later in this article.
If you’re looking for a program, a website in your browser history, or a
file that you’ve stored anywhere in your personal folder, you can use the
Search box at the bottom of the Start menu. For more information, see Find a
file or folder
.
File list headings
If you’re looking for several related files, such as all the files from a
particular month, or all the documents that you have written, you can use
the headings above the file list to filter, stack, or group your files.
Organizing your files in one of these ways makes them easier to locate and
select.
Search folder
When you need to build a search with multiple filters, or when you’re
looking for files from several folders at once, create your search in the
Search folder. When you are done, you can save the search criteria, and use
it in the future to find the same set of files again with a single click or
pressing enter. This will be covered later.
3. Use the Search box
The Search box is located at the top of every folder. It filters the current
view based on text that you type. The Search box finds files based on text
in the file name, text within the file, tags, and other common file
properties that are attached to the file. In addition, it searches the
current folder as well as all subfolders.
For example, if you created a trip report called “Las Vegas Seminar,” as
soon as you type Las into the Search box, most files in the folder would
disappear from the list, but the trip report, and any other files with the
word Las in them, would immediately be displayed.
The following table of five columns and six rows lists the common properties
that you can use in the Search box:
Property
What it is
How to use it in the Search box
File name
The name you have given the file.
Type part or all of the file name you are looking for. For example, to find
a file called November invoice.txt, you can type Nov or inv.
Kind of file
A broad description of the content. Most of your files fall into one of
these kinds: Document, Picture, or Music.
Type the kind of file you’re looking for. For example, to find all of your
text, spreadsheet, and presentation files, type Document.
Type of file
A more specific indication of the file’s content. The last three letters of
the file name, called the file name extension, identify the file type.
Common types include DOC (Microsoft Word document), XLS (Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet), JPG (JPEG image), and MP3 (a standard digital audio format).
Type the file name extension. If you want to find only MP3 files, type MP3.
For more accurate results, type *.mp3.
Tags
Words or phrases you add to your files to describe them.
Type any tag to see a list of files to which that tag has been applied.
Author
The name of the person who created the file.
Type the name of an author to see a list of files by that person.
4. Advanced searches in the Search box
Windows will usually search for whatever you type in the Search box by
looking in the file name, file contents, and file properties of all the
files in the current view. Type “Summer,” for example, and it will find
files named “sunset in summer.jpg,” files tagged with “summer,” and files
written by anyone named Summer. This broad approach to search usually helps
you find your file quickly.
If you want to search more selectively, however, you can filter your search
in the Search box by specifying which file property to search. To filter by
file property, separate the name of the property and the search term with a
colon, as these examples show in the table of chree columns and four rows:
Example
Use this to
Name:Sunset
Find only files that have the word sunset in the file name.
Tag:Sunset
Find only files that are tagged with the word sunset.
Modified:05/25/2006
Find only files that have been modified on that date. You can also type
Modified:2006 to find files changed at any time during that year.
5. Which file properties can you use in this way? Anything you see in a
folder. You can filter by any property that appears in the file list
headings, for example. To see the complete list of properties that you can
filter by, right-click or pressing enter on the heading you want to see
properties for, and then click More.
6. Searching using Boolean filters
Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search.
Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you can
see in the following table of five columns and eight rows.
Filter
Example
Use this to
AND
tropical AND island
Find files that contain both words “tropical” and “island” (even if those
words are not right next to each other).
NOT
tropical NOT island
Find files that contain the word “tropical,” but not “island.”
OR
tropical OR island
Find files that contain either of the words “tropical” or “island.”
Quotes
“tropical island”
Find files that contain the exact phrase “tropical island.”
Parentheses
(tropical island)
Find files that contain both words “tropical” and “island,” in any order.
>
date: >01/05/06
Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as after
01/05/06.
< size: < 4 MB
Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as less
than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB.
7. Tip: When you type Boolean filters like AND or OR, you need to use all
capital letters.
Combining Boolean filters and file properties
You can combine Boolean filters with other filters. The following table
shows how you can get very different results using the same search words,
but different Boolean filters. Also note how the use of parentheses can
change the effect of a filter shown in this table of three columns and four
rows..
Boolean filter
Use this to
author: Charlie AND Herb
Find files that are authored by Charlie as well as any files that include
Herb in the file name or in any file property.
author: (Charlie AND Herb)
Find only files that are authored by both names.
author: "Charlie Herb"
Finds only files that are authored by someone with exactly this name.
8. Find files with natural language search
If you turn on natural language search, you can perform searches in a
simpler way, without using colons and without the need to enter AND and OR
in capital letters. For example, compare these two searches in the table of
three columns and three rows shown below:
Without natural language
With natural language
kind: music artist: (Beethoven OR Mozart)
music Beethoven or Mozart
kind: document author: (Charlie AND Herb)
documents Charlie and Herb
To turn on natural language search
1. When using a mouse, one can Open Folder Options by clicking the Start
button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking
Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
2. When using a screenreader one can open
Folder options by:
a. Press the start button.
b. Tab once.
c. Press the letter c until reaching "control panel.
d. Press enter.
e. Tab over to "Appearance and Personalization" and hit enter.
f. Tab to folder options and hit enter.
9. Once reaching the folder option using a mouse or screenreader:
a. Click or press enter on the Search tab.
1. Select the Use natural language search check box.
To use natural language search
Even with natural language search turned on, you can continue to use the
Search box in exactly the same way. If you want to use Boolean filters or
introduce filters with colons and parentheses, you can. In addition, you can
use all the same properties to fine-tune your searches. The difference is
that you can enter searches in a more casual way. Here are some examples:
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