Finding a File or Folder

Unless you’re incredibly well organized, have a great memory, or never create any files, you’ll probably forget where a particular file or folder is located. Windows provides powerful searching that you can use to find files by their name, their size, the date they were created, or even by a word or phrase contained in the body of the file. You can start a search directly from the Start menu, from an Windows Explorer window you’ve already opened, or by opening a Search Results window.

Searching from the Start Menu

Searching from the Start menu is handy when you don’t have an Windows Explorer window open and when you want to be able to start searching the Internet as well as your computer. To search from the Start menu, follow these steps:

1.  Click the Start button. Windows displays the Start menu and displays an insertion point in the Search box just above the Start button.

2.  Type your search term. As you type, Windows searches and displays a list of hits in the left part of the Start menu .

3.  If the item you want appears in the list, click it to open it. Otherwise:

•    To see the full list of results, click the See All Results link. Windows opens a Search Results window showing the results. Double-click an item to open it.

•    Click the Search the Internet link if you want to start searching the Internet for the search term. Windows opens Internet Windows Explorer and searches using your current search engine.

Searching from an Open Windows Explorer Window

If you’ve already opened an Windows Explorer window, you can start searching by typing in the Search box in its upper-right corner. Windows searches within the current folder and displays the results it finds. Double-click an item to open it.

Searching from a Search Results Window

For the most powerful and flexible searching, use a Search Results window. Follow these steps:

1.  Choose Start   Search. Windows opens a Search Results window with the basic Search features displayed, as shown here.

2.  For a simple search, type in the Search box. Windows searches the entire index and returns results. You can double-click an item to open it, or click one of the buttons on the Show Only bar to view only those items. For example, you can click the Picture button to restrict the list of search results to pictures.

3.  For an advanced search, click the Advanced Search button at the right end of the Search bar. Windows displays the Advanced Search bar, as shown here.

4.  In the Location drop-down list, choose where you want to search:

•    Choose Everywhere to search through your entire file system. The search may be slow because some of the folders are not indexed for searching.

•    Choose Indexed Locations to search through the index of all the folders Windows is set to index for searching. The search will be quick, because searching the index is much faster than searching through folders.

•    Choose one of the drives in the list to search only that drive.

•    To search only one or more specified folders, click the Choose Search Locations item. Windows displays the Choose Search Locations folder .

•    In the Change Selected Locations box, select the check box for each folder you want to search. Windows adds the folders to the Included Locations list in the Summary of Selected Locations box. You can exclude a subfolder of a selected folder by clear- ing the subfolder’s check box. Windows then adds the subfolder to the Exclusions list in the Summary of Selected Locations box.

• Click the OK button. Windows closes the Choose Search Locations dialog box and adds the details to the Location drop-down list.

5.  Use the Date line of controls to specify any date criteria by which you want to search. You can choose Date, Date Modified, Date Created, or Date Accessed in the first drop-down list; Any, Is, Is Before, or Is After in the second drop-down list; and the date in the third drop- down list. For example, you might choose Date Modified Is after 9/10/2007 to find only files modified after September 10, 2007.

6.  Use the Size line of controls to set any size criteria you want to use. In the drop-down list, you can choose Any, Equals, Is Less Than, or Is Greater Than. For any choice except Any, type the size in the Add a File Size box. For example, you might choose Size KB Is Greater than 1,024 to find only files of more than 1MB 1,024KB.

7.  Select the Include Non-Indexed, Hidden, and System Files check box if you want to broaden the search to include files that Windows isn’t set to index, including hidden files and system files. Searching these files slows down the search, so select this check box only when you need the most thorough search for files you’ve lost.

8.  In the Filename text box, type the entire filename or part of the filename:

•    Enter only as much of the name as you’re sure of. Usually, it’s better to get multiple results from a search using part of the name than to get no results from using search criteria that are too specific and not quite right.

•    If you know the extension of the file, include it. If you’re not sure of the extension, omit it.

•    You can use the wildcards asterisk * and question mark ? to increase the scope of your search. The wildcard * represents any number of characters, while ? represents just one character. For example, searching for Letter* returns a list of all files whose names include the word Letter and have one or more characters after it, while searching for Letter? returns a list of all files whose names start with Letter followed by another character.

9.  In the Tags text box, type any tag information by which you want to search.

10.  In the Authors text box, type any author name you want to use in the search.

11.  Click the Search button. Windows returns any matching results. You can click one of the buttons on the Show Only bar to view only those items. From the Search Results window, you can perform most actions that you can from any Windows Explorer window:

•    Select a file to display its information in the Details pane.

•    Double-click a file to open it.

•    Press the Delete key to move the selected file to the Recycle Bin.

•    Drag a file to another folder.

•    To open the folder that contains a file you’ve found, right-click the file, and then choose Open File Location from the context menu.

Saving a Search

After you’ve performed a successful search, you can save the search criteria so that you can repeat the search easily in the future. To save the search, click the Save Search button in the Search pane, type a name in the Save As dialog box, and then click the Save button. Windows saves your searches in the Searches folder in your user account, which is normally a handy place to keep them. To open a saved search, click your Searches folder in the Navigation pane, and then double-click the search.

Configuring Searching

Windows’ standard search options can be effective, but you may need to tune them to your needs before you can get the best search results. To configure searching, follow these steps:

1.  Choose Start   Computer. Windows opens a Computer window.

2.  Choose Organize   Folder and Search Options. Windows displays the Folder Options dialog box.

3.  Click the Search tab. Windows displays the Search page .

4.  In the What to Search group box, choose what to search:

In Indexed Locations, Search Filenames and Contents. In Non-Indexed Locations, Search Filenames Only    Select this option button for Windows’ standard searching behavior:

When searching an indexed folder, include the contents; otherwise, don’t. This search behavior produces good results fast, but you may need to change the list of folders that Windows indexes. See the section “Changing the List of Folders That Windows Indexes” in Article 10 for details.

Always Search File Names and Contents    Select this option button to force Windows always to search file contents even in folders that aren’t indexed. Your searches will be slower but more thorough. If you find you need content searches to find the right files, consider adding more folders to Windows’ indexing list.

Always Search File Names Only    Select this option button to make Windows confine searching to filenames. Your searches will be faster than if you search contents, but you forego the benefit of content matches.

5.  In the How to Search group box, select or clear these check boxes as needed:

Include Subfolders When Typing in the Search Box    Select this check box if you want to search subfolders as well as the current folder when you search using the Search box.

Find Partial Matches Select this check box if you want to find partial matches as well as complete matches.

Use Natural Language Search Select this check box if you want to use “natural language” searches - ones in which you specify a search phrase such as “document created last week.” Natural language searches can be effective, but you may get better results by putting your requests into computer terms.

Don’t Use the Index When Searching the File System    Select this check box if you want to force Windows to search through the file system rather than using the index. You’ll seldom need to use this option unless you suspect your index has become corrupted.

6.  Click the OK button. Windows closes the Folder Options dialog box, and you’re ready to search.