Search Help

What is Canadian Directories?

Searching

Search Results

Directory page display

Downloading the free DjVu browser plug-in

Enhanced (DjVu) view of a directory page

Standard view of a directory page

Printing a directory page

What is Canadian Directories?

Canadian Directories is a database of scanned, microfiche versions of pre-1901 Canadian directories.

Searching

Searches are performed on the full text of the directories. To search the database for a keyword, click on the "Search the Database" button located at the top of the page and then type your keyword(s) into the search box(es). You can combine your search terms using the Boolean operators "and", "or" and "not". In addition, you can limit your search to just one directory by selecting a directory from the drop-down list provided.

"and" narrows your search. Use the "and" operator between your keywords to find only those pages that have all of your search terms. For example:

1. In the first box, search for the term "Jones"
2. Click beside "and" and enter the term "attorney" in the second box

This search will scan the full text of the directories for pages that contain both of these terms.

"or" expands your search. Use the "or" operator between keywords to find pages with any one of the keywords entered. For example:

1. In the first box, search for the term "Smith"
2. Click beside "or" and enter the term "Stephen" in the second box

This search will scan the full text of the directories for pages that contain either of the two terms.

"not" narrows your search. Use the "not" operator between keywords to find all pages containing your first search term, but excluding a second or third term. For example:

1. In the first box, search for the term "tailor"
2. Click beside "not" and enter the term "draper" in the second box

This search will scan the full text of the directories for pages that contain "tailor" but not "draper".

Note: When using Boolean operators to combine three terms, the search logic puts parentheses around the first two terms. For example, to search for someone with the last name "Jones" and the first name of "Robert" or "Stephen":

1. In the first box, search for the term "Robert"
2. Click beside "or" and enter the term "Stephen" in the second box
3. Click beside "and" and enter the term "Jones" in the third box

The database will read this search as "(Robert or Stephen) and Jones". This search will scan the full text of the directories for pages that contain both "Robert" and "Jones", or pages that contain both "Stephen" and "Jones".

Search Results

The search results screen provides a list of the directories that contain your search term(s). The results list provides the title of the directory, the page number on which the search term was found and, if applicable, the section of the directory in which the term was found. Two view options are provided. Click on "Standard" for the plain page image or "DjVu" for zooming and panning of the page image.

Directory page display

The directory page display differs depending on whether you are using the standard view of a directory page or are using the DjVu browser plug-in for an enhanced view.

We recommend that you download DjVu for enhanced viewing of the directory images. DjVu offers users the ability to magnify, reduce and manipulate a directory image. Without the plug-in, the page display appears in a standard image format that cannot be manipulated.

On each page of the database, you will see the "Download DjVu" button for downloading DjVu and the "DjVu" button for using DjVu to display the enhanced image view. You only need to download the DjVu plug-in once and then you can use it each time you visit the database. If you have downloaded the plug-in, you have the option of switching back and forth between viewing images with the plug-in (enhanced view) or without (standard view).

Downloading the free DjVu browser plug-in

To download the DjVu plug-in, select "Download DjVu". This button links to an instruction page with links for downloading.

If you have downloaded the DjVu plug-in in a previous visit, simply click on "DjVu" to use the plug-in.

Enhanced (DjVu) view of a directory page

Once you have downloaded the DjVu browser plug-in, select "DjVu" to view directory pages with the plug-in.

The directory page is displayed in a frame, with a toolbar along the top of the frame. The toolbar allows you to manipulate the page image by zooming in or out on the image, rotating the image or highlighting a portion of the image. You can also search for a term in the page image. For information on how to use DjVu, see the DjVu help file, which can be found by right clicking on the image and selecting "Help".

The page display features sidebar navigation on the left-hand side of the page. In the sidebar are buttons that allow you to see the directory description, view the page in standard image format, or return to the results list.

You can jump to a specific page in the directory by typing a page number in the box beside "Go to Page". You can go to a specific section in the directory by selecting on of the sections listed below "Go to Section".

Standard view of a directory page

If you choose not to download the DjVu plug-in, you will see the directory page in standard image format.

The page display features navigation buttons at the top of the page to allow you to see the directory description, download DjVu, use DjVu for the enhanced view, return to the results list or jump to a particular page in the directory.

You may jump to a particular section in the directory by selecting a section from the list beside "Go to Section".

Printing a directory page

The method for printing a directory page differs depending on whether or not you are viewing the page in the standard view or the enhanced view (DjVu).

To print a directory page from the standard view, select "Print" from your browser's File menu. Both the page image and the sidebar information will print.

To print a directory page from the enhanced view (DjVu), select the print icon from the toolbar at the top of the image frame or right-click on the image and select "Print". In the enhanced view, if you select print from your browser's file menu only the sidebar navigation of the website will print. Note that if you are in the enhanced view but wish to print both the image and the sidebar information, you can easily toggle to the standard view of the page by selecting "Standard" and print from this view.