Skip to content

Search improvements

← Help & Advice | Give us feedback | British Newspaper Archive

How can we improve the way you find and search our newspapers?

You've used all your votes and won't be able to post a new idea, but you can still search and comment on existing ideas.

There are two ways to get more votes:

  • When an admin closes an idea you've voted on, you'll get your votes back from that idea.
  • You can remove your votes from an open idea you support.
  • To see ideas you have already voted on, select the "My feedback" filter and select "My open ideas".
(thinking…)

Enter your idea and we'll search to see if someone has already suggested it.

If a similar idea already exists, you can support and comment on it.

If it doesn't exist, you can post your idea so others can support it.

Enter your idea and we'll search to see if someone has already suggested it.

  • Hot ideas
  • Top ideas
  • New ideas
  • My feedback

170 results found

  1. starting location for "edit text"

    When I do a search the result is identified by a blue box. If I then choose to edit the text, quite often the editing box is at the start of the page and it takes quite a bit of effort to move it into the region of the blue boxed text.
    So, it is highly desirable that the editing box starts in the area of the text highlighted in the blue box.

    5 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    1 comment  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  2. In the LH column Filter by Newspaper, could the list comprise most recent papers , before listing by alphabet option. Today's Monmouthshire

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  3. Sort by length

    I'd like to be able to sort not only by relevance or date but by length. When I am looking for the press coverage of an event, I am interested to find not those three-liners but the most comprehensive article I can get.

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  4. Pages are best copied if scanned, when flat.

    If one does not have the newspaper flat on the scanner, the image will blur and may not be copied at all. This certainly happened when the London Morning Post of October 30, 1856, was scanned. About half an inch of the inside columns was lost.

    4 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  5. Missing Pages in Suffolk Chronicle of October of 1856

    Is there some reason why only five pages, (out of four pages, and two pages of the Supplement), have been digitized? It is obvious that the missing pages exist, (as the edge of it can be seen on another scan, and the whole other side has been scanned), but these missing pages are not included?

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  6. Sometimes the template applied to a page does not match the underlying text

    When I search for Whipp 1 Sept 1910 Portsmouth Evening News, only about half the article appears to be digitised so show article text is not helpful in retrieving OCR text. Portsmouth EN seems to be more problematic than most

    7 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  7. Missing Pages in Bristol Mercury of October of 1835

    Something is quite wrong with the scans of the pages of the Bristol Mercury of October of 1835. Many are missing, and what is displayed does not necessarily match the page. How can one side of a page be digitized, and its reverse side is simply missing? I could understand if a sheet was missing, that both if its sides may be lost; but, one side digitized, and the other side isn't there? October 3, (3 pages); October 10, (2 pages, and page 1, shown, doesn't match the content for page 1); October 7, (2 pages); October 24, (3 pages);…

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  8. I am looking for a relatives death in 1962, but all I can do is remove the years from 1950-1999.

    Why can't I get into the 1960's archives. All it will allow me to do is remove the years from 1950-1999.

    3 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  9. Provide technical feedback on a selected extract

    Although there is provision to "add a comment" on a selected extract, there is no user-friendly invitation to add technical feedback. e.g. if the extract is illegible.

    8 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  10. The new results page is very confusing and not as straight-forward to use as the version I was using up until

    The new results page is not as straightforward to use as the edition pre Jan 2016. The earlier version was much less difficult to use.

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  11. Marking and copying text

    Why can't I mark text found on a page and copy it into a Word Doc? The NLA Trove system allows that here in Australia.

    12 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  12. Author search

    Hello,
    It would be very useful for readers to be able to search for articles written by a specific author. He is often indicated by a em dash in front of the name.
    Simply searching for the name of the author is not always a solution. I tried searching for articles written by Winston Churchill and had to seek the ones that are not just reporting about him.

    Best regards,
    Andrei Vasiliu, Târgoviște, Romania

    2 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  13. why has the 10% discount not been applied to my renewal

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    2 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  14. Rather than select a paper or region, deselect ones you don't need

    9 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  15. I HAVE JUST SEARCHED FOR THE WORD "THE" FOR THE 1 JAN 1963 TO 31 DEC 1963 - I CNAN'T WRITE ON THIS BECAUSE OF THE SPINNING THING

    JUST MAKE A SEARCH THAT GETS RESULTS, PLEASE - MANY THANKS

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  16. Add a "Go to page" button in search results. I want to start at page 64 of a recent search rather than click my way there a page at a time

    7 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    2 comments  ·  Search  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  17. I frequently wish to search for a particular address, such as 114a

    I frequently wish to search for a particular address, such as "114A East Street". Even when doing an advanced search for that particular string of characters, I am offered thousands of false hits that may contain the word "a". Is there a way I can tell the search engine I really, really mean that particular string of characters ONLY. Clicking the "Exact search" box does nothing to help.

    13 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    2 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  18. Save queries for future use

    I have been using the archive to carry out historical research. I would like to be able to save my query so that I can modify it from day to day - for example, I may only be interested in a particular date range and newspapers from a particular area so if I could store the query then it could act as a basis for searching for particular words or phrases without having to key in the dates and titles again.

    12 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    2 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  19. Better search engine

    The search engine on the Newspaper archive is too complicated

    6 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    0 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  20. Sorting results by date

    Right now, one can sort by date, but only most recent to oldest. I normally want to sort from oldest to most recent, but can't tell how to do it or if it can be done. Thanks.

    4 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
1 2 … 5 7 9
  • Don't see your idea?

Search improvements

Categories

Feedback and Knowledge Base

(thinking…)