How to Search for Something on a Web Page on the iPad and iPhone

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Share the knowledge

More and more, people are performing web searches on their smart phones. It’s great to be able to do that, but it also can be frustrating to try to find what you’re looking for on that tiny screen, or without the full tools available to you with a keyboard or mouse. For example, how can you easily search for and jump to a particular word or term that’s down towards the bottom of a web page, and not visible at the top of the page?

By way of example, earlier today we were searching for information about whether Silk brand soy milk was made using GMO soybeans, or whether it was GMO-free. We entered the search term “Silk soy GMO”, and the first search result was the Silk website’s FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). But it turned out that the questions and answers about Silk’s use of GMO soybeans were way down toward the bottom of the site’s FAQ, well below the first (and even the second) page.

How to find the term “GMO”, and the GMO section, of the FAQ, without having to page down through the entire FAQ? How could we jump to where the “GMO” section of the Silk FAQ is?

Most people will note that the only search box in Safari on the iPhone and iPad is the one for searching the web. And you can’t do ‘control-s’ (which would ordinarily give you a “search this page” box or option in most browsers, on a laptop or desk top) because it’s just not an option on the iPad or iPhone.

20120329-183901.jpg

The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.

CashApp us Square Cash app link

Venmo us Venmo link

Paypal us Paypal link

Here’s the secret: you do type the term you want to find on the page into the “search the web” section of your browser window, but what you might not see is that waaaay down at the bottom of the “suggested search terms” that your browser will pop up is a section that says “On This Page”, and which also tells you how many times the term you are searching for appears on the current page.

20120329-184101.jpg

20120329-184144.jpg

Note: In some browsers and OSs (such as iOS 5.1 with the most current version of Safari, on the iPad 3), you will actually get a “Find on Page” box at the bottom of the page; the same combination on the iPhone 4S however (most current version of Safari, iOS 5.1) does not provide the search-on-the-page box at the bottom of the page, so it’s very useful to know this trick!

20120329-184223.jpg

A tip of the hat (or should that be a TIP of the hat?) to our good friend Tara for showing us this trick!

Get New Internet Patrol Articles by Email!

The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.

CashApp us Square Cash app link

Venmo us Venmo link

Paypal us Paypal link

 


Share the knowledge

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.