Improve search function in user manual

[alexs19751423]

This is for all forums (assuming they all share the same search engine); this certainly applies to Premiere, After Effects, Media Encoder and Photoshop.

Please please please can we have a proper search function in the online Help section as if searching a PDF. Below is an example from the After Effects section; I type "motion blur" (with or without speech marks) and the search brings up results containing both "blur" and "motion" and only one with "motion blur" (not the one I want).

I'd expect the company that makes Acrobat to be able to do this.

[Remote Index]

Hello alex etc.,

Upvoted.

Adobe seems to have a problem designing and implementing online search.

2023 - request for more powerful / focussed search

(nothing happened)

2023 - note about unsatisfactory search

(nothing happened)

2023 - request to fix broken searches of user posts and other issues

(this still doesn't work as advertised)

"I'd expect the company that makes Acrobat to be able to do this."

It is a bit shocking that Adobe doesn't seem to be able to address these issues - this is a company that advertises itself as savvy about the web. In practice, my experience has been they just ignore these problems.

R.

[alexs19751423]

Hi Remote

I did search for a similar post of this nature - but didnt find anything - (there's irony for you in a post about searching).

The thing is, if they got this right, many many people wouldn't need to resort to third parties such as Youtube or Reddit for their answers hence propagating potential misinformation. Often times when people are searching for answers they are in a hurry or having a problem and so their need for inforamtion is magnified by that urgency. It would be a big priority for me if I were an Adobe employee. Perhaps the information simply isnt getting through to the right people? Again, not a great situation.

Cheers

Alex

[Remote Index]

Hello Alex etc.,

"The thing is, if they got this right, many many people wouldn't need to resort to third parties such as Youtube or Reddit for their answers hence propagating potential misinformation."

I could not be more in agreement with your assessment of the situation. The documentation problems extend well beyond search.

Adobe needs to improve how it communicates support options to users.

Adobe needs to improve how it reports bugs and known issues.

Documentation needs to be improved.

We need a better way to report problems with documentation & help.

Currently, Adobe seems to be ignoring all the above issues.

Upvoting may help.

R.

[Ann Bens]

@alexs19751423 

All the Premiere Pro team can do is pass on the request as the online help is a different department within Adobe.

[Remote Index]

"All the Premiere Pro team can do ..."

While I appreciate the intent here, it's important to remember that actually documentation is part of Premiere Pro. It's not a separate thing. The "Premiere Pro team" includes those who are dealing with documentation. Users pay a monthly fee, they expect software and support. They also expect that Adobe would be interested in communicating to users about how the software works.

If Adobe views these things as somehow separate, this is part of the description of a problem, not an anwer to it.

R.

[Ann Bens]

You can grumble all you like, but that is how it is.

Ain't going to change any time soon.

I hardly ever use the search. Google is my friend.

[Stan Jones]

Upvoted. As Ann, I gave up on hoping for improvement years ago. But no objection to others pressing for improvement.

My main strategy is to use this google search (modified for after effects):

site: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects "motion blur"

Not flawless, but more on point than Adobe. How hard can it be to add the common quote marks to find a phrase?

PR:

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro

I still occasionally use an old pdf of the guide to find where in the guide something is discussed. But it is so out of date that it less often pays off.

Stan

[Stan Jones]

New post to add a correction:

If you search in the helpx guide, it does NOT respect quote marks. In the forum search, it does. It tells you the options in the advanced search, but they work in all of them.

Should definitely be added in the helpx search.

Stan

[alexs19751423]

Appreciate that Ann, and I am a big fan of using Google, however there should surely be a single source of truth for all apps and Google is not it; added to which, if a function doesnt exist in the manual, it's not going to turn up in a Google search at all, unless from a third party. If someone is having an issue, before they report a bug or post to a forum, the first port of call should always be the manual jsut to check they are doing things right - speaking as an editor and trainer who often has to deal with and implement workflows that are entirely undocumented, it is not a good luck and doesnt instil confidence. I see it as a marketing issue as much as anything else.

[Ann Bens]

The thing is Premiere does not have motion blur so it won't turn up in a search.

Transform effect has shutter angle which can act as motion blur but is not documented as such.

[alexs19751423]

Ann. My original post was not about Motion Blur in Premiere Pro, it was
about the search function for all the apps and I did say it was for all the
forums. I was simply posting in Premiere Pro because the post had to go
somewhere.

My example and screenshot were from the After Effects HelpX section, not
Premiere Pro and as I am sure you know, AE does have Motion Blur.