Sunday, March 14, 2010

Enable File Content Search in Windows 7

Search is one of the strong features of windows 7, some on us might find it not too useful because by default Windows 7 only search within the file in an Indexed location. So there is no visible option like XP to search text within a file.

To enable File Content Search option there are two options

Option 1 (Searches will be a little slow)

  • Go to Tools –> Folder Options or Organize –> Folder and search options
  • select “Always search file names and contents” option in Search tab.

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 Option 2

  • Add the Directory or Drive to Indexed locations from Indexing Options.

Note: If the location is already being indexed and still its not searching the content of certain file types. Use the following option to make sure its being indexed correctly.

  • Click on Start menu and type Indexing
  • Choose Indexing Options
  • Click on Advanced
  • In File Types find the Extension you are looking for and click on it.
  • In the “How should this file be indexed?” select “Index Properties and File Contents”

1 comment:

  1. My problem is that I want to DISABLE content search, by default, and then easily enable it when needed. Most of the time I am searching for filenames and it would be best to start on that basis. The method used in Windows 7 makes it clumsy to switch.

    ReplyDelete

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