Want to search ONLY file names in Windows 7 Explorer?

Anonymous

I usually just want to seach for a "word in a file & folder name" -- and often can give a a date range. In Windows 7 Explorer, as soon as I type the word, I get all files that contain the word in the content, as well. How can I have it search only the file or folder name?

I also don't use "my documents" or "Libraries"...I create my own subfolders -- and generally on a stick drive...so I don't really understand "indexing" or if it's relevant to how I organize my files.

I miss the Windows XP search feature in Windows 7 Explorer!

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Anonymous

How can I have it search only the file or folder name?

Folder:

foldername:example

Word in name:

name:example

I miss the Windows XP search feature in Windows 7 Explorer!

Let Microsoft know you want Windows Explorers features returned:

Since many people seem to agree that some or all the changes made to Windows Explorer have actually made it less user friendly, you can go to the Windows 7 Feedback page and (politely) let them know your suggestions for improving it:

http://mymfe.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Feedback.aspx?formID=195

Note: don't make the message too long, there is a size limit to your message even though the page doesn't tell you about it.

Have Questions About Installing Windows 7?

FAQ - Common Windows 7 Installation Questions & Answers

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Volunteer Moderator

No need for anything complicated. Just type what you're looking for. If it's in the filename, those results will be returned first, above any results where your search term isinside the file. Easy.

Non-indexed locations such as stick drives can still be searched, but take a little more time to search (sort of like XP).

If this solves your issue, click the 'Propose as Answer' link below, and vote as helpful by clicking the green triangle to the lelft. Thanks!

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87 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-08-07T15:05:09+00:00

I have been asked so many times, how to search by file names only in internet explorer for windows 7. Here is how to search by file names only on windows 7.

1 - In windows explorer, Right click on any of the column names. (column names like 'date modified', 'size', 'name', or which ever is is being displayed) You will see a list of options, scrolls down or click the "more..." link and find the option that says "filename".

Click it so that there is a check mark to it. Now depending on how many columns you have checked, your window can only show so many columns. So the 'filename' column may not show in your coulns list, but indeed it is there!. So if you can't see the "filename" displayed, you will have to pan to your right and find the "filename" column.

Or go back to the right click options and deselect coumn options like 'size', 'type', that you don't need right now. You will then see the "filename' column displayed. Press click on it and move it to your left closer to the "name" or "modified date" column where it is vieable. Now go to a search by file name, you could still use dos commands such as *.mp3, *.filename etc. You will now be able to see your files listed. The problem is that Mr. Keene should have been more explanatory. Yes windows 7, search ability is way more superior to windows xp. It is just that Microsoft put in the back burners the most important strength of explorer search in an ambiguous column right click. They should have had a tab just below the search box to display the search options that it hid away.

So all along your searches was working fine, only that you might have unknowingly uncheck the "filename" column from being displayed. And yes , you can still use dos commands for search on windows explorer in windows 7. The problem is that the geek at microsoft who designed the explorer interface in windows 7, lacked the concept of ergonomics for customer use. Just like how keerne lacks explanation ability. He assumes that every thing should be so obvious to everyone like it is to him. And he just keeps repeating his same reply over and over.
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Volunteer Moderator

Your right, I was very wrong. But please see my newest reply on this page (page 6) where I most certainly did not "just repeat the same thing", in fact I tried my best to share everything I possibly could. Your additional information is very welcome of course. Thanks for contributing to the community.

