How to Search in Windows 7 for text within a document?

Anonymous
2010-06-28T02:30:00+00:00

How do you search for a document by using searching specific text in the document? (Word or other searchable doc.) Other forum answers suggest that this will happen with the general search box that appears in the upper right corner of explorer - but this does not seem to be the case.

I have searched for known words, and documents do not come up.

Is there a default? Is there a way turn on the search within document? (formerly, the detailed search option for any folder would prompt you to select 'search within document.')

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

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Anonymous
2010-07-06T20:15:26+00:00

Try just typing the phrase into the search box. If this doesn’t work, try content: “words in phrase”


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  1. Anonymous
    2011-03-23T12:15:37+00:00

    I am having the same issues with Windows 7 search as bill6009. In XP it was every easy to conduct a search for a doc based on a word in the doc.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-03-23T12:17:37+00:00

    Funny, the title says "Search text within document (Windows 7)"

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-05-16T08:39:31+00:00

    Windows Search function gets less and less user-friendly with every new release. The most frustrating thing of all is that you'll not get any clue on why there are no matches to your search. Just this "No items match your search", when you know that there actually are matches.

    You are most likely right about the file types. I had the same problem in XP,

    http://news.lugnet.com/cad/dev/?n=11033

    and Anders Isaksson pointed me in the right direction to the extremely complicated but nonetheless working solution that time.

    I haven't found any solution for Windows 7 yet on how to search in all kinds of file types, other than installing Total Commander, which has a  powerful and fast search function that actually does exactly what you tell it to do.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-07-21T12:44:16+00:00

    It seems that when you search the first time it searches the file names but then under the search results you'll see a label titled "Search again in:"  Choose the Content button under "Search again in" and the search will restart and search the contents of the documents.

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