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when I run a search in Windows 7, only one folder at a time is searched. How do I broaden a search to a folder and all of its subfolders? Vista did that automatically; Windows 7 does not seem to do so.
Thanks!
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.
I had the same prob & none of the answers on this page helped. I mucked around a bit & ticked a box in the search options folder Called "Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files" Problem fixed... although the title of the tick box has nothing to do with searching sub folders, whenever it's not ticked I can't search any subfolders.
Ok here is the scoop. If you are searching in a folder selected from underneath the "Libraries" folder (Documents, Videos, Music, Pictures, Etc.) it does not search subfolders. I do not know why, but if you go to your "C:\Users'username'" and open the needed folder (or even just in your UN folder), it will search subfolders. I think it is either a glitch, or because Libraries is just a phantom name for a grouping, the search doesnt work. You have to be directly in the folder, or the folder directly above it, not in a windows "cloud" version of it like the ones in Libraries.
Sorry if this is hard to follow, i'm a better techy than a teacher. Hope this helps
Rick Flach
Live Out Loud Media & Design
Hi Rick
Open Windows Explorer.
Select Organize / Folder and Search options.
Select the Search Tab.
In the How to search section, select the Include subfolders in search results when searching in file folders option.
Regards
Hello,
Entering an asterisk (*) in the search box immediately returns all files in the current folder and all its subfolders.
Lisa
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.
Ok here is the scoop. If you are searching in a folder selected from underneath the "Libraries" folder (Documents, Videos, Music, Pictures, Etc.) it does not search subfolders. I do not know why, but if you go to your "C:\Users'username'" and open the needed folder (or even just in your UN folder), it will search subfolders. I think it is either a glitch, or because Libraries is just a phantom name for a grouping, the search doesnt work. You have to be directly in the folder, or the folder directly above it, not in a windows "cloud" version of it like the ones in Libraries.
Sorry if this is hard to follow, i'm a better techy than a teacher. Hope this helps
Rick Flach
Live Out Loud Media & Design
This is the only thing that has worked for me (including every other "fix" on the 4 pages before my post). Clearly the search functionality is borked if you start your journey by clicking on one the the "Library" folders.
After you add the file type and tell Windows to index the file, you don't have to rebuild your index--it will automatically start looking inside those kinds of files. Those files will need to be added to the index, yes, but that will happen on its own as the search system does its daily inventory. (Actually this inventory happens more than daily -- it happens anytime you aren't using the computer, it uses that spare time to check for any files that have changed and need indexed again).
Search is similar to Google, where you don't typically need to specify the details of what you want. For example if you were searching for a file named "red rover.doc", you could just type rover into the search box. Or you could use the old style *rover.doc (but the asterisk is assumed so it's not necessary). Like an online search engine, you might get a lot of results: both file name and file content matches. But the file names are higher priority and will show up on top anyway, so it doesn't hurt you if there's more results (just like it doesn't hurt you when google finds a billion results instead of just one).
Having said that, yes you can search either way (just like on Google) with some keywords. To search by filename only, type filename:"red rover" or for the contents just type contents:"red rover". Note that the quotes are only necessary if you want to find that exact phrase (so rover red will not be found in these examples).
