Step SearchTM Selector Help

• How to Find a Product
• Two Ways to Search
  • Single-Select Mode
  • Multi-Select Mode
• More Information on How to Find a Product
  • What "Options" Are
  • How to View Feature Help
  • How to Back Up During Your Search
  • How to See a List of Similar Products
  • How to See a Comparison Table of Similar Products
  • How to View a Product Datasheet
• Step Search Selector Basics

1.	Select one or more options you want to search by. That will narrow your search to all products having the options you picked.
2.	Choose additional options--in the order that's important to you--to continue your search. Each new Selector shows your picks, your remaining choices, and the number of products that match your selections.
3.	or	Refer to Feature Help to learn more about available options. Click the feature name or the icon adjacent to the feature you would like information about.
4.		Backup during your search as needed. UNDO an option you have previously picked, or start over by clicking Reset Selections or Start Over.
5.		View a Part Number List, if available, of all products having the options you selected. Click View List to see the List.
6.		View a Comparison Table of all products having the options you selected. Click Compare to see the Table.
7.		Look at the Datasheet for your selected product. Click on the hyperlinked part number on the Comparison Table, Part Number List, or Step Search Selector to go to a datasheet, or click Browse Datasheets, if available.

1. Single-Select Mode
2. Multi-Select Mode, aka Turbo-Mode

Example:
• For example, if you are searching for a Notebook, and most important to you is that it be made by IBM, choose that first. Then, the screen will redisplay showing only options still available based on your IBM selection. If second most important to you is that it have a 166 MHz processor, choose that next. Again, the screen will redisplay showing only available options. Continue selecting options until you find a product with your desired specifications.

Example:
• For example, if searching for the same Notebook as above, you can choose both IBM and 166 MHz processor at the same time, along with any other options that are displayed, such as 3 GB hard disk and 32 MB memory, and click Search only once. If 32 MB is the last option you pick, and only 16 MB is available, 32MB will be dropped and 16 MB will be selected for you. In this case, since an exact match cannot be found, the program will provide a "best match."

Example:
For the feature "Processor Speed (MHz)," options include 133, 166, 180, etc.

The button adjacent to each feature on the Step Search Selector and Comparison Table indicates whether Feature Help is available. Feature Help can also be available even when there are no icons next to the features. The feature name itself can be a hyperlink to the help information. (You can also tell whether there is help information if your cursor "arrow" changes to a "hand" when you position it over the icon or feature name.)

or	These images indicate there is help information for the corresponding feature.
, or	These images indicate there is no help information for the corresponding feature.

How to Back Up During Your Search

1. Undo any option you have previously picked by clicking the option again.

   UNDO is helpful when you don't want to start over in your search. You can UNDO at any time after making at least one selection; and, after you've made several selections, you can UNDO them in any order.

2. Reset the Selector and start over by clicking:

   

   Reset is useful when you want to clear all selections that have been made in that product family and start a new search.

Click View List to see all parts matching the options you selected on the Step Search Selector. Each part number will be shown in its own row, with links to navigate to other pages within the catalog. You can even create your own custom Comparison Table by selecting from just those products you would like to compare.

How to See a Comparison Table of Similar Products

Click Compare to view all features for all matching parts. Each part number will be shown in its own column, making it easy for you to view side-by-side the differences among the products.

When you can "Compare" is based on the number of matching products. Each family has its own threshold, or maximum number of matching products, which governs when Compare appears. The threshold is usually set at 8 parts, but may differ from one family to another.

How to View a Product Datasheet

1. Comparison Table

   Narrow your search to a Comparison Table. All parts having datasheets available will be hyperlinked. Click on a hyperlinked part number in the Table, for example Thinkpad 380D, to view its datasheet.

2. Part Number List

   On the Part Number List, all parts having datasheets available will be hyperlinked or there will be a separate column with links to the datasheets. Click on the link to view that part number's datasheet.

3. Step Search Selector
   • Narrow your search to a single part number. If a datasheet is available for it, the part number will be hyperlinked. Click on the part number to view its datasheet.

   • Narrow your search as you normally would. If during your search all matching parts have datasheets available, Browse Datasheets may appear next to Compare (Browse Datasheets is not always available):

     

     Click Browse Datasheets to view the first datasheet. Then use Forward and Back to scroll through the datasheets for all matching products:

     • Use Forward to continue to the next product's datasheet.

     • Use Back to go back to a previous datasheet.

