What is the keyboard shortcut to open the file search dialog for selected folder in Windows XP?

Question

I mean scenario when I am in Windows Explorer, I select a directory and I want to press a keyboard shortcut that will open Windows file search dialog with base directory set with this selected folder.

Win-F doesn't work. It opens the dialog in default state.

UPDATE: I see that CTRL-F shows some search option on the left, and if I click "Files and folders" it gives me what I want (search dialog). But this one click is still annoying. If someone finds something better, please let me/us know.

Answer 1

Click Change preferences in the search sidebar, then Change files and folders search behavior, choose Advanced then click OK.

Answer 2

I did use F3 and then Alt-L to bring up All files and folders. After a while it imprints itself into your memory.

Nowadays I use Launchy and a proper search tool - Everything.

Answer 3

Windows key + F is the only shortcut I know about... other than right-click->find (or search).

Answer 4

If you have selected a folder, you should be able to search inside it by pressing "Enter", which will put you inside the folder, then "Ctrl+F". For me, the default directory to search from is the directory I'm currently in.

Then if you want to go back to the previous (parent) directory using the keyboard, you can press Backspace.

Answer 5

Doing this you can search folders, documents and words within them just pressing Windows key wherever you are

Exampe: How to search inside a Word Document from Windows Explorer

We got many Word documents called MoviesA.docx, MoviesB.docx, MoviesC.docx, etc.

And we had written King Kong inside MoviesK.docx

If we want to find the word document that contains the words King Kong from Windows Explorer this is what we need to do:

Press Windows Key - write -> doc:King Kong (will appear the word document with "King Kong" whithin it) MoviesK.docx

Important: We need to index the documents first (word documents in this case). Windows key -> Indexing Options -> Advanced -> File Types -> Select the extension .docx -> Select Index Properties and File Contents (this tells Windows to index the entire file, including all of the data within it) -> And click OK.

You may need to include the path to the documents: Windows key -> Indexing Options -> Modify -> and select the folder/folders where you placed MoviesA.docx, MoviesK.docx, etc.

Now you can search for King Kong inside all your word documents.

Search examples:

Windows Key - write -> doc:King Kong (MoviesK.docx will appear)

Windows Key - write -> doc:MoviesB (MoviesB.docx will appear)

Windows Key - write -> folder:Movies (Movies folder will appear)