Hey Island - I have always wished they would someday convert over to a standard Forum Template - then you can flag and follow threads etc...

I even have trouble with the clip feature on here... so I often find myself, searching over and over again to find the posting that had some little tidbit of information that I wanted to keep...

Some folks have great sucess with the clippings.. as I have perused thier pages :)

Sorry I cant be of any help - except to say I feel your pain!

~ D ~

I save threads I really like to my own personal favorites on my computer. I even set up a folder that I can put them in. I've also done a search on my own username when I can't remember the name of recent threads I've posted in to locate them.

Hope this helps you.

Bookmark them in your browser. I think with Google reader you may even be able to follow threads but there isn't anything on the actual forum.

I bookmark to favorites if it's something I really want to keep track of. I also save a shortcut to my desktop for things I want to check frequently. A word of warning if you do this. Make a folder on your desktop and name it sink, countertop, cabinets or something that tells you what it is. Put your shortcut links in the right folder or you'll be looking forever!

Saving threads so you can find them later or so you have them (and associated pictures) "forever"......

So you have a thread you want to save "forever" for later reference or that you just want to follow. What can you do? GardenWeb does not have a "Follow" function, so you cannot do it that way. You could "bookmark" the thread in your "favorites" or "bookmarks" on your local machine. You could "clip" a post in the thread so you can get back to the whole thread. You could also search Kitchens (using the search box on the bottom of the Kitchens home page that has the list of threads) or by using Google or similar search engine.

Each of these has their strengths & weaknesses.

Bookmarking a thread: You can bookmark the thread in your "favorites" or "bookmarks" folder on your local machine. However, if there's a picture in the thread you saved that's later deleted or moved by the person posting the picture, you will no longer see the picture when you bring up the thread using your bookmark. This is b/c the bookmark brings up the thread updated to the the moment you used the bookmark..."right now". Additionally, if the thread disappears, you will no longer be able to access it. If this happens, you will get a "Missing File" page when you try to access the thread.

Clipping a post: You'll notice that each post within a thread has the option to "clip this post". By clicking on this option, the post is clipped and saved to your "My Clippings" (access it via: http://clippings.gardenweb.com/clippings/your username) It clips the post (and only that post) from the thread. When you later look at it in your clippings, you can click on the post's subject and it will take you back to the entire thread, assuming it's still available. You are limited to 50 clipped posts. Once you reach the maximum of 50, you will no longer be allowed to clip another post (or email it) until you delete at least one clipping. Another downside is that like bookmarking, if someone deletes a picture that's in the clipped post, you will lose that picture b/c when you access the clipping it's as of "right now". Ditto if you click on the post's subject to get to the thread...the picture will be gone there as well. [When clipping a post, keep in mind that only a single post within a thread is saved...the post where you click the "clip this post" link.] In addition, if the thread goes missing, you will not be able to access the entire thread. The clipped post will remain, but when you click on the post's subject, you will get the "Missing File" page.

Searching Kitchens: This works so-so b/c GardenWeb has a rather primitive search function. However, even that becomes useless once a thread drops off page 67 of the Kitchen Forum's thread list. Again, the thread is accessed in it's current state, so if a picture has been deleted, it will be deleted in the retrieved thread. In addition, if the thread goes missing, it will not be found via a search on the Forum.

Google search: Again, it's so-so b/c it's a basic search, not Forum-type functions like, for example, by thread author. However, you can often find threads that are "lost" to a GardenWeb search. (If you use this, include "site:ths.gardenweb.com" as part of the search criteria. It will limit results to pages/threads at GardenWeb.) And again, the thread is accessed in it's current state, so if a picture has been deleted, it will be deleted in the retrieved thread. Like the above options, if the thread goes missing, you will not find it via a Google search.

Saving thread to local machine: This will save the entire thread as it is at the time it was saved; i.e., it's a "snapshot" of the thread at the time you saved it. So, even if someone later deletes their picture online, you will still have it on your machine in the saved thread. However, if others post to the thread after you've saved it, those updates are not reflected in your saved version b/c that saved version is a snapshot of a previous time. You can re-save it again later...but be careful, if one or more of the pictures are gone, you don't want to save on top of the old thread b/c it will overwrite it and you will lose the pictures you previously saved...so save it with a new name (maybe w/a version #). Additionally, if the thread goes missing, you will still have it on your machine.

An example of a missing thread: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0919242822271.html (Subject: forestfire..please help me with my lists)

[BTW...if you have this file saved on your computer, could you please let me know by emailing me via "My Page" Thanks!]

So, how do you do each of the above?

To clip a post

1. Click the "click this post" item on the "clippings" section of the post.

   You will find this section in the upper right corner of each post. It also includes "email this post", "what is this?", and "see most clipped and recent clippings".

2. The post to be clipped will be displayed by itself on a page with the option to add notes at the bottom of the page. Add any notes you wish to remind yourself why clipped it or any other note.

