• Go to the main or full view of the forums portlet by clicking on Go to Main Screen in the bottom right corner of the portlet, or by clicking on the title of the portlet.
• Click on the blue    Search     tab just above the list of forum categories and topics.
• This will open the Search View window, with the following fields:
  Find in Messages - Enter a phrase to search for in this text field.
  Results Must - Choose to match all the words in the phrase exactly, match any of the words in the phrase, or match the phrase exactly.
  Find by Author - defaults to All Authors, but you may also select an author from a drop-down list of authors who have posted to a forum.
  Look in Topics - defaults to All Topics, or you may select a specific category or topic from a drop-down list of topics in this forum.
  Show Results From / To - Allows you to select a specific date or date range to search.
• Enter your search choices and click Search.

A list of Search results will be presented displaying the subject, message, author, date and time of the post.  You may click on the subject of any of these posts to view that particular post, but also a list of posts related to it (the original and any replies).  From here you will have the option to Reply to the post, as well.