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Use Windows Search for locating files and programs

By Margus Saluste

Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1 already have Windows Search, a powerful indexing and searching software,
preinstalled.
Windows XP has quite lame search capabilities by default. The somewhat functional search is still there, but well
hidden behind a cute yellow puppy (called Search Companion) looking for milk... err, files. Still the default search in
Windows XP is not good enough - you should download and install Windows Search 4.0.

In Windows XP, you can use the Windows Search Deskbar (press Windows Key+Shift+F to activate it), Search
button in Windows Explorer or open a Search Folder using keyboard shortcut Windows Key+F.

If the Deskbar is hidden in Windows XP, right- click an empty area of Taskbar, open Toolbars and click Windows
Search Deskbar.
In Windows Vista and 7, you can search using Start menu's
Search box, Search box in Windows Explorer, or Search
Folder (accessible via keyboard shortcut Windows
Key+F). There is not much difference between the latter
two, Search Folder is just a clean search window and Start
menu search displays fewer results with no previews and
helpful tips due to space restrictions of Start menu itself.
In Windows Vista, Start menu search does not allow usage
of kinds, such as "kind:picture".

In Windows 8 and 8.1, search boxes in File Explorer work just like in Windows 7, but keyboard shortcut Windows
Key+F opens the new Modern UI/Metro- style Search pane that looks for files. In Windows 8, it offers three last
searches that you can click for quick reuse; or you can type in a new search and press Enter. Windows 8.1 does not
offer recent searches the same way - it offers a previously used term on top only if some letters in Search box
match with it ("lightroom 5" is an example in the picture below).

Keyboard shortcut Windows Key+Q opens apps search in Windows 8, and Search everywhere (a global search in
your local and SkyDrive files, installed apps, available actions and the Internet) in Windows 8.1.
Windows Key+W opens Settings search in Windows 8 and 8.1.
In Windows 8, many Modern UI/Metro apps are also able to display search results - just click any listed app to see
its matches. To remove or pin (put on top of the apps list) any search- capable app, right- click (or tap and hold) it
and select Hide or Pin. App selection and pinning has been removed in Windows 8.1, but Search everywhere still
uses all search- capable modern apps.

In Windows 8.1 you can quickly switch between search types using
the down arrowhead button next to the current type. New types here
are Web images and Web videos.

Basic searches with Windows Search

Search results are based on both full and partial names. You could
find Minesweeper by typing in minesweeper or mine. Typing in
picture displays both My Pictures folder, picture files, programs
containing word "picture" in their name, etc.
The very important exception is that if you type in just letters, they
will be matched against beginnings of words - so typing in sol finds
Solitaire, but typing in taire finds nothing. To find by any letters in a
word, use asterisk mark (*). Typing in *taire will find Solitaire and
Spider Solitaire.

Windows 8 and 8.1 display folders in search results only if there are
files in it - empty folders are discarded. Libraries are still
displayed, even if they are empty.
After you type something into Start menu Search box in Windows
Vista or 7, most of Start menu contents will be replaced by search
results.
This searches for installed programs and items in Control Panel,
too - to find a place to change screen saver, type in screensaver
and you will see a list of items related to screen saver. To launch
Solitaire, type in solitaire and click on the relevant search result.
Actually, you do not have to type in the whole name, just sol will do
just as good.
All results will be grouped by type in Windows Vista and 7 - for
example, Programs, Control Panel, Pictures, Files, etc. This makes
it easier to distinguish between results.
If there are too many search results, click the link in the lower part of search results.
In Windows XP, it's called more...; in Windows Vista, it's Search Everywhere; and in Windows 7, it's named See more
results link above Search box. This will open a Search Folder window with all search results.
To clear search results and see Start menu contents again in Windows Vista or 7, click the X mark in the right corner
of Search box.
In Windows 8, search results cover the whole screen. More details for a found item are shown if you stop mouse
pointer on it.
In Windows 8.1, partial or full matches are displayed in the same Search pane. If there are no results, a list of
suggestions appears instead. To see the results in full- screen, press Enter key or click/tap the Search button
(magnifying glass icon). In full screen, you can click the black bar on the top left (or press Space key) to reopen the
current search in Search pane for modifications.
Windows 8 and 8.1 display a bottom scroll bar and hide Search
pane to display more results - press Windows Key+F or Windows
Key+Q again to restore the Search pane. To exit search results,
press Esc key repeatedly or press Windows Key once to open
Start screen.
Here's an example of Search everywhere results in Windows 8.1. There were no local or SkyDrive results, so Bing
is used to display its own suggestions. Note how videos and photos are prioritiz ed.
If you click the black bar (Results for "jessica alba") or press Space key, you can refine your search in Search pane.
The back button (circle with arrow pointing to the left) can be used to restore a previous search.

