I use three anagram tools generally.
wordsmith.org/anagram/advanced.htmlI usually start with this one, but be warned you are going to get a HUGE amount of result if you ask for ALL, which is what I usually do
Use ENGLISH+OBSCURE in the options for words that do not usually appear in a standard dictionary like names, places etc. Unfortunately that also gives those stupid scrabble words that mean absolutely nothing and really increase the result count
Also the must include/exclude word option can be really useful
finally if you want a list of possible words that exist in the anagram use the 'Show candidate words only' option. This can be unbelievably helpful especially if you have an idea of what the anagam might contain or is related to
Because the above tool produces so many results I use the following anagram solver if I think I have a word that might be used.
www.wordplays.com/anagrammerthe cool thing bout this solver is that you can select words to be used, or drag words to the bin that should not be used. Gradually you can narrow down an anagram that actually makes grammatical sense. The problem with this solver is the dictionary it uses must be fairly limited, it simply does not catch the words that the first solver can use.
Finally the very best anagram solver out there by far is
www.fourmilab.ch/anagram/Its a command piece of software. so requires a download first
the great thing bout this one is that you can create you own dictionaries that the software uses. It comes with a reasonably good standard dictionary but I have dictionaries created with 5k most common words, 10k most common words, and various other sizes, and a modified version of the standard dictionary that I add place names, peoples names, or anything else that I might think would be useful that do not appear in standard dictionaries. The bigger the dictionary the more results you have to wade through, so best to use smaller dictionaries first and only use larger ones if you are not getting what you need.
THe output will be console text, but the trick I normally perform with this is to cut/paste this to Text file, convert it to a CSV file by replacing spaces with comma's and then importing that to an excel spreadsheet.
I have had this program running for hours on large anagrams and that can result in hundreds of thousands or sometime close to a million results. It's then a case of manually deleting lines in the spreadsheet that dont contain the usual words that you would expect to be in a grammatically correct sentence (a, the, was, is, at, he, she, or, which, where etc etc.)
Its a long winded process, and very time consuming, but if the other solvers dont give you a result but you are absolutely convinced you are dealing with an anagram this tool will get you a result. I use this tool only as a last resort but it has given results where everything else has failed.
There's hundred of other anagram solvers out there. Some are easy to use some are damn right fiddly. The main thing to consider with anagram solvers is the dictionary they use. Most of the online solvers use limited dictionaries and will miss names (such as Flamel), places, or technical terms. The advantage of a small dictionary is the limited results making it easy to identify a solution, the bad thing about small dictionaries is they will miss anagrams that include names, unusual spellings (common in the works of Shakespeare for example), and the names of places or cities. It's really a case of identifying which anagram tools you personally like working with and learning their limitations or advantages.
What I dearly would love to find is an anagram solver that only returns results that are grammatically/semi-grammatically correct.
What I mean by that is
Halfback Huger Molt is an anagram of
through black flame, but it makes no sense and should be immediately rejected. I would dearly love to find an anagram finder that would only give answers that make sense.
If anyone knows of one please let me know.