Windows 7 search does not work for documents, broken, no results

Anonymous

My search function does not pull up files, specifically Microsoft Works word documents, that contain words i entered into the search bar.

I've tried searching through the document libraries and through the start menu, but it says "no items match your search." I've tested this by writing the words "smart world" in a document and the search function still can't find this document.

NOTE: search is not completely broken. it will return results for programs and items in the control panel. Results also return ONE document, and always the same one, which is the first word document i created on this computer.

i've spent an hour finding my way to this forum. along the way, i've seen some complicated fixes on other forums that have not worked for all. i am not a programmer and do not want to try some complicated fix that could damage my already frail and prone to stupid errors hard drive.

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 15 with win 7 32bit that was a free upgrade with the computer.

make it work for me MS!

SO MY QUESTION IS: how can i fix my windows 7 search feature so that it will pull up ms works word document files containing the words that i typed into the search bar?

I am completely enervated by all of this.

Thank you so much for any help you can provide!

rob

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Anonymous

Hi rob,

If you are experiencing problems with searching, such as unusually slow searches or incomplete search results, run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter to see if it can diagnose the problem.

Open the Search and Indexing troubleshooter by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type troubleshooter, and then click Troubleshooting. Click View all, and then click Search and Indexing.

Depending on the severity of the problem, the Search and Indexing troubleshooter might need to restart the Windows Search service.

For further information, visit the below mentioned link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Improve-Windows-searches-using-the-index-frequently-asked-questions

You may also refer the below mentioned link.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Searching-in-Windows-frequently-asked-questions

If this not help, you may create a new user account and check if the issue persist.

For further information, visit the below mentioned link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Create-a-user-account

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

Hope this information helped!

Thanks and regards

Fouzan – Microsoft support

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62 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-05-24T23:41:35+00:00

This does not work!!

It does not affect searching content of documents for me.

Thanks anyway Paul - not your fault.
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Anonymous

2012-05-24T10:10:16+00:00

Joan,

Thanks, but unfortunately this does not work for me.

I think I see what my problem is - if I copy the Word document somewhere else, indexing works fine. On the file properties, behind the Advanced button, there is a check box "Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file properties", which is unchecked. This explains the behaviour of the indexer.

Now all I have to do is work out why this box in unchecked for lots of my documents. I believe it is because they are in a directory checked out from svn (subversion source control system). This is a shame, because the whole point of checking them out was to be able to search them!

I could copy the whole lot somewhere else, which might well reset the check box to checked, but then I lose the source control - I want to be able to get updates to all these documents easily.

Any ideas anyone?
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Anonymous

2012-05-15T16:43:00+00:00

This is the second time I am posting this IT IS EASY AND IT WORKS!!!

I got an easy fix from a user after trying all their suggestions that never work. This worked for me

.

In Windows 7, right click on the LOGO start button, select PROPERTIES, then select CUSTOMIZE on the start menu tab. Scroll down to "search other files and libraries" and select either search with public or without public folders (or hit RESTORE DEFAULTS) at the bottom. Apply, hit ok and search away.

The paragraph above is just how he explained it. His exact words. I followed these instructions and I finally found all my doc files and individual doc files. Why this was set not to search the libraries is absolutely stunning stupid to me. I did not hit "restore defaults because I was afraid it would go back the way it was.

It is easy enough to do and very logical so give it a try.

Joan

P.S. The guys name was Paul - that is all I know.
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Anonymous

2012-05-15T14:58:15+00:00

Same problem for me. Windows 7 64 bit, Office 2010. Still after downloading different versions of iFilters and rebuilding indexes numerous times, some docx files are indexed correctly, others nearby omit all their content (so filenames and perhaps other metadata is indexed correctly). I do wonder whether it has anything to do with 'compatibility mode' for opening docx documents - I remember having a similar problem on 32 bit Windows 7 and finding a posting somewhere saying forget it if a ppt was opening in compatibility mode.

I'm guessing that the iFilter stumbles at an early point in the document scan and gives up, but I haven't been able to find anything in any logs.

This is the most ridiculous problem. How can Microsoft make it so hard to just do a simple search? We have to change registries? Maybe 1% of their users know how to do this. What about everyone else, we just can't search? How idiotic. I hope Apple takes over the whole market. Microsoft is such an inconsiderate company.
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