Excerpt from May 3, 2015 post...
Hey guys, found this again years later. You're right I didn't understand why the web-search Google-style results (show a ton of results and just use the best hit) didn't cut it. That might be because it's not sorted by relevance anymore (first entry<br> below). I see that TrekDozer filled the direct question perfectly. I want to also come back and share literally everything I know or have learned about search since this conversation began. As someone in this thread said, it's the level of quality in a reply that users and the community should expect from an MVP.<br><br><br><br><br><br> <br><br>Sort by Relevance <br><br>Typically, there's no need for anything complicated. Just type what you're looking for. If it's in the filename, those results will be returned first, above any results where your search term is inside the file. Easy.<br><br><br><br><br><br>Non-indexed locations such as stick drives can still be searched, but take a little more time to show up in the results if you're searching internal contents in them (sort of like XP).<br><br><br><br><br><br>If you find for some reason that the exact-name matches are no longer showing up first (similar to how a Google result might), you can add the relevancy column, and sort by it (exact filename matches are treated as more relevant).<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Search Only by Filename and Other Special ModifiersType something like these. Note there are several modified examples of the same modifier.<br><br><br><br>	Typing this... (search term in bold)	...will find:	<br>	---	---	<br>	name:draft presentation	files with draft or presentationin the name, in any order (can add words). <br><br>By default, "OR" is assumed between each word. To force both to exist, use AND (operators must be CAPS)	<br>	filename:"Presentation Draft"	files with presentation draft appearing somewhere in the file name only (in this exact order)	<br>	filename:"* Presentation*"	same as above (asterisks are always assumed unless you override)	<br>	filename:~"*(2)*"	files with 2appearing surrounded by parenthesis	<br>	filename:~"*(?)*"	Files containing any single character surrounded by parenthesis	<br>	*.xls	all files ending with .xls(includes .xlsxbecause asterisks are always assumed unless you override) <br><br> <br><br>This isn't strictly a file name search, but it behaves like one because these letters (or any letters) rarely appear anywhere immediately after a period with no space)	<br>	*".xls"**	example of override: will only return exact phrase match	<br>	contents:bill	keyword bill appearing in the file (all same rules and conventions as above apply).	<br><br><br><br>You can search by almost any file properties too. Or combine these, such as*.doc author:shawn would file every doc file I made. This is very useful in an office environment where you're searching folders many people share.<br> Try even more like .ppt author:shawn modified:this week and such. It's powerful, and you can do the same thing inside the full Office Outlook against emails. I do this constantly, dozens of tiles a day in email especially. Need<br> to quickly filter the emails I'm seeing from:joe* or subject:acquisistion.<br><br><br><br><br><br>In Outlook and in Windows Explorer, many of the common properties like subject, from, received, author and more are shown as buttons you can click (which also progressively provide mouse interaction like a calendar to choose that date, or a list<br> of authors in that folder already). Typically I just type it because my hands are already on the keyboard, but you can click those buttons. I usually need to only click in Outlook when I want to enter the hasattachment:yesfilter,<br> because c'mon, that's way too long to type. In fact I even pinned that to my Quick Access bar so I could press Alt+1 to "press" it. More about that here: http://cmdrkeene.com/use-quick-access-from-the-keyboard<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Special Meanings <br><br>The * asterisks anywhere in the search terms are variable-length wildcards and will mean that any text could come at that point (but doesn't have to). Example: book would find "facebook", or just plain "book", but not "bookstore"<br> because there's no asterisk at the end.<br><br><br> <br><br>Question marks ? anywhere in the search terms are fixed-length wildcards that mean a single character occurs there (and must). Example: book?* would find "books" but not "book". <br><br> <br><br>Special note:unless you're using a specific override, Windows will work like a search engine and find anything containing your search term. In otherwords, unless you specify otherwise with these search examples, it will always find bookstore when<br> you type book.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Search Contents Even in Unindexed Locations<br><br><br>By default, Windows only searches inside files if the location is indexed (so it can return near-instant results). You can tell Windows to do an intensive search (just like XP would have done).<br><br><br><ol><br><li>Open Folder Options (type 'folder' into the Start menu to find it).</li><li>On the Search tab, click the 2nd option ("Always search file names and contents"), then click OK.</li></ol><br><br>After that, using quotes to phrase-search inside files should work, even in un-indexed locations. Searches may take a while (just like XP), but they'll be complete and should return the results you want. More here: http://cmdrkeene.com/enable-full-file-search-in-non-indexed-folders<br><br><br>Search Inside More File TypesIf 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:<br><br><br><ol><br><li>Type 'index' into your Start menu to find the Indexing Options, then click the Advanced button.</li><li>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).</li><li>With the file type selected, make sure the 2nd option is selected "Index properties and file contents", then click OK to close each box.</li></ol><br><br><br>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. More here: http://cmdrkeene.com/instant-search-in-more-file-types<br><br><br><br><br><br>Windows 8: Search without leaving desktop <br><br>A key advantage to 7 (and to a lesser extent, Vista), was that you can search from the Start menu with a tap of your pinky finger. Windows 8 does this too, but full-screen. If you'd rather do it on the side in a small box like 7, you can by pressing Win+S<br> before you search. You can also narrow-scope your searches with Win+W (search Control Panel only), Win+F (search Files only), Win+S (search everywhere), or Win+Q (search current app, if it can). More here: http://cmdrkeene.com/start-an-app-without-leaving-the-desktop<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Fix: Search Not Returning Control Panel results:http://cmdrkeene.com/fix-windows-8-1-returning-settings-results <br><br><br><br><br>Related: I also want to point to this great info: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-customize-windows-7s-search-settings.html

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Anonymous

Just install Everything and unsubscribe from this ridiculous thread.

Your right, I was very wrong. But please see my newest reply on this page (page 6) where I most certainly did not "just repeat the same thing", in fact I tried my best to share everything I possibly could. Your additional information is very welcome of course. Thanks for contributing to the community.

Excerpt from May 3, 2015 post...

