Questions tagged [windows-search]
Windows Search is the functionality built into the Windows OS for finding files, folders and programs on a PC or in connected storage.
591
questions
0
votes
1
answer
274
views
Enable Internet-based features in Windows 10 Search
For some reason, internet-based features are not appearing for me in the Windows 10 search box (such as web searches, image recognition searches, etc., though email and contact search does work.). ...
6
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Windows 10 search prompting "This is taking too long to load"
When searching using the search functionality embedded in the start menu of Windows 10 (when clicking the Windows icon in the left bottom), a screen is displayed saying "This is taking too long to ...
30
votes
3
answers
6k
views
How to stop Windows Search from auto excluding repository folders?
Windows search indexer is adding most paths to repository folders (both .git and .svn) to the exclusion list.
I can remove them manually of course, but each time i rebuild the index - they are re-...
1
vote
0
answers
762
views
windows search service is not working well
first it was a driver index issue even when i click show all location,
driver cannot be found in indexed location
i tried to select new index location to be on the drive that was missing then the ...
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
How to add a folder to Windows Search Excluded Folders with PowerShell?
In Windows 10 version 1909 you can exclude folders from Windows search by going in:
Settings > Searching Windows > Excluded Folders
and add the excluded folders one by one.
As a result of that, all ...
4
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Windows explorer file search always returning "No items match your search"
When I try to search for a filename, I've recently started getting "No items match your search" when I try to find files with names that match. This used to work fine and I'm not sure when it stopped ...
0
votes
0
answers
87
views
Windows 10's search does not find one specific folder
This question is about Windows Search not finding any files.
Mine concerns only one folder.
There is a "To read" folder in my Documents, which is never found by Windows Search when I type "to read" (...
0
votes
0
answers
112
views
How to make Windows 10 search bar diacritic-insensitive?
Typing without diacritics (in languages that use it) is often much faster/more convenient. Is there an option that allows making the search bar insensitive to diacritics?
For example, so that typing "...
1
vote
0
answers
417
views
Windows 10 Immersive Search tweak
Windows has an unofficial feature called "Immersive Search," similar to Spotlight Search on macOS, that looks like this:
It can be enabled with the following Registry Commands, either with regedit or ...
0
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How to find a folder inside a specific parent folder with Windows 10 search engine without knowing the full path?
I only know that the folder is called Pictures and the parent folder is called Media (full path could be C:\XXXX\XXXX\XXXX\Media\Pictures. Is there anything I can type into the Win10 search engine ...
1
vote
3
answers
334
views
Troubleshoot bad search index (Windows 10)
I'm experiencing some really weird issues with the search index in Windows 10 and I'm not sure how to troubleshoot them.
This is a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro (build 18383.592, all updates ...
3
votes
0
answers
81
views
Windows search box is black [duplicate]
My Windows 10 search box is black! It doesn't search anything.
I remember that shortly before this happened, I was annoyed with Cortana and toyed with the idea of disabling it. I didn't actually ...
1
vote
0
answers
31
views
Start menu Search not showing anything, even after clean window install [duplicate]
I've tried every fix online, from a simple restart, End Cortana, Restart Explorer, check windows search in Services.msc, even install a new clean copy of Windows 10 (1903; 18362.356), and yet nothing ...
149
votes
3
answers
46k
views
Windows 10 Search not loading, showing blank window
The Search menu on my Windows 10 suddenly stopped working. When I click the Search icon or type something in the Start menu, it just shows a blank search window.
I've tried rebuilding the index, SFC /...
0
votes
1
answer
831
views
Windows search finds files that don't belong to me
My Windows 10 machine has several local user accounts. Each user has a home directory on a second drive -- each user's Documents library points there.
When I log in as User A and use the Windows ...
0
votes
0
answers
155
views
Advanced Query Syntax - how to query only files in current directory only?
Is it possible to search within current directory only (i.e. to specify depth = 0 or relative path, without changing the search settings in the toolbar)?
I tried multiple queries like: ./path or -...
0
votes
1
answer
55
views
How to make start menu search look for searched item throughout the entire system?
