I am pretty new to D&D Beyond but I really like what you offer. I have really only found one pain point.
I wish there was a way to easily filter any search to only digital content I own. I could see doing this two ways.
1. A simple check or selection box for "Owned Content" 2. When displaying results have some sort of tag for content I don't own.
Where this is most frustrating is when searching for monsters or magic items. I set up my search query, I get a nice list of results. I find what looks like a good choice, I click on on it, and I am greeted with the store page for the item. Click back a few times and continue my search.
In a perfect world I would like to see both. There are times where I want to work quickly and not be distracted by stuff I don't own. Other times it might be nice to see what I "could use" denoted by a tag while I am looking for my next encounter.
It would be great to have this feature in both the Website and App.
A smaller quality of life improvement would be some way to match D&D Beyond content with the print page number. This way I can tell my players to "Check page 128 of their PHB" or other similar reference. It would also be nice when discussing D&D on various internet forums. Conversely an ability to put in a Print version page number and be taken to the D&D beyond content that matches that page would be awesome.
Welcome to D&D Beyond and thanks for the feedback! Yes, you've hit the nail on the head here. These are good call-outs and ones that I have been looking into for a while. I have documented your feedback for future consideration.
Regarding items you "could use," can you help me understand the functionality that you have in mind here?
I am pretty new to D&D Beyond but I really like what you offer. I have really only found one pain point.
I wish there was a way to easily filter any search to only digital content I own. I could see doing this two ways.
1. A simple check or selection box for "Owned Content" 2. When displaying results have some sort of tag for content I don't own.
Where this is most frustrating is when searching for monsters or magic items. I set up my search query, I get a nice list of results. I find what looks like a good choice, I click on on it, and I am greeted with the store page for the item. Click back a few times and continue my search.
In a perfect world I would like to see both. There are times where I want to work quickly and not be distracted by stuff I don't own. Other times it might be nice to see what I "could use" denoted by a tag while I am looking for my next encounter.
It would be great to have this feature in both the Website and App.
A smaller quality of life improvement would be some way to match D&D Beyond content with the print page number. This way I can tell my players to "Check page 128 of their PHB" or other similar reference. It would also be nice when discussing D&D on various internet forums. Conversely an ability to put in a Print version page number and be taken to the D&D beyond content that matches that page would be awesome.
I think he means he would like to be able to search D&D Beyond filtered by the content he owns so he knows exactly what he has available to see. If that is what he means, I agree as well. A more advanced version could be like a search by "Owned Content" or "Critical Role Content" etc. to help narrow it down even more.
I would also like to see a small quality of life improvement to be able to earmark pages on the desktop version and quickly jump to pages without having to go open each source book and find that paragraph/page. I love all the info just sometimes I can be tricky to find especially when it does not have a page number like lylemccracken brought up.
I agree and totally subscribe the original poster's request. I really don't want results outside the books I own (such feature may, of course, reduce up-selling chances for d&d beyond for other users)
In fact, I'd like to even filter for results only on SOME of my books: e.g. no point in getting copies from the Troll in both Monster Manual and Basic Rules.
In this case "could use" means stuff I could buy. Stuff I can use is stuff I already own.
Here is an example of what I am imagining:
I have searched for "vampire", I only own the three core books. Any listing that are not in the monster manual should have a little label or icon that indicates they are un owned. This way I can skim past them but at the same time if I don't find what I want I have a easy link to buy them.
Most importantly I want a simple way to filter results only to stuff I own so I can focus on designing my adventure without distractions.
I can to the forums specifically to see if this had been suggested yet. Ive been a subscriber for a long time now, and use DDB weekly to run my game. Filtering by owned content would make putting together treasure and encounters so much easier. I'm also hoping for random treasure tables (like the DMG has) but could incluse all your owned content. I know that last bit is a pipe dream and would be very, very complicated to implement in anyway whatsoever, but figured I'd throw it out there.
Really, really hoping they do add a filter by owned content option though.
The general consensus is a filter for owned content would be very valuable in narrowing down game data listings (monsters, spells, items, etc) to books that you own. Would you like similar functionality for the compendium? Would this frustrate you if you forgot to turn it off and then thought content wasn't on the site when it was just hidden from view?
As lylemccracken has pointed out, there is a line that I am thinking through on how to still present un-owned content that is purchasable while also not cluttering search or filter results with unowned content that's not immediately relevant. Always a balancing act!
Yeah you bring up a good point about forgetting if we had the filter on. In my mind it could function similar to how the encounter builder works where we can save the options of what sources we use and then change it as we go along.
