Hi guys! A lot of you have been asking about the Search Bar on Scratch quite frequently in the past few days. Despite the fact that it is in the FAQ Sticky (just a few topics above or below this topic), there has been a need to reemphasize this, make this more detailed, and make it easier to figure out how to use alternative ways.
While, yes, I am not part of the Scratch Team and cannot give an exact answer it is supposed to come back, I can tell you that this is only an experimental search bar being tested and will be upgraded to add functionality at some point.

Currently, you can only search Studios, Tags and Projects, and you cannot search for forum posts, or users/profiles. But with the handy Google Search engine, you can search up these different areas of the site.

STUFF YOU WANT BELOW (for those of you rushing.)

NOTE! It does take some time to index projects and studios to the search engine. As with most things, please be patient to have the engine put your project to the system.

To search a specific area, you need to enter the specific area of the site. You must enter site: to specify you are searching that particular part of the area. Once you have done that, DO NOT enter a space this will give you drastic results because you are basically saying you are searching any site, and DO enter in the main URL of the website after the command, which is scratch.mit.edu. Don't stop there, or else you will get funky results!
Enter in a specific path which is basically the route you want to go. For example…
will come up with users.
Here are a list of paths that may be helpful to you.

• /users - searches up users and profiles
  
• /discuss - searches up the forums.
  
• /project - searches projects.
  
• /studios - searches studios.
  

Once you have entered in the path, input a space, then enter your search term. You should come up with something like this in the search bar if you are searching up a forum with the name, private messaging.
BUT… If you still don't have what you want, you need to be even more specific. 78,600 results with unwanted results is quite a pain in the neck. To solve this, you can try a couple of things.

1. Use quotation marks around the search term. “private messaging”
   
2. Add more terms, such as usernames the post was made by or when it was made. “private messaging” by Paddle23
   
3. Use math in your search terms! It seems a bit odd, but using + and - symbols works by adding related and removing unneeded sites from your list. “private messaging” by Paddle23 -site:wiki.scratch.mit.edu
   
4. See what I did? Whenever you are entering a site name, you need to add site: before the preamble of the web address. Remember not to add any spaces between the preamble and site:
   

And there you have it! That's how you use Google to search Scratch.

Now, you may be wondering what the search button next to Discussion Home is. If you click on it, you will find a page that says, “Found 0 Topics; Your search returned with no hits.” While you may say, “It doesn't work,” you are somewhat incorrect. While yes, it doesn't completely work, it works for only certain functions of the forums. For example, when I click the “Show your posts” button, I come up with, “Found 1931 posts.” You can see that is different from the “Found 0 Topics” message. So yes, it does work, but it isn't made for custom searching.

Hope this helped! If I have any incorrect information, please let me know so I can edit it as quickly as possible and prevent any misconceptions. You can also ask for minor clarification as needed.
If you need any information, please look at the first 6 stickies! They provide some helpful information, especially the FAQ sticky, which has many answers to often asked questions. Or, just post it in this forum (not topic, forum please).

DownsGameClub wrote:

Hey y'all!

Here's a nifty video that can also help you on your search to find the topic you are looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOJSccxcQWI
If you have any questions about that, by all means, ask questions here!

I already do this, but this would be useful for Scratchers who don't know how.

nickeljorn wrote:

I already do this, but this would be useful for Scratchers who don't know how.

That's why I did it.

Very handy! Thanks so much for sharing this. I'm going to make it a sticky at least until we get Search working again in the forums.

Very helpful!

hey, new sticky!

Paddle2See wrote:

Very handy! Thanks so much for sharing this. I'm going to make it a sticky at least until we get Search working again in the forums.

powercon5 wrote:

Very helpful!

hey, new sticky!

Thank you!
Welp, time to change where FAQ section is… XD

Wow, this is the first sticky that I saw BEFORE it was stickied! Good job, DownsGameClub!

You can actually search tags too…

customhacker wrote:

You can actually search tags too…

Welp, better put that in there.

Congrats on the sticky!

I'll add a link to this in my FAQ just in case.

What happens if you put

on 
glide (3) secs to x: (9) y: (10)
move (3) steps

Wiltz111 wrote:

What happens if you put

on 
glide (3) secs to x: (9) y: (10)
move (3) steps

Well, test it in a project.

very useful, i never knew this before!

How do you follow yourself ?

Hey guys! While your questions are great, it may be better to create a new topic for other questions other than how to specifically search things on Scratch.

You can do so by clicking the link, or clicking “New Topic” on the top right corner on every forum page.
https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/4/topic/add/

How do you make

<touching color [#bffd7c] ?>           

do something?

Wiltz111 wrote:

How do you make

<touching color [#bffd7c] ?>           

do something?

I suggest you make a new topic here please: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/4/topic/add/

NICE!!!

How do I change my profile picture?

Nadya_Odaire wrote:

How do I change my profile picture?

Go to your profile and hover over the cat. Click change and select your picture.