I've been using Windows 7 for some time now, and loving it! However, when I was preaching to my family and friends, they asked me if the Advanced Search pane (that we used to have in XP) is back in Windows 7. Of course, with the Windows Search Advanced Query Syntax (let's call this AQS), we are able to achieve what the advanced search pane could and more. But then they brought up a pretty good point: Why should I (they) have to learn/memorize a special syntax in order to perform a complex search, when the advanced search pane in XP was so much more straightforward? And I kinda agree with them. E.g, without looking at the AQS documentation, how many of you can immediately come up with the single search criteria for: all jpg and png files (only) that are in e:\images and d:\images and f:\dir\images without recursing into any subdirectories that are larger than 10KB and was created between 25th of December and 1st of January? Anyone got an answer for that? Or is there some sort of advanced search pane like in Outlook? Pick from a list of filters the field to search/filter by, and you get a nice label/textbox for you to type in? I've done some digging, and it seems like there's only partial ( restricted ) support for this. E.g, in the Music library, you can only add filters for Album, Artist, Genre, Length; Documents: Authors, Type, Date modified, Size; etc. And when you're not in a library, e.g, folder on an external disk, the only filters you can add are Date modified and Size. Are there any ways to add more filters? Or are we limited to either: 1) relying on the filters that Windows 7 *THINKS* we need, or 2) buckle down and memorize the AQS? [Edit] Here's another story: I was explaining to my mom how you could build an AQS search criteria, and she remarked (paraphrased), "Why is it trying to search when you're not even done typing? Why not have a search button that begins searching only when you are ready to?"

Thanks for this. It is indeed lamentable that there is no comprehensive documentation, and I, too, have acquired most of my knowledge about search by trial and (much) error. A couple of comments: name Be a bit wary of this; it's one of those volatile ones that means different things in different contexts, and in some cases it means something different in Search from what it means in Explorer. date is another. For example, take an email message stored as 2CD672AE-00001295.eml. Its name as displayed by Explorer is its file name, as it is for all files and folders. In Search, though, its name property is mapped to the message's subject. This is of course very helpful; it means I can search for files by name when a content search might return many irrelevant results. name:"christmas card" date:2010 will produce the Excel workbook containing last year's Christmas card list, the Word mailmerge file for envelopes and the mail message entitled 'Christmas card list' that I sent to my wife, but not other letters or emails that might have referred to Christmas cards. filename:"christmas card" would of course not return mail messages with cryptic filenames. Moral: use name: if you know what it's going to find, otherwise use filename: automatic wild-carding keyword implies keyword* but not *keyword , which is a great drawback. You can specify an exact match by prefixing the value with ~, so type:folder name:~christmas will find folders named Christmas but not ones called Christmas Cards . So would name:(christmas NOT cards) but that would also find the Christmas Carols folder. The differences and similarities between type and kind are explained in the documents you've found, both of which I have posted links to on numerous occasions in these forums. Noel

Windows 7 (advanced) search pane?

Anonymous

I've been using Windows 7 for some time now, and loving it!

However, when I was preaching to my family and friends, they asked me if the Advanced Search pane (that we used to have in XP) is back in Windows 7.

Of course, with the Windows Search Advanced Query Syntax (let's call this AQS), we are able to achieve what the advanced search pane could and more. But then they brought up a pretty good point:

Why should I (they) have to learn/memorize a special syntax in order to perform a complex search, when the advanced search pane in XP was so much more straightforward? And I kinda agree with them.

E.g, without looking at the AQS documentation, how many of you can immediately come up with the single search criteria for:

all jpg and png files (only)
that are in e:\images and d:\images and f:\dir\images
without recursing into any subdirectories
that are larger than 10KB
and was created between 25th of December and 1st of January?

Anyone got an answer for that?

Or is there some sort of advanced search pane like in Outlook? Pick from a list of filters the field to search/filter by, and you get a nice label/textbox for you to type in?

I've done some digging, and it seems like there's only partial (restricted) support for this. E.g, in the Music library, you can only add filters for Album, Artist, Genre, Length; Documents: Authors, Type, Date modified, Size; etc.

And when you're not in a library, e.g, folder on an external disk, the only filters you can add are Date modified and Size.

Are there any ways to add more filters? Or are we limited to either: 1) relying on the filters that Windows 7 *THINKS* we need, or 2) buckle down and memorize the AQS?