Start menu search option only searches the C:\ drive. I want it to search the entire computer (all drives), how do I do this in Windows 10?
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
WIndows 10 Start Search doesn't show indexed files from Appdata
I noticed that Windows 10 (build 18363) search didn't show the program .lnk shortcuts from the Start menu.
Here's my experiment:
I placed a test file in my "David" user folder and another one in ...
0
votes
1
answer
300
views
Stop Windows 10 search on mapped drives returing UNC results
If I search, e.g. T:\Tools which is mapped to \server\tools, for sometool.exe, search results come back as finding the searched for file in UNC format like \server\tools\sometool.exe
This is a major ...
0
votes
0
answers
381
views
Revert Windows 10 File Explorer to Previous Behaviour
Windows 10 Version 1909 introduced a new feature in File Explorer.
Previously, when you searched in a File Explorer window, the contents of that folder/window would automatically change along with ...
19
votes
3
answers
7k
views
How to get rid of Windows 10 search web results triggered from the start menu
I am trying to disable Windows 10 start menu search web results on Windows 10 professional v2004 slow ring preview release build 19033.1.
Here is a list of things that do not work for me:
[DISABLE ...
2
votes
1
answer
4k
views
What is the shortcut key to jump to the Windows Search search box in Explorer in Windows 10?
Is there a shortcut key to jump to the windows search box in Windows 10 when running Explorer.exe?
3
votes
2
answers
287
views
How do I efficiently pull up the most recently edited .TXT files?
Using Windows is there a command-line string I can execute to show the most recently edited notepad files?
Many times, I don't know the name of the file I need... but I know that I edited it within ...
1
vote
2
answers
3k
views
Search files by extension in windows
I want to search only svg files in a folder containing svg and svgz files.
I typed "*svg" in the search bar but I get all the files begining with the svg extension including svgz.
How do I exclude ...
1
vote
0
answers
130
views
Windows 10 Search - Multiple shortcuts with different command line arguments
I want to open a program with command line arguments via shortcut by typing into the start menu to search for it, and pressing <Enter> on it. (Since it's a folder, I don't want to create a ...
0
votes
1
answer
669
views
Save the Explorer search result view settings (columns)
This is a more in depth version of this question Store the view setting for File Explorer search results
I'm trying to save the column setting to instead of Folder show Path.
I do this 20 times a day.....
0
votes
2
answers
137
views
How to search for more than one file at a time using Windows? [duplicate]
I have 1,015 images in a folder and these images is classified into seven categories of medical diagnoses of skin cancer, and the same images are classified in the Excel file by number (the number of ...
1
vote
1
answer
516
views
searching a string in multiple docs and note pad documents
I have multiple files in docx format and notepad .txt files.
I want to search for a particular string like #search string# it might be present in any of the multiple docx or .txt or .rtf files.
Is ...
0
votes
0
answers
26
views
Search windows by default application
Is there a way to search for files in windows explorer according to the application they open with; I want to find all files that open with Excel by default, as well as all that open with Notepad++
3
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Start Menu search is no longer functional and the Cortana (SearchUI.exe) process is using a lot of resources
Recently I moved my desktop PC to a new place and for some reason the Windows start menu search is no longer functional.
I usually tap the Windows key and type to open up most programs. Now, after I ...
1
vote
0
answers
81
views
How can I automatically collapse the search box in the Windows taskbar when there are a lot of applications running?
I like the large search box in the taskbar. I often use it to launch applications, and it provides a much larger touchscreen target for tapping on it.
However, there are some situations in which I'm ...
3
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Windows 10 instant search in Start menu doesn't work
Got a new PC on my work and Windows was preinstalled and configured. There is a lack of Windows menu search feature. I got used to push Windows button on a keyboard and then just type what I want.
...
0
votes
1
answer
188
views
Windows Search Does Not Find Text in PDFs (Applies to Callouts, Text Boxes, and Typewriter Text Boxes)
What settings or steps, if any, can I use so that "annotation" types of text are found when using Windows to search PDFs for a specific word or words?
