more than 8 negative keywords, or more than one negative key phrase (ie -"not working") causes problems. For reasons discussed in the FAQ, I'm limited in how much I can improve on the functionality provided by craigslist. Still, I imagine you'll find these options useful!
PS: Leave keywords blank to browse an entire category.
- Search for single words and phrases together:
Other Options
Searchtempest provides a number of advanced options. These are accessible via the Options link at the top-right of the search and results pages.
Options include...
- Major Cities Only:
Check the 'Major Cities Only' box to filter your results to only cities with large, active craigslists. Larger cities will tend to return more results.
Once the box is checked, a slider will appear. Drag the slider to choose what percentage of cities you want to show.
- Results Format:
Under the results tab, you have the option to choose a results format. The default enhanced format is recommended for most users. However, users without access to Java (or those whose tastes differ from mine) may prefer the stacked mode. The single-city mode may be useful for users only searching a small area.
- Save Recent Searches:
With this option checked, your last 10 searches will automatically be saved, so that they can be easily pulled up in the future. Note that you can also save a search forever by bookmarking its results page in your browser.
- Major Cities Only:
Big List Format - powered by Google
You can access this format (or any other) through the Results tab of the Options menu.
This one should help if you're searching for a rare item over a broad area, since you won't have to go through a bunch of cities with "No results found."
Keep in mind that the results are based on google's index, so there will be a slight delay (usually only minutes) from when an ad is posted on craigslist to when it shows up. The time saved from not having to slog through all the cities should more than make up for it though. :) Also note that when ads are deleted from craigslist they aren't immediately removed from google, so you may click on a few ads to find they're already gone.
The one other quibble is that if you select the "Has Picture" option, you'll only get ads with normal 'craigslist-hosted' pictures. Not fancy html ads with inline pics. So if it's important for you to get EVERY ad with pictures, you should either turn this option off, or use one of the other results formats.
Aside from no cities with 'no results', this mode has a few other big advantages.
You see a preview of the body of each ad, so you can screen some without even having to click on them.
You don't have to see the annoying "Few local results found" sections, where craigslist gives you results for cities other than the one you're looking at.
You can sort all results by date or by relevance.
Regardless, I hope you find it useful! If you have any comments, please head over to the forums and let me know. I read all suggestions and act on many of them.
Tips and Tricks
Save Search for Later
Your most recent choices will always be remembered for next time. To save multiple searches, just bookmark the results pages in your browser. When you open the bookmark, the latest results for that search will be shown.
To save the results from your search, you should bookmark the craigslist windows themselves. The easiest way to do this is to open the craigslist page in a new tab by middle-clicking on its link.
Browse Category
Leave the Keywords field blank to browse an entire category.
Use Tabs!
When clicking on ads inside the craigslist listings, you may find it handy to open the ads in new tabs. To do so, either middle-click on the ad (click with the mouse-wheel) to open the tab in the background, or hold CTRL and SHIFT while you click to open the tab and automatically switch to it. You can then either close the tab or leave it open and click back on the searchtempest tab to return to the craigslist results list.
You have Options!
Take a look at the Options links at the top of the main page and the results page. You might find something handy!
Manual Selection Mode
To choose individual cities instead of searching by zip code, select manual mode from the search Options (link at the top-right of the homepage). Once in manual mode:
To save time, double-click on list items rather than using the 'add' button.
To search an entire state, add its heading in the cities box (ie: 'california - all'). If no cities are chosen, this is the default.
To select a number of cities or states at once, hold <Ctrl> while clicking on them in the selection box, or click one, hold <Shift>, and click another to select the entire range.
To find an entry in one of the selection boxes easily, click on the box, then type the first letter in the entry's name. Continue pressing the letter to cycle through all entries that begin with that letter. (For example, to easily find California in the States box, click on the box, then press 'C'.)