As I honestly don't use the compendium content that often I can't really Gove a response to that portion.
If the filter by owned content was done in the same manner as the other filters (IE under the advanced filters menu) I dont think forgetting it was on would be a big issue. At least no more than leaving any other filter on. Or have a check box next to the search bar(s) to turn filter by owned content on and off.
I just wish I could tell between things I own and things I don't in the sources drop-down, but this is also a good idea. I like the search option idea as well. On the mobile app I can find my books easily. Not so much here. Especially since I don't own a lot of the adventure books and have memory issues as it is. I don't like that I have to get on my phone and on my laptop to search through my owned content.
Thanks for your thoughts here VaeloraEndanan. I have noted your feedback regarding the sources menu. You are right that the mobile app is ahead of us on this one!
Building on QoL suggestions related to search. The ability to search within a specific source book was asked 3 years ago and garnered 114 upvotes, yet is still not planned.
Just wanted to comment here to emphasize the other request for us to bring up sections of books by their page numbers. Especially when talking in other groups and forums where someone is quoting from a book with the page number, it would be so much easier to keep up with the conversation if my only access to the books was also numbered in a similar fashion.
I completely agree with the need for better search filters. I own several source books on D&D Beyond and also have hard copy versions of those and more. However, when I search for things here I obtain results from all over, in sources that aren't relevant or useful for my particular search. Some way to filter or at least order the results in a meaningful way is essential and I don't see why this functionality wasn't in place years ago. (this is especially true when searching the compendium sources)
Anyway, a filter for owned content would be really good. Similarly, an even more granular filter would be desirable - perhaps a list of check boxes for specific content/books in an advanced search feature - would be very useful. For example,this way, if you were looking for the specific version of a monster in content you were running you would be able to only search that content.
Another example, if you are looking for something in the DMG, you don't want results from Acquisitions Inc, Strixhaven, or the monster manual since they aren't relevant to your current search.
In my opinion, the best way to approach this without impacting existing functionality would be to provide an advanced search tab where the specific of the search engine sources used and results could be specified. The current interface to search would remain unchanged except for an advanced search button. Clicking this button would open a new tab that allows fine tuning of the search parameters including sources (both specific sources and owned sources could be options, you could also have rule sources, adventure sources, 3rd party sources as other limiting options which would represent pre-assigned groups of source materials). All of this is just UI once you have the search engine able to limit results by sources (you could in fact leave the search engine as is and just add a results post processor to prioritize display of results from the requested sources.
Finally, if you want to retain display of results from all sources as both an advertising feature and to allow the user to be aware that more, possibly relevant content is available, you could have all these results displayed AFTER the requested source results with a visible separator between the sections on the results listing. This achieves both the desired result of targeted searches for the user while still making the rest of the search results available both for reference and advertising sources.
Also, since the functionality for this is in an advanced search tab, it should be immediately obvious to the user which sources have been selected so that there is no concern about performing a search forgetting that you have only selected certain sources.
Anyway, since the code required is only a filter and modified display of existing search engine results based on specified source filters implemented on a separate page it shouldn't even be that hard to code.
One final request, and possibly the most difficult, it would be useful to include the page number from the original source materials to make it easier to reference but this depends on whether the page number is already included in your digitized source database. Adding page number references to all of the available text if they aren't already there would probably be the largest part of this sort of effort - the rest should be a relatively straight forward sort and display page with check boxes guiding the sort parameters.
Building on QoL suggestions related to search. The ability to search within a specific source book was asked 3 years ago and garnered 114 upvotes, yet is still not planned.
Thanks for the feedback LichBlast. Yes, search is something that is a particularly known issue and one that I have purview over. It's high on my list. I've noted your feedback.
Just wanted to comment here to emphasize the other request for us to bring up sections of books by their page numbers. Especially when talking in other groups and forums where someone is quoting from a book with the page number, it would be so much easier to keep up with the conversation if my only access to the books was also numbered in a similar fashion.
Thanks for chiming in Timkujawa. Book page numbers is also something I have on my radar. I know that it would be helpful for me too. I've noted your feedback.
I hear you regarding filtering search and listing results purely based on content that you own and an advanced search function with more options. Additionally, the ability to have inclusive and exclusive filtering (only this book, or everything BUT this book) is something I have my eye on. I know that would be a big boon for many in our community.
Regarding searching in specific sources, while you can't currently do that in the global search you can do it in the listings advanced search. See the attached screenshot for where it lives on the Monsters listings for example.
Lastly, regarding book page numbers, this is something that I am looking into for the compendium (books). Meanwhile, the game data listings do include this data. See for instance, https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/sea-elf where under the stat block to the right you can see this blurb, "Storm King's Thunder , pg. 70."
