I've done some experimenting and have found what to me is a good way to save and search for posts on fishing or other boards you might be frequenting. I'm using Microsoft Word and also Microsoft Excel, however I'm sure other word processing and data base programs will work fine. Here is the step by step process I used to get started.

Using Windows 98 (others have similar options) created a new folder in MY DOCUMENTS called FISHING POSTS. Using Microsoft Word create a new document called TOP WATER TIPS. Start by entering bold-underlined-center aligned text at the top of the page which reads TOP WATER TIPS and save the document under that name and in the FISHING POSTS folder.

Open a post on any fishing board under that subject and holding down the left mouse button, highlight the text of the post you want to save. Then click the right mouse button and from the drop down menu select the copy option. Minimize Internet Explorer (or your browser) and open the TOP WATER TIPS word document from the fishing post folder. Position the mouse cursor where you want to place the post and click the right mouse button again. From the drop down menu select paste and the post is pasted to the TOP WATER TIPS document. Edit the text as necessary, add any notes or comments and save the document again.

Now open a new Excel worksheet, Lotus or any other spreadsheet program. Select a cell from the first column and type in TOP WATER TIPS. With that cell still selected, click the insert option from the tool bar at the top of the page and from the drop down menu select INSERT HYPERLINK. A data field will appear, requesting the link to the file or URL. Select the browse button and from there locate the file you created earlier called TOP WATER TIPS. Select or highlight that file and then click OK. The text in that cell in the spreadsheet should be now shown colored and underlined identifying it as a hyperlink. Select save as and title the new Excel worksheet FISHING POST INDEX and save the file.

Open the fishing post index sheet again and click the hyperlink for top water tips, the word document of that same name should immediately open. Spreadsheet programs are a good place to keep the index, because you can create the hyperlinks to the files and also sort the fields. You must make it a point to name the first cell with a key word for sorting later and obviously with the same name as the word document containing posts of that topic. Comments like author, date, notes can go in the cells to the right and if you sort correctly cells to the right will be sorted and stay locked with the first cell containing the key word. For example you could name the word document you are linking to spring, fall, winter, jig fishing, live bait tactics or any subject to group related posts. You can select the entire column that has the "key words & amp; phrases" and select sort. You can sort alphabetically and then easily find the entry you are looking for. Click the hyperlink and the word document containing all the posts on that subject should open right up.

Thought this might help those that were looking for a nice way to organize and search for related posts.