How to Search for Images Using the Google Toolbar

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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With more than 11 billion individual Web pages, the World Wide Web is growing at an astonishing rate. The number of images on the Web is growing just as quickly with more than 880 million images available for viewing on Google Images. While finding what you're looking for can be time-consuming, the Google Toolbar offers a great variety of options to help you control your search parameters, making it easier to find the images you need. On Google Images you'll find photographs, drawings, cartoons, clip art, maps, posters, and book and CD covers.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Operating System: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows ME, or Windows 98
An Internet connection

Search Google Images Using the Google Toolbar

Step 1

Click the capital G in the search field on the Google Toolbar.
Step 2

Select Google Images from the drop-down box.
Step 3

Type your search terms into the search field then press enter to start your search.

Add a Google Images Button to Your Toolbar

Step 1

Click the Settings button in Internet Explorer or the Options button in Firefox on the Google Toolbar.
Step 2

Select the Manage option then choose the Buttons tab in Internet Explorer or choose the Search tab in Firefox.
Step 3

Place a check mark in the box beside the Google Images option.
Step 4

Click OK to save your changes and exit the window.

Search Images Using the Google Images Button

Step 1

Type your search terms into the search field on the Google Toolbar. Click the Google Images button on the toolbar to search.
Step 2

Click the Google Images button on your toolbar to navigate to the Google Image Search Web site. This is an alternative to Step 1.

Tips & Warnings

Google Image searches return a list of thumbnail images, along with the URL where the image is located and other information such as the size of the image file. Click on a thumbnail to view the picture in the context of the page where it is located or to see the full-size image on its own separate page.
To use Google Image search effectively, you'll need to focus your search terms as narrowly as possible. One good way of doing this is to define your search terms with quotation marks. This is particularly useful when searching for pictures of specific people or works by a particular artist.
If your screen resolution is low, you may have problems viewing full-size pictures. To increase your viewing space, hit F11 on your keyboard. This will remove most of the browser window, including your Windows taskbar. To bring it back, just press F11 again.