Sum up, a revamp of search and filtering is absolutely something that I want to do both from an accessibility standpoint and just generally. I think it could benefit the entire community. It's on my radar, alas, search is not quite as easy to solve with code as you might imagine, but we can handle it!
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Just another elf in the wide world.
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I am pretty new to D&D Beyond but I really like what you offer. I have really only found one pain point.
I wish there was a way to easily filter any search to only digital content I own. I could see doing this two ways.
1. A simple check or selection box for "Owned Content"
2. When displaying results have some sort of tag for content I don't own.
Where this is most frustrating is when searching for monsters or magic items. I set up my search query, I get a nice list of results. I find what looks like a good choice, I click on on it, and I am greeted with the store page for the item. Click back a few times and continue my search.
In a perfect world I would like to see both. There are times where I want to work quickly and not be distracted by stuff I don't own. Other times it might be nice to see what I "could use" denoted by a tag while I am looking for my next encounter.
It would be great to have this feature in both the Website and App.
A smaller quality of life improvement would be some way to match D&D Beyond content with the print page number. This way I can tell my players to "Check page 128 of their PHB" or other similar reference. It would also be nice when discussing D&D on various internet forums. Conversely an ability to put in a Print version page number and be taken to the D&D beyond content that matches that page would be awesome.
Hi lylemccracken,
Welcome to D&D Beyond and thanks for the feedback! Yes, you've hit the nail on the head here. These are good call-outs and ones that I have been looking into for a while. I have documented your feedback for future consideration.
Regarding items you "could use," can you help me understand the functionality that you have in mind here?
Just another elf in the wide world.
I think he means he would like to be able to search D&D Beyond filtered by the content he owns so he knows exactly what he has available to see. If that is what he means, I agree as well. A more advanced version could be like a search by "Owned Content" or "Critical Role Content" etc. to help narrow it down even more.
I would also like to see a small quality of life improvement to be able to earmark pages on the desktop version and quickly jump to pages without having to go open each source book and find that paragraph/page. I love all the info just sometimes I can be tricky to find especially when it does not have a page number like lylemccracken brought up.
I agree and totally subscribe the original poster's request. I really don't want results outside the books I own (such feature may, of course, reduce up-selling chances for d&d beyond for other users)
In fact, I'd like to even filter for results only on SOME of my books: e.g. no point in getting copies from the Troll in both Monster Manual and Basic Rules.
Thanks for taking a look at my suggestion.
In this case "could use" means stuff I could buy. Stuff I can use is stuff I already own.
Here is an example of what I am imagining:
I have searched for "vampire", I only own the three core books. Any listing that are not in the monster manual should have a little label or icon that indicates they are un owned. This way I can skim past them but at the same time if I don't find what I want I have a easy link to buy them.
Most importantly I want a simple way to filter results only to stuff I own so I can focus on designing my adventure without distractions.
I can to the forums specifically to see if this had been suggested yet. Ive been a subscriber for a long time now, and use DDB weekly to run my game. Filtering by owned content would make putting together treasure and encounters so much easier. I'm also hoping for random treasure tables (like the DMG has) but could incluse all your owned content. I know that last bit is a pipe dream and would be very, very complicated to implement in anyway whatsoever, but figured I'd throw it out there.
Really, really hoping they do add a filter by owned content option though.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
The general consensus is a filter for owned content would be very valuable in narrowing down game data listings (monsters, spells, items, etc) to books that you own. Would you like similar functionality for the compendium? Would this frustrate you if you forgot to turn it off and then thought content wasn't on the site when it was just hidden from view?
As lylemccracken has pointed out, there is a line that I am thinking through on how to still present un-owned content that is purchasable while also not cluttering search or filter results with unowned content that's not immediately relevant. Always a balancing act!
Just another elf in the wide world.
Yeah you bring up a good point about forgetting if we had the filter on. In my mind it could function similar to how the encounter builder works where we can save the options of what sources we use and then change it as we go along.
As I honestly don't use the compendium content that often I can't really Gove a response to that portion.
If the filter by owned content was done in the same manner as the other filters (IE under the advanced filters menu) I dont think forgetting it was on would be a big issue. At least no more than leaving any other filter on. Or have a check box next to the search bar(s) to turn filter by owned content on and off.
Good thoughts, a visual cue could be helpful in this instance, assuming we also add a label for our screen reading users.
Just another elf in the wide world.
You just make it a dual filter - include (only) owned content, exclude (only) owned content. The lack of exclude filters overall is an issue.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
Thanks for the thoughts here Pocketmouse. You're spot on, exclude filtering is something we are looking into in this regard.
