How to Search DaoSearch: Titles, Authors, Pasted Links and Filters

Most people type a title into the box at the top, get a list, and stop there. Which is fine! But the search takes a few other things too, and knowing them saves a lot of scrolling. So here's the full rundown.

Pick the platform first

The search box has a menu next to it showing the icon of the platform it's set to: Qidian, Fanqie, JJWXC, Faloo, Qimao or Zongheng. Browse results belong to the selected platform's catalogue. If a book you know exists isn't turning up, check the menu first.

You can jump to the search box from anywhere by pressing / or Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac). Press ? to see the other keyboard shortcuts.

Titles, in English or Chinese

Type the title in either language. The search checks both the Chinese title and our English translation, so Lord of the Mysteries and 诡秘之主 find the same book. Suggestions drop down as you type. Pick one to jump straight to the book, or hit enter to see every match.

Two tips:

• The Chinese is more exact. English titles are machine translations, and one Chinese title can come out several ways. They're being redone now with a glossary that uses the names English readers know, like "Lord of the Mysteries" and "Heaven Official's Blessing" (more on that), but if you know even a few characters of the Chinese, use them.
• Short and distinctive beats long. Two unusual words hit more reliably than a whole title typed from memory.

Your sort still applies

A search narrows the catalogue down to the matches, and the catalogue's sort decides their order. By default that's the platform's usual order: Qidian by monthly votes, Fanqie by reads, JJWXC by favorites, Faloo by total reads, Qimao by popularity and Zongheng by clicks. Pick another sort, like Updated, Words or All-time reads, and the same matches reorder.

That makes loose searches useful. Search "system" on Qidian and the most-voted matches come first, instead of whatever happened to match best.

Authors

Open the filters on any Browse page and use the Author box, in English or Chinese. A few examples:

• 爱潜水的乌贼, "The Squid Who Loves Diving", the author of Lord of the Mysteries, on Qidian
• priest on JJWXC
• 三九音域 on Fanqie

Author names in English are machine translations too. Each pen name is now translated once and reused on every book by that author, so an author reads the same way everywhere. Most pen names are still jokes or phrases with no official English, though: 杀虫队队员, who wrote 十日终焉, reads "Pest Control Team Member". So the Chinese pen name is the reliable one. And every book page links to the author's other books, so once you've found one, the rest are a click away.

Paste a link

Found a book on the platform itself? Paste its link into the search box and the book shows up as the suggestion right under it. These all work:

• Qidian: qidian.com/book/<id>, including the mobile m.qidian.com version. Qidian chapter links work too.
• Fanqie: fanqienovel.com/page/<id>, or the /book/<id> links the app's share button makes.
• JJWXC: jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=<id>, or the mobile m.jjwxc.net/book2/<id>.
• Faloo: b.faloo.com/<id>.html, including the wap.faloo.com and m.faloo.com versions.
• Qimao: qimao.com/shuku/<id>/, including the mobile version.
• Zongheng: zongheng.com/detail/<id>, and the older book.zongheng.com and mobile spellings.

It's an exact lookup by the book's id, so it works whatever the book is called this week. That's handy on Fanqie, where titles change a lot. It also ignores the platform menu: paste a Fanqie link while the menu says Qidian and you still get the Fanqie book. If we don't have that book yet, you get no result rather than a random guess.

Searching from outside the site

There's a plain search address too: daosearch.io/search?q=.... Add &source=fanqie, &source=jjwxc, &source=faloo, &source=qimao or &source=zongheng to pick the platform. Qidian is the default. Without a source parameter, a pasted book link takes you straight to its book page when indexed.

Set https://daosearch.io/search?q=%s up as a custom search engine in your browser and you can search DaoSearch straight from the address bar.

Filters worth knowing

The Browse page for each platform has the same core filters:

• Author
• Genre and subgenre
• Status: ongoing or completed
• Length: a minimum and maximum word count
• Updated: within 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years or 4 years of the author's last update. It's the way to tell a live "ongoing" book from an abandoned one. How to use it.
• Tags: include and exclude, matching all or any. Exclude is the underrated one. If harem is a hard no, exclude it once and it's gone from every search you run.

And one that depends on the platform: Audience (male or female) on Qidian, Fanqie, Faloo, Qimao and Zongheng, and POV on JJWXC, which is where you'll find the shou and gong leads for danmei.

The sorts are different per platform, because each platform counts different things:

Faloo's sorts are All-time reads (the default), Monthly reads, All-time flowers, Monthly flowers, Monthly tickets, Reward, Rating, Updated, Added and Words.

Qimao's are Popularity (the default), Readers, Must-read votes, Ratings, Rating, Updated, Added and Words. Zongheng's are Clicks (the default), Favorites, Monthly tickets, Recommendations, Fans, Updated, Added and Words.

Every sort also has a Descending and Ascending switch beside it, which is how you get oldest first or shortest first.

What those numbers mean: Qidian's, Fanqie's, JJWXC's, Faloo's, Qimao's and Zongheng's.

Every filter lives in the URL, so a search you like is a link you can bookmark or send to someone. Signed in, you can also choose Save search in the filters, give it a name, and find it again under Searches in the account menu. How saved searches and shelves work.

Broad searches show a capped count to keep browsing fast. Narrow the filters for an exact count; the stats page shows the full catalogue totals.

When you still can't find it

1. Check the platform menu. Seriously, it's usually this.
2. Try the Chinese title, or a chunk of it.
3. Try the author instead of the title.
4. Paste the link from the platform if you have it.
5. It might not be a listed book. Print editions, study guides, reviews and poetry are held but not listed. The stats page has the numbers.
6. It might be brand new. Books we found in the last day can still be waiting for their details and translation.

Still stuck? Ask on the Discord.