It seems that the search functionality in Windows 7 cannot be relied upon. For example, I have a folder with around 2000 files. Search indexing has been enabled for this folder for about 12 months, yet when I try a simple filename search it fails to locate files that I know exist. In explorer, I click in the search box and type "glebe" and hit enter. I know that there are seven filenames beginning with "glebe", plus two other filenames that contain the word "glebe". All files are more than six months old, and thus have had plenty of time to be indexed. It only finds two of the seven filenames beginning with "glebe", and none of the filenames containing "glebe". There does not appear to be any special feature of those two files that differentiates them from the others.
In addition, if I created a file a few hours ago and then try to locate it, there does not appear to be any guarantee that the file will be found. Thus the search is of no use at all; if I can't be certain that every file is found every time I search, I can't be certain that I'm not corrupting my data when I manipulate the files that the search does find because I may be leaving files unedited that must be edited. As the delay between a file being created, renamed or deleted and that change being indexed cannot be predicted by the user, even if the index did work correctly, I cannot be sure of how long to wait before the results become reliable. Therefore, even if the search system could be relied upon to deliver the correct results, this undeterminable delay renders it unusable.
I have tried reindexing the folder, which does not fix the problem but does provide a set of search results that are different, yet equally unreliable. I have tried this on several hundred computers running Windows 7 with identical resultsdditionally, the indexing service causes my computer to grind the hard disk for a large periods at random intervals, making my work inefficient. If I want to search for a file I am happy for the hard disk to be accessed to the extent that the file is located, but I don't want my ability to work efficiently to be impeded by indexing millions of files that I'm statistically unlikely to ever search for.
I'm looking for the best way to have the option of searching all files that I specify, regardless of indexing or file extension or anything, for file contents. I know this will be slow - that's fine. I understand the indexing, limited extensions, etc... are all meant to speed up the search, which is great for most usage, but sometimes it just doesn't do what I need.
I have followed the instructions to search for files in Windows 7 but have found the process very slow and the results bring up lots of irrelevant files. Find a file or folder. By comparison the search companion on XP was much faster and got more relevant results based on file name. If that didn't work there was the option of searching for text within the file. For example I know inside a folder there is a sub folder with the file I am looking for and I know part of the name. Is there a way to make Win 7 search for results based only on the file name? In most cases that would be a lot simpler. Otherwise win 7 will look in the contents of the file which is a time waster.
I have this absolute annoying issue with my Windows 7 Home Premium. If I leave my computer on for roughly an hour I will go and attempt to either rename a file or search a file in the normal os search menu. The second I type one letter the os locks up and I am forced to end the explorer.exe process. I have recently reformatted my computer no more than 4 months ago and prior to that I was given the same problem. I heard and read in select online searches this has to do with shell extensions of some sort
Why are certain details, such as Frame Height, allowed in Windows Explorer when looking in a specific folder, but are missing when searching the contents of the same folder?For example, I'm inside a folder (in details view) of video files and ask Explorer to show details of Frame Height. It will show that for certain file types. But when I search for one of the files by name, the Frame Height will be blank for the same file it just showed me the info for.
Running Windows 7 (6.1, SP1, 64-bit).Previously, I was using WinXP file search in classic mode. Predictable, reliable results.I'm finding Windows 7 file searching to be unpredictable at best.I have dozens files of the form xName-<date>, where x is my first initial,Name is my last name, and <date> is the file date (e.g. - "mSmithCV-7jan09.doc").When I use the Windows 7 search to find "name:smith", no files are returned.Nor will "name:*smith*" return any files.The search does return the files if I specify "name:mSmith" (i.e. - the beginning of the filename),but I have no confidence that the search is returning ALL of the files.
Is there a classic search mode? Or a simple, cost-effective third-party file search utility? Or even a way to get Windows 7 to find all files whose filename contains (but does not begin with) a specified string?[I find Windows 7 to be better than XP in most respects, but I really can't believe that this search functionality made it out the door.
it seems to me that Windows 7 search only works for arguments which occur in the front part of a long filename (less than 100 char's total without path).
Whenever I look for a string in the SAME filename that occurs at the end of the filename, Windows 7 search desn't seem to find anything.
I was looking for a file when I noticed it was gone. I fired up the Windows search engine and Search Everything, both of which said the file was still there. When I try to open the search result in any media player, it says the file could not be found.I already restarted my system, but both search engines still say the file exists. Is the file still there? I cannot find it with Undelete Plus, but it did find a lot of files that were recently deleted.
In Windows Explorer or My Computer, go to Tools | Folder Options. On the View tab, check "Display the full path in the address bar," and click "Apply to all folders." My Apply to all folders is greyed out!!!!Also Open Windows Explorer, Click View, Toolbars -Unlock if necessary, then tic/check the Address Bar Toolbar option, relock Toolbars.
I've got a file sitting in a folder within my Documents that Windows search is unable to see. I've searched for the title of the doc, I've searched for a phrase within the doc, it cannot see it.I've navigated to the specific folder that it is located in, so that the file is visible on the screen, done the search, it still cannot be found.I also tried modifying the file today so it has new Modified date, search still cannot find it.Indexing seems to be working since other files that I've created since this file do come up in a search. And I created a file today and searched for it and it is found. So search is mostly working, just not for this file, and perhaps an unknown number of other files.
In the Start / Search box is it possible to set up a serach that only brings up file names and not text in every file / document? I'm looking for a document with medical in the file name but when I search fo it I come up with every email, document, website etc that has the word medical somewhere in the text / content. I'm trying to narrow the search to file names only.
What is the right way to search for mpg files that saved last week I put the search in this manner. *.mpg 7/1/2011 - 7/7/2011 It said it couldn't find a file but I know I saved a couple in the past week.