Hey guys, found this again years later. You're right I didn't understand why the web-search Google-style results (show a ton of results and just use the best hit) didn't cut it. That might be because it's not sorted by relevance anymore (first entry below). I see that TrekDozer filled the direct question perfectly. I want to also come back and share literally everything I know or have learned about search since this conversation began. As someone in this thread said, it's the level of quality in a reply that users and the community should expect from an MVP. Sort by Relevance Typically, there's no need for anything complicated. Just type what you're looking for. If it's in the filename, those results will be returned first, above any results where your search term is inside the file. Easy. Non-indexed locations such as stick drives can still be searched, but take a little more time to show up in the results if you're searching internal contents in them (sort of like XP). If you find for some reason that the exact-name matches are no longer showing up first (similar to how a Google result might), you can add the relevancy column, and sort by it (exact filename matches are treated as more relevant). Search Only by Filename and Other Special ModifiersType something like these. Note there are several modified examples of the same modifier. Typing this... (search term in bold) ...will find: --- --- name:draft presentation files with draft or presentationin the name, in any order (can add words). By default, "OR" is assumed between each word. To force both to exist, use AND (operators must be CAPS) filename:"Presentation Draft" files with presentation draft appearing somewhere in the file name only (in this exact order) filename:"* Presentation*" same as above (asterisks are always assumed unless you override) filename:~"*(2)*" files with 2appearing surrounded by parenthesis filename:~"*(?)*" Files containing any single character surrounded by parenthesis *.xls all files ending with .xls(includes .xlsxbecause asterisks are always assumed unless you override) This isn't strictly a file name search, but it behaves like one because these letters (or any letters) rarely appear anywhere immediately after a period with no space) "*.xls" example of override: will only return exact phrase match contents:bill keyword bill appearing in the file (all same rules and conventions as above apply). You can search by almost any file properties too. Or combine these, such as***.doc author:shawn** would file every doc file I made. This is very useful in an office environment where you're searching folders many people share. Try even more like *.ppt author:shawn modified:this week and such. It's powerful, and you can do the same thing inside the full Office Outlook against emails. I do this constantly, dozens of tiles a day in email especially. Need to quickly filter the emails I'm seeing from:joe or subject:acquisistion. In Outlook and in Windows Explorer, many of the common properties like subject, from, received, author and more are shown as buttons you can click (which also progressively provide mouse interaction like a calendar to choose that date, or a list of authors in that folder already). Typically I just type it because my hands are already on the keyboard, but you can click those buttons. I usually need to only click in Outlook when I want to enter the hasattachment:yesfilter, because c'mon, that's way too long to type. In fact I even pinned that to my Quick Access bar so I could press Alt+1 to "press" it. More about that here: http://cmdrkeene.com/use-quick-access-from-the-keyboard Special Meanings The * asterisks anywhere in the search terms are variable-length wildcards and will mean that any text could come at that point (but doesn't have to). Example: *book would find "facebook", or just plain "book", but not "bookstore" because there's no asterisk at the end. Question marks ? anywhere in the search terms are fixed-length wildcards that mean a single character occurs there (and must). Example: book? would find "books" but not "book". **Special note:**unless you're using a specific override, Windows will work like a search engine and find anything containing your search term. In otherwords, unless you specify otherwise with these search examples, it will always find bookstore when you type book. Search Contents Even in Unindexed Locations By default, Windows only searches inside files if the location is indexed (so it can return near-instant results). You can tell Windows to do an intensive search (just like XP would have done). <ol> <li>Open Folder Options (type 'folder' into the Start menu to find it).</li><li>On the Search tab, click the 2nd option ("Always search file names and contents"), then click OK.</li></ol> After that, using quotes to phrase-search inside files should work, even in un-indexed locations. Searches may take a while (just like XP), but they'll be complete and should return the results you want. More here: http://cmdrkeene.com/enable-full-file-search-in-non-indexed-folders Search Inside More File TypesIf 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: <ol> <li>Type 'index' into your Start menu to find the Indexing Options, then click the Advanced button.</li><li>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).</li><li>With the file type selected, make sure the 2nd option is selected "Index properties and file contents", then click OK to close each box.</li></ol> 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. More here: http://cmdrkeene.com/instant-search-in-more-file-types Windows 8: Search without leaving desktop A key advantage to 7 (and to a lesser extent, Vista), was that you can search from the Start menu with a tap of your pinky finger. Windows 8 does this too, but full-screen. If you'd rather do it on the side in a small box like 7, you can by pressing Win+S before you search. You can also narrow-scope your searches with Win+W (search Control Panel only), Win+F (search Files only), Win+S (search everywhere), or Win+Q (search current app, if it can). More here: http://cmdrkeene.com/start-an-app-without-leaving-the-desktop Fix: Search Not Returning Control Panel results:http://cmdrkeene.com/fix-windows-8-1-returning-settings-results Related: I also want to point to this great info: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-customize-windows-7s-search-settings.html

Just install Everything and unsubscribe from this ridiculous thread.

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