# Search

## Simple Search

The top of every page in FAIRsharing contains a free-text search box. Just type what you're looking for and press `enter`.

![Describe what you need to find in our quick search in the header of every page](https://1053539226-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-Mcht5-9Lysnv_oQFJJh%2F-Mkc_yatu1utgNY0o9cf%2F-MkcaIqDMKyzIV4LtEuG%2Fgeneral-search.png?alt=media\&token=ecbfb6da-5c40-4521-b918-b5294cb7e1c7)

## Browse and Search Registries

You can use the registry buttons (e.g. "standards") to the right of the search box to go straight to a list of those registry's records.

![Choose a registry (standards, databases, policies) to view, or browse our collections of records.](https://1053539226-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-Mcht5-9Lysnv_oQFJJh%2F-Mkc_yatu1utgNY0o9cf%2F-MkccVUWQNePDyWRH7wB%2Fregistry-buttons.png?alt=media\&token=539632f2-9769-4ce7-9f46-c4f5a658d8c3)

If you wish to search within a subset of our registry types, there is a filtered search available partway down our [homepage](https://beta.fairsharing.org/).

![You can select or de-select any of the record types available within FAIRsharing prior to searching.](https://1053539226-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-Mcht5-9Lysnv_oQFJJh%2F-MkcciEo7Hlqh2JdN_BE%2F-MkcdWHl--AkxasfZ813%2Fregistry-filtered-search.png?alt=media\&token=b7937587-46b7-473e-8fa2-19e2ba976fd9)

## Faceted Searching

Our richest searching is available from our main [search page](https://fairsharing.org/search). There are more than a dozen different facets for users to manipulate, which includes a free text search within the current search results.

![A portion of the left-hand menu in our search pages, showing just a few of the available facets.](https://1053539226-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-Mcht5-9Lysnv_oQFJJh%2Fuploads%2FNKZIlVfETwxLWcw6MlV4%2Ffacet1.png?alt=media\&token=27dab624-e38e-48d9-9deb-051e429cc3d0)

## Search Results

Search results are displayed on our search page either in a **stack** or a **grid**. You can choose between these two display options via their icons in the top right of the search results. You can also change the default **sort** method using the icon in the top left of the search menu (name - ascending or descending, abbreviation - ascending or descending, or best match).

![The right-hand menu within the search results contains links to the two display types: stack and grid. The left-hand menu allows you to sort results according to a number of criteria.](https://1053539226-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-Mcht5-9Lysnv_oQFJJh%2Fuploads%2FdQRL6LPtV8TF5pKkhtg6%2Fdisplay.png?alt=media\&token=05e6e24c-af42-4d6d-b015-c4203a4bc636) ![When logged in, you will also be able to access the "Download" button, which provides a summary of the search results.](https://1053539226-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-Mcht5-9Lysnv_oQFJJh%2Fuploads%2FHVhXPMctAxyqLOx3OvVt%2Fdownload.png?alt=media\&token=76526fef-9eae-441d-ab20-76a7fe6b1b50)

When you are logged in, there is also a "Download" button just below the paginated navigation. This allows you to download a summary spreadsheet of your search results for offline reference. Please note that:

* The delimiter for this file is the pipe symbol ("|"),
* row 1 is a header row, which defines the contents of each column: FAIRsharing URL, FAIRsharing DOI (where present), Record Name, Record homepage URL, and Search URL,
* row 2 is always empty except for the Search URL column, which displays the URL you used to create the spreadsheet,
* rows 3 onwards contain the search results themselves, and
* downloading search results that return large numbers of records could take a minute or more.