3. Once you've added your notes (if desired), choose one of the radio buttons "public" or "private" to make the clipping public for everyone to see or private so only you can see it. Default is "public".

4. Finally, click the "Save to my clippings" button to save the clipping. It will be added to the end of your clippings list.

5. Note there is also a "cancel" button, click this button instead of the "save" button if you wish to cancel saving the clipping.

6. When viewing your clippings, you can view them in any of the following sort orders: "Last Updated", "Post Date", "Post Title", or "Forum Name". "Post date" is the default.

To bookmark a thread

Firefox:

1. Click the "Bookmarks" menu item and a menu will appear

2. Click the "Bookmark This Page" option on the menu. You will be prompted to specify where to put the bookmark. You can create a new folder, save it to an existing folder, or save it in the default location..."Bookmarks Menu". You can update the "Name" if you wish to.

Internet Explorer 7.0 and earlier:

1. Click the "Favorites" menu item and a menu will appear

2. Click the "Add to Favorites..." option on the menu. You will be prompted to specify where to put the bookmark. You can create a new folder, save it to an existing folder, or save it in the default location..."Favorites". You can update the "Name" if you wish to.

To save a thread to your machine/computer in html format

Firefox:

1. Click the "File" menu item and a menu will appear

2. Click the "Save Page As..." option on the menu. You will be prompted to specify where to put the saved page. This works the same as saving a file in any other product such as Word, Excel, etc.

Internet Explorer 7.0 and earlier:

1. Click the "File" menu item and a menu will appear

2. Click the "Save As..." option on the menu. You will be prompted to specify a location to put the saved page. This works the same as saving a file in any other product such as Word, Excel, etc.

To save a thread to your machine/computer in Word or other word processing format

Any browser:

1. Open up a new, blank document in MS Word or whatever your word processing application is.

2. Copy (usually [Ctrl-C]) the thread. I usually select & copy everything from the title of the original post to the bottom of the last post...this prevents you from copying the page headers & footers. To select only what you want, click & drag your mouse or click on the beginning, scroll to the end, and do a [shift] + Click. (To select all, use [Ctrl-A])

3. If you want, you can edit the thread in your word processing application.

4. Save it as you would any other document.

+++++++++++++

BTW...you're probably not receiving emails of follow-up postings, even though you checked the box requesting them. This is b/c you don't have the email option turned on in your profile. See the "Read Me" thread for more information. Scroll down to the post with the subject "Getting Emails Sent To You...3-step Process".

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

buehl,

You're a Jewel !
So much I didn't know....so much for me to play with now. lol

Thanks Amity!

I'm "dry running" the above post for an addition to the next "Read Me" thread!

Buehl, I'm curious. I know you didn't really ask......but.....you are dry running it so I thought I'd chime in. On the "To save a thread to your machine/computer in html format", what is the difference between the Firefox instructions and the Internet Explorer instructions? They seem the same to me and maybe don't need to be spelled out twice. BTW, I think you're right to add this to the "Read Me" thread.

Buehl

Using Google reader is a clean way to save threads you are interested in. It works better than bookmarking because your bookmarks list can get huge and unweildy

What you do is add "Note in reader" (from the Google reader page IIRC) to your toolbar, then everytime you are on a thread that interests you or you want to watch, just click the Note to reader button and it's added to your Notes in google reader. In Google reader you can also add a comment to your notes to remind you why you saved the thread.

Hopefully one day some kid at Google will remodel his /her kitchen, find this Web site and realize how antiquated it is for following threads and they will allow you to add threads to the actual reader section that way additions to the thread will be highlighted. Until then...

Thanks all for the tips and info and big thanks to Buehl, you went beyond the call of duty! I know how to use all the off site computer save methods mentioned and I read the new to GW info before, but wanted confirmation I wasn't missing anything.

I've been using the clip feature to save a post from a kitchen I really like and want to go back to for inspiration or product reference or a post from an interesting thread I want to follow for sure, but I know about the limit so have been using it sparingly.

It's keeping track of the new posts to threads I'm following that I was referring to. I was looking for a feature like they have at Chowhound or Trip Advisor for example. At those I can click on my profile and see all the threads I've posted to and at CH if something new came in since I last opened a thread it will be flagged "new". At TA I can choose to follow a thread and it will send me an email to let me know there is a new post even if I'm not the one who started the thread and I can choose to discontinue that too.
So far other than this thread I haven't started any of my own, so haven't turned on the email, but I will in the future if I do.

Thanks everyone for the tips and confirmation I'm not completely clueless! I love this site!

I also wish there was a way to manage threads I want to follow. Right now, I have a subfolder of my "Remodel" folder in my Favorites entitled "Threads to follow" where I save the active threads. Of course, I forget to delete the old ones so it gets messy.

GW seems very antiquated in this way!