Finding items with Search box or button in Windows/File Explorer or Search Folder

Search button (in Windows XP) or box (in Windows Vista, 7 and 8/8.1) in Windows/File Explorer, and Search Folder
can sometimes be more convenient ways of searching for items.
The most important difference between those is that search results are limited to the active folder while using the
Search button or Search box - if you are in My Pictures folder, the results will be only from that folder, not from
anywhere else. Search Folder looks for items in all indexed locations.
If you did not find the needed item in a current folder, Windows Search can still look for the file or folder in all
locations without opening a separate Search Folder:

in Windows XP, click the current folder name and select All Locations;
in Windows Vista, click Advanced Search in Did you find what you were searching for section. Then select
Computer from the Location combo box (to search for absolutely all files, enable the Include non- indexed,
hidden, and system files option);
in Windows 7, click Computer under Search again in: section.
In Windows 8 and 8.1, open Search tab in Ribbon and click Computer (Windows 8) or This PC (Windows 8.1).
Using advanced search filters with Windows Search

In Windows XP, you can select the type of file to search for by clicking Other in results window and selecting an
appropriate item.

In Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, Search box in folder windows is helpful with syntax and criteria - it will display calendar for
selecting date criteria, suggestions for siz es, kinds, etc.
You can also use natural language filters, such as earlier this week, large, last year, etc.
As you can use multiple criteria for searches, Search box offers
additional criteria after specifying the first filter. Click on a filter to add.
In Windows XP, 7, 8 and 8.1, Preview Pane is active for larger previews
of pictures or videos, or file details. Windows Vista, 7 and 8 are also
able to display contents of text documents in Preview Pane. Use
keyboard shortcut Alt+P to show or hide Preview Pane in Windows 7
and later.
In Windows Vista, the Preview Pane is hidden by default, but you can
open it clicking Organiz e on Toolbar and selecting Preview Pane from
Layout menu.
In Windows Vista and later, when you feel that search is taking too long or you started a search in wrong folder, you
can always stop it by clicking the red X mark to the right of Address Bar.

Let's dig deeper - Windows Search syntax has myriad of possibilities. You can always combine multiple search
criteria by separating with spaces, for example type:jpg datetaken:lastweek cameramake:canon.

Using date and size ranges

First, you can always use relative dates such as today, tomorrow, yesterday as well as combinations of this, last,
past, coming plus week, month, year - thisweek, nextmonth, pastmonth, comingyear.

To specify ranges, use operators "<" (less than), "<=" (less than or equal to), ">" (greater than), "=>" (equal to or
greater than) and "..".

For example, to find a file with siz e over 100 kilobytes (KB) and containing a word "horse", use: horse size:>100KB.

To find a file created between 31/01/2009 and 26/02/2009, use: created:>31/01/09 <26/02/09. Please note that this
excludes files that were created on 31/01/2009 or 26/02/2009. To find those files, use: created:=>31/01/09 <=26/02/09
or created:31/01/09..26/02/09.

Rules for search criteria

Just like searching with and without quotes produces different results, there are rules for combining search criteria.
Suppose you want to use the same keyword - horse.

horse author:bill - finds everything that contains "horse" and has "bill" for author.
horse author:linus torvalds - finds everything that contains "horse" and "torvalds" plus has "linus" for author.
This is a common mistake made by people - search criterias must be kept together with quotation marks or
parenthesis (no space!), everything after space will be treated as a keyword again.
horse author:"linus torvalds" - finds everything that contains "horse" and has exactly "linus torvalds" for author.
horse author:(linus torvalds) - finds everything that contains "horse" plus has "linus" and "torvalds" somewhere
in author field (could be "linus benedict torvalds" or "linus torvalds" or "benedict torvalds, linus")
horse author:(linus OR bill) - finds everything that contains "horse" and has "linus" or "bill" as an author. Note
that OR is a boolean operator and it must be in capital letters, otherwise it will be treated as a keyword.
horse author:(linus NOT bill) - finds everything that contains "horse" and has "linus" for author, but not "bill".