Before a Selection is Made

1. Text
   For options displayed as Text, those that are available to be selected will be hyperlinked. Select an option by clicking on the hyperlinked text for that option.

2. List Box
   For options displayed in a List Box, scroll through the list to see all available options by clicking the up or down arrow (there may be more options than you can see at first in the box). (If you click on the down arrow in the example shown above, you will see "Toshiba" at the bottom of the list.) Select an option by clicking on the desired entry in the list, then click the adjacent "GO" button.

   To select more than one option from the List Box, hold down the Shift key or the Ctrl key while highlighting multiple entries in the list. Use Shift to select several consecutive options; or, use Ctrl to select several non-consecutive options. You can select multiple entries only if the List Box is more than one row high.

Radio Button	Check Box	List Box
Apple IBM Sony Toshiba No Preference	Apple IBM Sony Toshiba	--No Preference--AppleIBMSonyToshiba

1. Radio Button
   A Radio Button will be displayed next to each selectable option. Choose one option by clicking on the button next to the corresponding option. If you click "Apple", then click "Toshiba", only "Toshiba" will be selected. If you change your mind after clicking a button, and you don't want to make any selection for this feature at this time, click the No Preference radio button.

2. Check Box
   A Check Box will be displayed next to each selectable option. Choose one or more options by clicking in the box next to the corresponding option. If you change your mind after clicking a box, just click on it again to de-select it.

3. List Box
   The first option shown in a List Box in Multi-Select Mode is "--No Preference--", which allows you to de-select an option you have previously selected. Scroll through the list to see all available options by clicking the up or down arrow (there may be more options than you can see at first in the box). (If you click on the down arrow in the example shown above, you will see "Sony" and then "Toshiba" at the bottom of the list.) Select an option by clicking on the desired entry in the list.

   To select more than one option from the List Box, hold down the Shift key or the Ctrl key while highlighting multiple entries in the list. Use Shift to select several consecutive options; or, use Ctrl to select several non-consecutive options. You can select multiple entries only if the List Box is more than one row high.

Single-Select Mode

1. Hyperlinked Bold Text
   "IBM" indicates that you have selected this option. You can click on it again at any time to UNDO it.

2. Bold Text
   "IBM" (sometimes bracketed, "[IBM]") indicates that this option has been forced due to your previous selections. You cannot click on a forced option to UNDO it because you did not choose it directly. But, undoing other features may result in a forced feature becoming selectable.

3. Standard Text
   "IBM" indicates that this option has become unavailable due to your previous selections. Here are a few examples:
   • [Apple] | IBM | Sony | Toshiba

     "Apple" has been selected but you can still see the other manufacturers. If you want to choose a different one, you must UNDO Apple to make all manufacturers selectable.

   • [Apple] | IBM | Sony | Toshiba

     "Apple" has been forced but you can still see the other manufacturers. If you want to choose a different one, you must UNDO one or more different features to make IBM or any other manufacturer selectable.

   Sometimes unavailable options are not displayed; it depends how the catalog author set up the catalog you are using.

Multi-Select Mode

Radio Button	Check Box	List Box	Bold Text
IBM Undo Selection	IBM	--Undo Selection--IBM	IBM

1. Radio Button
   A marked radio button with a colored bold or [bold between brackets] value means you have selected this value. You can click on the Undo Selection radio button to UNDO this selection at the next search.
   Example: [IBM] OUndo Selection

   Check Box
   A marked check box with a colored bold or [bold between brackets] value means you have selected this value. You can click on the check box to UNDO it at the next search.

   Example: [IBM]

   List Box
   In Multi-Select Mode, the list box values stay in the list box unless they are forced, in which case they look like example "4" below. If the value is not forced, but has been selected, the list box looks like this:

   Example:

   --Undo Selection--IBM

   Bold Text
   Bold or [Bold between brackets] without a check box or radio button in front of it means that this value is forced due to your previous selections.

   Example: [IBM]

   You cannot click on a forced feature value to UNDO it because you did not choose it directly. But, undoing other features may result in a forced feature becoming available for selection.

   Unavailable Selection
   There are cases in Multi-Select Mode when one of the options selected is not available. If that happens, you will see something like this:

   Example:  [Sony]   Dropped: IBM

   This means that based on your previous selections, the remaining products available are not made by IBM, but made by Sony only. If you want one made by IBM, you need to start over by clicking Reset Selections or Start Over and choose IBM first.

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