Windows 7 (advanced) search pane?

Anonymous
2010-01-27T14:40:15+00:00

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:

  1. all jpg and png files (only)
  2. that are in e:\images and d:\images and f:\dir\images
  3. without recursing into any subdirectories
  4. that are larger than 10KB
  5. 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?"

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2011-11-13T16:56:45+00:00

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).

  1. Open Folder Options (type 'folder' into the Start menu to find it).
  2. 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:

  1. Type 'index' into your Start menu to find the Indexing Options, then click the Advanced button.
  2. 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).
  3. 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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Anonymous
2010-02-09T01:26:47+00:00

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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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2010-02-02T12:28:25+00:00

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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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2010-01-29T03:35:12+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2011-10-29T17:08:06+00:00

    Well, it's good to know that the problems are clear on all sides now.

    What needs to be done is really to find a solution other than simply adopting a third-party program to do searching, be it just a workaround or some hack into the program. Searching for files should be a core component of the explorer, since it's main purpose is to help you find the files you want. All the organization ultimately leads to helping the user find  what they want in a timely manner.

    As of now, the only thing I can think of is simply disabling indexing options (or crazier yet, index everything) and have windows search everything, then find a documentation of all the syntax, from basic to advanced, and keeping it in a file somewhere for easy reference. Otherwise searching will take forever . This drops the problem of indexing, and somewhat eases the obscure syntax. Doesn't help with the fact that you need to enter the filters one by one.

    Somebody good enough in programing could create some sort of hack into explorer for a menu or better UI (like a list somewhat similar to OSX's) which reduces the problem of syntax (which definitely annoys some people), but I don't know of anyone able to do that.

    I haven't really been able to find a proper list of all the documentation available for the search filters, and it infuriates me to no end. It seems like it should be simple enough, but the details on the syntax aren't very clear. To that end, I've turned to the third party program 'everything' for my searching.

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