[Edit]

Here's another story: I was explaining to my mom how you could build an AQS search criteria, and she remarked (paraphrased), "Why is it trying to search when you're not even done typing? Why not have a search button that begins searching only when you are ready to?"

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

@CmdrKeene 90,631 Volunteer Moderator

By default, Windows only searches inside files if the location is indexed (so it can return instant results). You can tell Windows to do an intensive search (just like XP would have done).

Open Folder Options (type 'folder' into the Start menu to find it).
On the Search tab, click the 2nd option ("Always search file names and contents"), then click OK.

After that, using quotes to phrase-search inside files should work, even in un-indexed locations. Searches may take a while if the location isn't indexed (just like XP), but they'll be complete and should return the results you want.

____________

One more note: If the location is indexed, but your phrase isn't being found.... do this to make sure the file type is getting indexed. Do this, for example, if you are trying to find a phrase inside a non-standard file like a JavaScript or PHP file:

Type 'index' into your Start menu to find the Indexing Options, then click the Advanced button.
On the File Types tab, find the file type you want to be indexed (tip: click in the list, then type the file type letters like JS to jump to it).
With the file type selected, make sure the 2nd option is selected "Index properties and file contents", then click OK to close each box.

I believe these two setting changes would resolve about 90% of search frustrations people commonly have with Windows 7. Please let me know if this helps for you.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Maybe it's just me, but how can you even get that far?

My "search" usually just stalls before it lets me even BEGIN to add a filter. Do you just initiate the initial search from a new explorer window? Or do you initiate the search from the start icon and then add a filter...or.....?

To me, Search is defunct...99% of my data is on a network share and it can't find it even if I am in the folder that I am searching for

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Answer accepted by question author

@CmdrKeene 90,631 Volunteer Moderator

I think rather than finding the filter, they'd rather you just type a few parts of the file and Windows will figure it out for you (whether you type the author or whatever). I don't necessarily agree with that, lol.

You can see more filters if you expand the search box, but who would consider that an intuitive interface? I think this could have been implemented much differently with better results. Perhaps the 'search filters' could be checkboxes at the bottom of that menu, or even at the top similar to the library pane's links. Perhaps Windows 8 will have more time spend on this area.

![](http://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pqxrKJw4QR06lJSyyWRLZGs_D-sLwOfn4JwRyCdXTqAr9WQi9Yo8_mO_d7tlrgBUd4pD1DifYDmGpRLPVWrq4tw/Search Filters.png)

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Answer accepted by question author

@CmdrKeene 90,631 Volunteer Moderator

You don't have to learn or know the syntax. It's really easier than it may appear on the surface.

Instead of trying to figure out the syntax, simply type what you're looking for. If you want to search a specific type of info (like Author or Date, anything that used to be in the Advanced pane), it appears for you. Simply click it and you're done.

In this picture below, I didn't have to type any of that, I just clicked "Add a search filter". It's the same options from Windows 7, but now they're blue links instead of a big bunch of text boxes.

If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

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219 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-11-23T14:04:19+00:00

Thanks for this. It is indeed lamentable that there is no comprehensive documentation, and I, too, have acquired most of my knowledge about search by trial and (much) error. A couple of comments:

name

Be a bit wary of this; it's one of those volatile ones that means different things in different contexts, and in some cases it means something different in Search from what it means in Explorer. dateis another.

For example, take an email message stored as 2CD672AE-00001295.eml. Its nameas displayed by Explorer is its file name, as it is for all files and folders. In Search, though, its name property is mapped to the message's subject. This is of course very helpful; it means I can search for files by name when a content search might return many irrelevant results.

name:"christmas card" date:2010

will produce the Excel workbook containing last year's Christmas card list, the Word mailmerge file for envelopes and the mail message entitled 'Christmas card list' that I sent to my wife, but not other letters or emails that might have referred to Christmas cards.

filename:"christmas card"

would of course not return mail messages with cryptic filenames.

Moral: use name: if you know what it's going to find, otherwise use filename:

automatic wild-carding

keyword implies keyword* but not *keyword, which is a great drawback. You can specify an exact match by prefixing the value with ~, so

type:folder name:~christmas

will find folders named Christmas but not ones called Christmas Cards. So would

name:(christmas NOT cards)

but that would also find the Christmas Carols folder.

The differences and similarities between type and kindare explained in the documents you've found, both of which I have posted links to on numerous occasions in these forums.

Noel
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