How to search inside files on Windows 7?

Question

In Windows XP we can search for files which contains a defined keyword (inside all files types).

Windows 7 can look inside files for a keyword.

Okay, but only for text files. (*.doc, *.txt, *.inf, ...), not (*.conf, *.dat, *.*, ...).

Microsoft search filters don't contain any filter I can use for this.

How is this possible?

Answer 1

If you click on the Advanced button in Indexing Options and go to the File Types tab, you will get a list of file types and the way they are indexed. For the file types you want, you can specify that you want the file contents indexed, and not just the file properties.

Or you can just do a normal search, and after you can just click on the "File Contents" button under the "Search again in" field

Answer 2

I've always gotten better performance when searching inside files by using a GREP tool. I'm a fan of AstroGrep.

Answer 3

I believe you can also just enter "contents:blahblah" in the search filter box in upper right corner of Windows Explorer. This works at least for Text files and Office documents.

Answer 4

In Windows Explorer, menu Tools -> Folder Options:

Press on the search tab and here, the first option: what to search, choose to search for non-indexed files inside the file.

Answer 5

Have you tried search the internet for the correct iFilter (for instance - http://www.ifilter.org/)?

If you have the right iFilter, Windows should be able to search and index its content.

Answer 6

Agent Ransack is always worth a look. It's free, fast, good reputation, and doesn't use indexing.

Answer 7

Windows 7 still has the ability to search for strings inside files everywhere (and not in indexed locations).

In Windows Explorer, go to menu Tools/Folder options and select "Always search file names and contents".

Probably the file types still have to be set up correctly in Advanced Options of Indexing Options".

Answer 8

You can play with findstr.

Answer 9

In Windows XP you could add further (text) file types to be searched via the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.dita\PersistentHandler]
@="{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

I'm not sure whether this works with Windows 7 as well.

Answer 10

You could try using cygwin and searching *nix commands and search using the grep utility

From Manual:

grep options pattern input_file_names

Answer 11

Windows 7 SP1 ignores content: and contents: for me now, and it looks like the mechanism has changed: Now you type in what you want, and as soon as the search starts, a row at the bottom shows up with "Search again in:" Libraries, Computer, Custom, Firefox, and most importantly, File Contents. Click that and it restarts the search within files, even if the folder is unindexed.