Help

The search bar lets you search using any combination of keywords, location and category.

• by Category - (the third box in the search bar) use this if you know the type of results you want to find

• by Location - (the second box in the search bar) use this to find results which serve your location.  Try a placename such as Paignton, or postcode (TQ3 3HF or TQ1) etc.

• by Keywords - (the first box in the search bar) type one or more words to describe what you are looking for (e.g. housing)

More advice on Category Searching

You can choose a category using either the drop-down menu 'v' at the end of the third box in the search bar or by scrolling down to the colour coded category tile buttons. If using the tile buttons, once having clicked on a button, you will arrive at that categories landing page. From the landing page, you can either see all records or choose a sub-category in the narrow by category box on the right-hand side of the page. you can further filter your search using the filter categories on the left-hand side of a search all records within that category page.

More Advice on Keyword Searching

Typing in a word or a few words into the Keywords box brings you back all entries that contain at least one of the words you have entered.  You can also use special characters to limit your results more closely.

The plus sign (+) before a word means that each of the results must contain that word, so the example search below brings back only records results containing both of the words housing and advice, for example:

+housing +advice

Using double quotes (") around your search words brings back only results that contain those words as an exact phrase, for example:

"badminton club"

Using search filters

Once you have your search results, you may be able to improve them still further by selecting one or more of the search filters which are displayed in lists on the left-hand side of your results. These filters allow you to limit results by subject area (such as 'Money Matters'), and by user group (such as 'Carers') and so on. The more use you make of the filters, the more focussed your results will be.

Sorting your search results

You can change the sort order of your search results using the options that are shown in the section just above your results. Depending on the type of search that you have done, your results can appear in any of the following sort orders:

• Sorted by relevance (i.e. the best match to your search)
• Sorted alphabetically (i.e. in A-Z order of title with numbers first)
• Sorted by distance (only if you have done a full postcode search)
• Sorted by user rating (i.e. results that have been given the highest rating by other users first)

On the Accessibility page you can adapt the text size and colour contrasts of this website only to meet your needs.

You may also find "My Computor My Way" useful, which gives accessibility advice and tips to make using your devices (PC, tablet, mobile phone) easier to use. This includes ways asking your Web browser to consistently display text using a larger or smaller typeface, to ignore the colours that we have used on this Web site or use your own preferred colour scheme.

Select the language you want this website translated into using the Select Language tool at the bottom right-hand corner of the webpage.

This website uses the Google Translate feature which instantly translates these web pages between English and over 100 other languages. Please note that the translation is done automatically by the Google software, not by the council.

There are a wide range of both free and paid for screen readers availiable.

Most web brousers have free screen readers inbuilt or application add-ons:

• Microsoft Edge has an inbuilt screen reader . Simply click your right mouse button and select "Read Aloud"
• Firefox has an add-on called "FoxVox"
• Chrome has am add-on called "ChromeVox"

Unfortunately there isn’t a specific plugin for Internet Explorer, however, Windows has a free setting called "Narrator"

Apple has a free setting called "VioceOver"

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is a free aplication that allows you to download PDFs and it is also able to read the text in them to you.

You may also find "My Computor My Way" useful, which gives accessibility advice and tips to make using your devices (PC, tablet, mobile phone) easier to use.

The Contact us page gives you details of all the different ways you can contact us for more help

To create a user account you will first have to register your account. You can register an account by clicking on the register/sign in tab at the top right-hand side of this webpage. After you have created an account, you will be able to use the same tab to sign into your account each time you enter the website.

Having a user account will allow you to save and manage shortlists and create and edit your directory listings (records). Please note that if you create or edit listings they will not go live until approved.

As you browse around this website you can build up your own personal list of services and activities to display here. Using lists is a bit like using the shopping basket function on online shopping sites. They provide a good way of collecting together information about services which may be of interest to you. When you are viewing your list, you can display a summary version or a detailed version of the list by selecting the appropriate link. You can also send the list to your printer.

If you have created and are using your own user account your shortlists will be saved to your account. If you are not using a user account the information will be stored in a temporary part of your browser, so if you close down your browser the list will be cleared.

You can add items to your list by clicking the 'Add to My Shortlist' button displayed alongside each item on your search hit lists or when viewing the details of an item. Items are removed by selecting 'Remove from My Shortlist' alongside that item. You can also clear the list at any time by going to the My Shortlist page and selecting 'Clear My Shortlist' from the Actions section.

This website is configured for mobile use so if you have mobile data turned on on your phone you can access it from your mobile phone.

Each record also has a share facility that allows you to send the record information via social media (facebook, twitter etc) or via an sms text to a mobile phone.

Each record will show a print button, within the actions section at the right-hand side of the record. Using the print button, your printer will print all of the information displayed on the individual record page.

The print button also appears at the right-hand side of shortlists, allowing you to print off your shortlist information. when using this easy print button with shortlists you can choose to print the record short titles only or full shortlist records.

Your feedback is important to us, as we want to ensure that you are able to easily find the information you are looking for.

There is an easy feedback button within the actions section, on the right-hand side of each individual record. There is an online contact form on the Contact us webpage, and there is also a Local Offer Survey which can be completed anonymously.