Environment
Windows 10
Acrobat 10 (Acrobat X)
...
0
votes
1
answer
156
views
Windows Explorer - Search - Layout keeps resetting to Icons
Every time I use the search function in Windows Explorer (Ctrl+E) it ignores my global setting to use the Details view (unless I explicitly set it already for the folder I'm searching in the past).
...
1
vote
0
answers
4k
views
How to disable web results from Windows Search (Windows 10 Home)?
Whenever I search anything in Windows 10 (⊞ > Start Typing), Windows shows web results (from Bing) on the top, even if I have a file with the exact name as the search term, or the search term matches ...
1
vote
0
answers
102
views
Does Windows 10 search/indexing move files?
I was looking for a file in my Downloads folder (i.e. C:\Users\QM\Downloads) on my Win 10 Pro (build 1809) machine. I was unable to find it there even though I was near certain that's where it was.
...
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
How to change color of search menu in Start to black?
I'm talking about this:
I already use Dark theme which works on most things:
But not when I search in Start menu
Basically what I'm looking for is command prompt like look (black background, ...
2
votes
1
answer
485
views
Dead start menu search entry
I recently replaced an Eclipse 2018-09 installation with Eclipse 2019-03. Strangely, the Eclipse 2018-09 still shows up under 'All' and 'Apps' during a start menu search. I can't do anything with this ...
0
votes
2
answers
45
views
How to make a shortcut for a program that doesn't showup in search results W8.1
I noticed I have BitTorrent on my system. I wanted to make a shortcut for it on my desktop and/or metro-screen. However I don't know where it's located on my C drive. I "search" for bittorrent and all ...
-1
votes
1
answer
74
views
Can I turn off Windows Search service?
can I turn off Windows Search service? It takes plenty of my computer resources. Can I set up like like manually running?
0
votes
0
answers
119
views
windows 10 start menu search - file content?
I have my docx files indexed includings its contents (index settings in windows 10). I want my start menu search to also use file contents of that indexed docx files.
How can I do that?
1
vote
1
answer
212
views
How to search Windows 10 folders inside specific parent folders
I'm looking for a way to search inside different folders that have identical subfolders. Say my structure is
geometry/
--tests/
--notes/
mechanics/
--tests/
notes/
I would like to do something like ...
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Default Browser in Windows 10... still Edge (and the search engine is still Bing)
I have Windows 10 Enterprise (10.0.17134 Build 17134), and I have been set the default browser in "default apps" to "Google Chrome".
I also have changed the search engine to Google.
However, when I ...
0
votes
0
answers
58
views
File Explorer Search - Windows 10
I'm trying to find folders that contain the string GEN (.
That's the 3 letters G, E, and N, followed by 7 spaces, then a left parenthesis.
I've tried
"GEN ("
*GEN (*
kind:=folder "...
0
votes
1
answer
695
views
Change Search Index Location in Windows 10
How to change the folder 📂 (directory) to store search index data for windows 10?
12
votes
5
answers
13k
views
Windows 10 is not finding all my applications
I am having an odd issue with Windows 10 and it seems to have started about a month ago. When opening an application, I usually just click in the Cortana search bar and type a few letters of the ...
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Windows 10 Search & Indexing Not working
My search index on windows 10 does not work currently.
I have tried to go into the indexing settings but every time i go into indexing options it gets stuck on "Waiting to receive indexing status" ...
1
vote
1
answer
110
views
Windows search stopped working
I'm using Windows 10 Anniversary Update and recently the Windows search feature has stopped working. I think it was due to some copying / cutting around some of the file in my AppData or something (...
5
votes
1
answer
366
views
Enable/disable windows 10 start menu search with additional options pane
Recently I did an upgrade to my windows 10 PC and got the new 1803 update. Along with that I received a new start menu search screen that appeared a couple of weeks after the update that will show ...
4
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Windows 10 File Explorer Search Not Working
Using Windows 10 Pro 64bit. When I type something in the top right Search box of the File Explorer nothing happens. However it does work in Safe Mode.
How do I fix this?