I've made the move (fresh install on new HDD) from XP to Win7RC x64 (I never gave Vista a look) and I want to scan my old HDD partitions for *.xls;*.doc;*.dwg;*.jpg etc to make sure I haven't missed any old files which were not saved in the right place.
The two partitions are mounted as F: and G:
In XP once you'd turned off the animated dog and chosen the advanced option, you could set "all of part of the filename" to "*.xls;*.doc;*.dwg;*.jpg" and "look in" to "f:;g:". It was a so easy
I can't seem to get Windows 7 to search for more than one file extension, let alone multiple drives as well. Is there an advanced search option which I've missed?
see how in this picture: http://res2.windows.microsoft.com/re...10ab536484.jpg, in the search results, if the searched word is found inside a file, a few lines of text are show with the word highlighted. i'm using windows 7 and this does not happen for me. if a word is found in file contents, i'll get it listed in the results, but it won't show me the context of it like in the picture.
In XP (and Vista), you type alphebets to select a file or folder. For example, you are trying to access a file named "My file.txt", you type "m", "y" and it goes directly to folder or files start withm and y so it's close to My file.txt. This is convenient way to find a file you need.But, it's not the same in Windows 7 anymore. Typing anything will activate the search. It narrows down the files in folder window and it shows many unrelated documents and folders.Is there a way to disable that so I only search by keywords when I press Control-F while typing only takes me to the folder or file?
some specifics and pinpoint the differences (or maybe a good website) that would pinpoint the differences between the Windows 7 search and the outlook 2007 search? I know the outlook search searches through email but are there other difference I am overlooking between the two?
I have Windows 7 Ultimate x64, the drives are indexed and I have all folder search options set to "Always search file names and contents" and "Include system directories" and "include compressed files" but search is not finding content I know to be present.
For example text in Word Docs and content in Zip files are often not found, usually not. How do I set up Search so it actually searches "within contents" like it does in XP, which may be slower but at least it works.
Why does Windows 7 automatically reindex my index search file when I reboot the computer.I have 300,000 files on my computer and it takes two days to rebuild the index. I leave my computer on all the time because I am afraid that by turning it off and on again will cause the indexing function to restart the index.How can I stop this reindexing function from starting on its own.
I have a folder with around 2000 files in it. I want to be able to copy certain files from this folder (normally around 40) and place them in a brand new folder, I want to be able to do this with nothing more than a txt file that has all the file names I need copying in it with every file name on a separate line.I receive around 10 new txt files each day so you can imagine how tedious it is searching through 2000 files, picking out the 40 I need, times a day everyday.To make things even more complicated, the txt files I receive don't always have the correct file names in them, maybe there's a misspelling or a word or two missing for some of the names. That's ok when I'm going through picking out the files I need to copy myself because I can normally tell which file is being requested, but I can't see it being so easy for a program or whatever to do, I'm guessing it'll need to have a search feature where it picks out the most likely file.I'd like it to be as automated as possible. I receive the txt file, make sure each file name is on a separate line then a program or script or whatever goes out and picks out the files (or most likely files for the name's that aren't exact matches) and copies them into a brand new folder (which I'd like to be the same name as the text file it's using to choose the files).
Is there any way to replace the Desktop Search with the 'Ole Dog ( Search Companion) You can not find all the related files with Desktop search like you could with Search Companion.
how i can search for torrent files with windows 7 search function?when i look for my downloaded files (downloaded via µtorrent),then i can i only find my downloaded files,but no torrent files(the torrent file still exists in my µtorrent program,so i am sure i still have the torrent file).
Outlook 2007 Task search versus Windows7 computer wide search.
I enter the same keyword (one of the words contained within the title of a completed task) in the Outlook Task search box as I do the Windows 7 orb 'search programs and files.' The Windows 7 search returns the correct search result (along with a lot other results having the same keyword) practically immediately whereas Outlook is still searching...and searching.
If I have index options set to include the C: drive and Outlook, what's going on with Outlook?
I began having an issue with my laptops ATI Radeon graphics driver not working properly. It is fixed now, but the other issues I was having at the same time was not being able to view indexed files through the "search programs and files" and "windows explorer search" box. The screen goes blank or does not produce any results. Also, one of my downloaded software disk programs will not open--error. This particular program, Logos Bible software, index its files quite often. Even when I am not using the program. I also cannot change my desktop background to any picture except solid colors. I think my laptop has a corrupted file somewhere, or it is infected with malware.
"windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error I have been experiencing lately.
The problem is similar to the one I described previously (here: Windows could not start the Windows Search service on Local Computer)
...namely, I am running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, and have experienced the same error message ( windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX', where XXX is my search query) when attempting to initiate a search via the Windows start menu search box. Unfortunately, my previously proposed solution (of removing a network search location from Windows Search Index list) does not resolve it.....and so finally I resorted to using Samhrutha's proposed solution of modifying the registry to reset Windows Search back to default (which DID work...but ended up removing all the search index customizations I had made).
However, when I then modify the search indexing options to include indexing of my C: drive, I get the "windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error message.
If I then uncheck the C: drive box in the search in the search indexing options, the error message does not occur....so I then went thru a tedious process of trying to identify which folders on my C drive were causing the issue, and from what I am able to tell, the "windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error message seems to always occur when the indexing options include at least one folder WHICH IS OWNED by TRUSTED INSTALLER (e.g., program files folder, program files (x86), c:, etc.). This wasn't a problem previously, so my guess is that MS Update recently (e.g., w/in the last few months) changed some security setting which now prevents Windows Search from being able to index/access folders owned by TRUSTED INSTALLER, resulting in the "windows cannot find 'search:query=XXX'" error message.