Just another elf in the wide world.
I just wish I could tell between things I own and things I don't in the sources drop-down, but this is also a good idea. I like the search option idea as well. On the mobile app I can find my books easily. Not so much here. Especially since I don't own a lot of the adventure books and have memory issues as it is. I don't like that I have to get on my phone and on my laptop to search through my owned content.
Thanks for your thoughts here VaeloraEndanan. I have noted your feedback regarding the sources menu. You are right that the mobile app is ahead of us on this one!
Just another elf in the wide world.
No longer interested.
Search Within Book – D&D Beyond (dndbeyond.com)
Building on QoL suggestions related to search. The ability to search within a specific source book was asked 3 years ago and garnered 114 upvotes, yet is still not planned.
Just wanted to comment here to emphasize the other request for us to bring up sections of books by their page numbers. Especially when talking in other groups and forums where someone is quoting from a book with the page number, it would be so much easier to keep up with the conversation if my only access to the books was also numbered in a similar fashion.
I completely agree with the need for better search filters. I own several source books on D&D Beyond and also have hard copy versions of those and more. However, when I search for things here I obtain results from all over, in sources that aren't relevant or useful for my particular search. Some way to filter or at least order the results in a meaningful way is essential and I don't see why this functionality wasn't in place years ago. (this is especially true when searching the compendium sources)
Anyway, a filter for owned content would be really good. Similarly, an even more granular filter would be desirable - perhaps a list of check boxes for specific content/books in an advanced search feature - would be very useful. For example,this way, if you were looking for the specific version of a monster in content you were running you would be able to only search that content.
Another example, if you are looking for something in the DMG, you don't want results from Acquisitions Inc, Strixhaven, or the monster manual since they aren't relevant to your current search.
In my opinion, the best way to approach this without impacting existing functionality would be to provide an advanced search tab where the specific of the search engine sources used and results could be specified. The current interface to search would remain unchanged except for an advanced search button. Clicking this button would open a new tab that allows fine tuning of the search parameters including sources (both specific sources and owned sources could be options, you could also have rule sources, adventure sources, 3rd party sources as other limiting options which would represent pre-assigned groups of source materials). All of this is just UI once you have the search engine able to limit results by sources (you could in fact leave the search engine as is and just add a results post processor to prioritize display of results from the requested sources.
Finally, if you want to retain display of results from all sources as both an advertising feature and to allow the user to be aware that more, possibly relevant content is available, you could have all these results displayed AFTER the requested source results with a visible separator between the sections on the results listing. This achieves both the desired result of targeted searches for the user while still making the rest of the search results available both for reference and advertising sources.
Also, since the functionality for this is in an advanced search tab, it should be immediately obvious to the user which sources have been selected so that there is no concern about performing a search forgetting that you have only selected certain sources.
Anyway, since the code required is only a filter and modified display of existing search engine results based on specified source filters implemented on a separate page it shouldn't even be that hard to code.
One final request, and possibly the most difficult, it would be useful to include the page number from the original source materials to make it easier to reference but this depends on whether the page number is already included in your digitized source database. Adding page number references to all of the available text if they aren't already there would probably be the largest part of this sort of effort - the rest should be a relatively straight forward sort and display page with check boxes guiding the sort parameters.
Thanks for the feedback LichBlast. Yes, search is something that is a particularly known issue and one that I have purview over. It's high on my list. I've noted your feedback.
Thanks for chiming in Timkujawa. Book page numbers is also something I have on my radar. I know that it would be helpful for me too. I've noted your feedback.
Just another elf in the wide world.
Hi David42, thanks for your thorough feedback!
I hear you regarding filtering search and listing results purely based on content that you own and an advanced search function with more options. Additionally, the ability to have inclusive and exclusive filtering (only this book, or everything BUT this book) is something I have my eye on. I know that would be a big boon for many in our community.
Regarding searching in specific sources, while you can't currently do that in the global search you can do it in the listings advanced search. See the attached screenshot for where it lives on the Monsters listings for example.
Lastly, regarding book page numbers, this is something that I am looking into for the compendium (books). Meanwhile, the game data listings do include this data. See for instance, https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/sea-elf where under the stat block to the right you can see this blurb, "Storm King's Thunder , pg. 70."
Sum up, a revamp of search and filtering is absolutely something that I want to do both from an accessibility standpoint and just generally. I think it could benefit the entire community. It's on my radar, alas, search is not quite as easy to solve with code as you might imagine, but we can handle it!
Just another elf in the wide world.