how do I print the list of google searches made on my computer?

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 23 May 2003 12:57 PDT

Do you mean the search results?  Or a list of the searches you've made
in, say, the past hour?

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Clarification of Question by glnewbold-ga on 27 May 2003 06:58 PDT

I mean the list of search topics done over the last week.  When I hit
the Pull Down to view the topics, I can see them, no problem, but when
I  try to print the page the list disappears.

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Request for Question Clarification by mcfly-ga on 27 May 2003 09:48 PDT

Hi Glnewbold,

Assuming that you are using Google Toolbar to make your searches, I
have found a way to list and print used searches.  However, they are
of the form:

list search history google toolbar=7664705043
print search history google toolbar=7664706617

where the =7664706617 is unwanted.  It is a relatively simple task to
remove these unwanted characters in Excel, and I can tell you exactly
how to do it, leaving you with a printable list like:

list search history google toolbar
print search history google toolbar

If you would like me to answer your question with this method, please
let me know.

Kind regards,

mcfly-ga :)

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Clarification of Question by glnewbold-ga on 29 May 2003 07:53 PDT

Yes, I would like to know how to do this.

Hi Glnewbold,

Printing a search history from the Google Toolbar is actually
surprisingly complex since there is no way to select multiple sets of
search terms from the bar's drop-down menu.  Although there are a
number of shareware applications available on the internet which allow
modification of the history, none I found allowed multiple selection
or printing.  One program which I did find to be useful however was
Google Toolbar History Mate, available from:

Google Toolbar History Mate (GTHM)
http://www.fadsoft.com/GTHistoryMate.htm

The following method relies upon the use of this program which can be
downloaded for free from the above site in about 2 minutes on a normal
56K dial-up connection.  Additional features of the software allow the
manipulation and archiving of search terms.

Having downloaded the GTHM application, double click on 'goodel10.exe'
in the folder you selected the download to be saved to.  This will
start the installation process and following this through with default
values will install the GTHM to 'C:\Program Files\GTHistoryMate'. 
Obviously you can select a different location if you so wish.

Once installed, the GTHM can be accessed through the Windows Start
Menu, and on being run will display your history of search terms.  You
have the option of removing unwanted terms at this juncture.
Unfortunately, it is still not possible to select multiple sets of
terms directly or print the information.  However, having read the
Google Toolbar history, on being closed the GTHM software will save
the history to a file called 'history.ini' in the folder which you
installed the program to.

To access 'history.ini', use My Computer to open 'C:\Program
files\GTHistoryMate', then double click on the 'history.ini' icon to
open it with Notepad.  This will have contents similar to:

[OPTION]
FirstRUN=NO
[HISTORY]
pagerank google toolbar=7664703630
list search history google toolbar=7664705043

To extract your search terms from this, open a second Notepad document
by typing 'notepad' in the Run section of your Start Menu.  Using the
Edit menu on Notepad, copy and paste everything below the [HISTORY]
marker in 'history.ini' into the blank document.  This will leave you
with something like:

pagerank google toolbar=7664703630
list search history google toolbar=7664705043

Save this new document to somewhere simple such as your Desktop as a
text document, for example 'history.txt'.  It is important for the
next step that it is saved as a .txt file.

Now, open Excel and start a new blank spreadsheet.  Go to <File>,
<Open>, and browse to your Desktop location in the Open window. 
Select 'Text Files (*.txt)' from the 'Files of Type' menu at the
bottom of the window.  Your saved 'history.txt' should appear above,
and double-clicking it will start the opening process.

The reason behind using Excel is to remove the '=7664703630' from each
set of search terms.  Once you have clicked 'Open', you will be
presented with the 'Text Import Wizard' with 3 steps to complete.
On the first step, select the 'Delimited' option then click 'Next'. 
On the second step, you will be asked about delimiters.  Select the
'Other' option and enter an equals sign = in the box beside it.  This
will separate the search terms from the numbers by using the = sign to
define the split.  Click 'Next' again, then click 'Finish' on the
final step.

You will now be presented with a spreadsheet with all of your sets of
search terms in column A, and lots of numbers in column B.  Simply
click on the B on the column heading to select all the numbers, then
press delete, and hey presto!, you have all of your search terms in
printable format.  If you wish to do any further formatting etc. then
do so, then click <File>, <Print> to print your list of searches.

I appreciate this is likely to be far from the simple method you were
hoping for when you first posted your question.  However, there seems
to be no easy way to print a search history, and I hope you find the
above technique feasible.  Maybe Google will put a printing option in
the next version of the toolbar!

If you have any problems getting this method to work, or would like
clarification of any area, please do not hesitate to ask before rating
my answer.

Kind regards,

mcfly-ga :)



Search strategy:

pagerank google toolbar
list search history google toolbar
print search history google toolbar