How do I add search filters?

Anonymous
2009-11-12T04:08:15+00:00

When trying to search I click in the search field in my file explorer window. I see "Add a search filter" and a couple options below that "Date Modified" &  "Size" that I can select. How do I add more "clickable" search filters? I can only select those two filters. How do I add more to select?

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

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Anonymous
2009-11-12T22:02:24+00:00

Hello and thank you for your question.

In the explorer search window, you can click on those options you mentioned like “Date Modified” or “Size” to give you a list of even more refined options. For example, if you are in your music folder:

Without clearing the Search box, click Genre in the list of filters, and then click Jazz from the list of dynamic values. Windows Explorer adds Genre to the existing Length filter, allowing you to refine your search further.

*For a downloadable word document on Windows Search Walkthrough, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=188af621-c80a-4b0c-9629-7fa4949803ae&displaylang=en

Please let me know if you need further assistance!

Lisa

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-12-03T10:09:39+00:00

    Thanks very much!

    I finally found the files.  I wish Microsoft would improve the search function of Windows Explorer.  It's not very helpful, in my opinion.

    Again, thanks for your help.

    Robert

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-12-03T04:53:06+00:00

    First ensure that you are searching in a window that could contain your files, and if in subfolders, that your settings allow for search in subfolders.  (If the files are not in an indexed area, they would not show up if using the Start Search box.)  To do what you want, it should be sufficient to enter:

    ext:pdf name:~<bi_

    Be aware that Windows 7 Search can not search in a case sensitive way; BI_ has the same results as bi_.  Also, if you meant the pdf content and not name begins with BI_, then replace "name" with "content".  Weird encoding bugs have been encountered with Windows 7 content searching and symbols though, even for text merely adjacent to a symbol in the content and not actually searched for.  I'd also try content:~=bi_  (does search anywhere, not just start).  I'll also mention some other quirk I found:  Searching for text with _, /, or \ gives unexpected results when the property text has more than one character to the left of the symbol, and the search text has less characters than the property text does to the left of the symbol.  For example, name:x_bun would give items named fix_bun.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-12-02T18:22:41+00:00

    I don't know how to do it in Windows Explorer.

    I would use - Everything search engine:

    http://www.voidtools.com/

    Good Luck

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-12-02T12:49:09+00:00

    I have about 50 files on my computer.  They are all PDF files.  They begin with the characters (inside the quote marks) "BI_".  The last time I accessed them was about 3 months ago, and I need to access them again.

    I have tried searching on all variations of that, and I cannot locate these files using Windows Explorer.  (I am running Windows 7 64-bit.)

    I have read the documentation recommended, and I have still been unable to locate these files.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong.  The examples in the walkthrough work, but these files remain mysteriously hidden to me.  I need to find them.

    Can someone please give me some advice on how to find them short of a brute-force, folder-by-folder search?

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