You can always combine several keywords and criteria: horse author:"linus benedict" size:>10MB NOT kind:(video
OR picture).

Searching by kind

Suppose you want to find all photos with name containing "horse", but you have some documents and e- mails
containing "horse", too. Simply typing in horse is not very useful then. Use kind: to narrow down your search results -
"horse kind:pictures" finds only pictures that include "horse" somewhere. "horse kind:photo" does exactly the same.
Here is a list of possible kinds:

communications (e- mails and appointments)

contacts (also person)
docs (also documents)
 email
folders
im (for Instant Messenger conversations, for example Windows Live Messenger)
journal
link
meetings
music (also song)
notes
pictures (also pics or photo)
programs
tasks
tv (for Windows Media Center Recorded TV shows)
videos

So kind:music finds all your mp3- s, wma- s, wav- s etc. Please note that "email", "journal", "meetings", "notes" and
"tasks" work only if you have Microsoft Outlook or Windows Live Mail installed and configured with at least one e-
mail account.

You can also type in just pictures to see a list of photos or just video to see a list of videos.

Searching by type

If you have a large music collection and you want to find only mp3- s, not wma- s, use t ype: instead. For example,
mozart type:mp3. If you have many photos and you want to find only files with .jpg extension, use type:jpg. You get it,
right?

Searching by file properties

All files that Windows Search indexes have several properties that you can use in your searches: Suppose you want
to find a tune named "Canon in D" by "Johann Pachelbel" and you know you had it both in mp3 and wma formats
with wma sounding better. But the file has some pretty cryptic file name, something like "00jpcid.wma". Use
artist:pachelbel title:canon type:wma to find that file.
You can find Word documents created by you by searching for type:doc author:<your name>or all e- mails sent to
bill@ubuntu.com by searching type:eml to:bill@ubuntu.com.

Here's a selection of properties that you might find useful:

album
artist
author
bitrate
cameramake
cameramodel
cc
created
date
datetaken
genre
firstname
lastname
 modified
siz e
subject
title
to
track
year

This is not so easy at first sight, but it enables finding exactly the right file. You'll learn it very quickly really.

Saving and managing searches in Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1

If you repeatedly use one or more searches often, it is best to save the search with its filters for easy loading. First
create a search filter in Search box and after the results meets your need, click Save search button in toolbar
(Windows Vista and 7) or on Search tab of Ribbon.
You can also right- click an empty area of search results and select Save search from the menu.
Sadly, Windows Search in Windows XP does not offer such functionality.
In Save As dialog box specify file name if you want to and click Save button. As you can see, the file will be saved
in Searches folder of your profile.

In Windows 7 and newer, the saved search also appears under Favorites in Navigation Pane.

To load a saved search, just click on its name in Navigation Pane, or open Searches folder and double- click the
necessary item.

To rename a saved search, click on its name, press F2 key on your keyboard, type a new name and press Enter
key to confirm.

To remove a saved search from Favorites in Windows 7, click

on its name and press Del (Delete) key on your keyboard.
Please note that this action will not be confirmed and that
deleting a saved search from Favorites will not delete the saved
search file!
You can manage saved searches in your Searches subfolder of
your profile folder. To do that in Windows Vista and 7, open Start menu by pressing Windows Key and click on your
personal folder (your user name).
In Windows 8 and 8.1, use keyboard shortcut Windows Key+Q and type "searches" into Search box.

In Windows Vista and 7, open Searches folder. In Windows 8 and

8.1, the folder is already open.
Delete the files you no longer need. Please remember that if you
delete a saved search that still exists under Favorites, you will still
have to delete that saved search from Favorites, too.
Windows displays a somewhat misleading prompt then. Because
saved searches are treated as folders, you may safely click Yes
here - you are not deleting the whole Searches folder!

If you accidentally removed a wrong search, use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z to undo the last action, or use Recycle
Bin instead.

Managing folders in Windows Search index (Indexing Options)

By default, Windows Search indexes all files in users' personal folders and Libraries (Documents, Pictures, Videos,
etc) and items in default e- mail program. If you happen to have some important folder outside your personal folders,
you can manually add it to Windows Search for indexing. If you do not use any e- mail programs, you can exclude
these from index, too.

In Windows XP, right- click on Windows Search Deskbar and select Windows Search Options... from the menu.
In Windows Vista and 7, open Indexing Options from Control Panel. To do that,
open Start menu by pressing Ctrl+Esc on your keyboard and type indexing into
Start menu Search box. Click Indexing Options.
In Windows 8 and 8.1, use keyboard shortcut Windows Key+W to open Settings search and type "indexing". Then
click Indexing Options in the results.
Indexing Options window opens. Click Modify.
In Windows XP, select or deselect the items you want.
In Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1, click Show all locations to see all folders. Windows Vista users might have to click
Continue in User Account Control window.
In Indexed Locations window select or deselect the items you want. Never deselect Documents and
Settings (Windows XP) or Users (Windows Vista and newer) folder on Local Disk (C:). Never select whole hard
drives (Local Disks), select just the folders you need instead.
Click OK to close Indexed Locations. Windows Search will start updating its index right away.

Those who are using EFS for encrypting files and folders in Pro/Business or Ultimate/Enterprise editions
of Windows might not see all results - encrypted files are not indexed for security reasons. If you really-
really want to see encrypted files in search results, click Advanced button in Indexing Options window and
enable the Index encrypted files option in File Settings section.

Click Close in the Indexing Options window.

Windows 8 and 8.1 have some more options available in the PC settings app - read on to find out about these.

Clearing Windows Search history

Windows Search remembers previously used searches and automatically offers these later. To delete a few items,
stop your mouse pointer on a previous search and then press the Delete (Del) key on keyboard to remove the item
from the list.
If you want to clear the whole search history in Windows XP, activate Windows Search Deskbar box by pressing
WINDOWS KEY+SHIFT+F on your keyboard (or click on the Deskbar). Click the down arrow button of Windows logo
and select Clear Search History from the menu.

In Windows Vista and 7, emptying the whole history is not that easy. The safest way is to install a free program
called CCleaner and make sure the Other Explorer MRUs item is selected in the Windows Explorer section before
clicking the Run Cleaner button.

In Windows 8 and 8.1, open Settings Search using keyboard shortcut Windows Key+W and type "search". Then click
Delete search history or Clear search history. Actually, most of the results will take you to the same PC settings
Modern UI app.
PC settings opens in Search (Windows 8) or Search & apps
(Windows 8.1) tab. Click the Delete history or Clear button to
remove all performed searches.
There is no confirmation for this action in Windows 8, just "Done!" is
displayed after the action is complete. Windows 8.1 requires
clicking or tapping Clear button one more time in confirmation
prompt.
As you can see, you can adjust some additional options in this tab.

For Windows 8 users:

Show the apps I search most often at the top - if set to "On", puts the apps you use most often for additional
searches at the top of list, instead of sorting search- capable apps by name.
Let Windows save my searches as future search suggestions - this option enables or disables Search history.
Use these apps to search - here you can turn search capability in listed apps on and off. For example, if you
never use the Finance app for searches, turn it off and it will not be displayed in Search pane.

For Windows 8.1 users:

Use Bing to search online - these options turn search suggestions and web results on or off over normal and
metered (pay- per- megabit connections, such as 3G, LTE, some dial- ups, etc).
Your search experience - allows selecting between personaliz ed results with or without location data, and no
personaliz ed search results.
SafeSearch - here you can choose if you want to filter out adult text, images and videos (Strict); only adult
images and videos (Moderate); or no filtering (Off) from Bing results and suggestions.

Pausing Windows Search indexing in Windows XP

If you add many files (videos, for example) to Windows Search at once in Windows XP, Windows Search indexing
might slow down older computers temporarily while it indexes the new files. Windows Vista and newer are not
affected by such behaviour, probably Windows Search is integrated deep into kernel.
You can pause indexing by right- clicking on Windows Search icon (magnifier) in Taskbar Notification area. Then
click Indexing Status.
 You can also select Snooze Indexing from Windows Search icon right-click
menu. This disables indexing until next computer restart or until you click the
command again.

Select time to snooz e indexing for, click the Snooz e button and then click Close.