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.

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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.). ...
user9811991's user avatar
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 ...
CPUFry's user avatar
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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-...
klepp0906's user avatar
  • 1,055
1 vote
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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 ...
ammar's user avatar
  • 11
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 ...
Marco Lackovic's user avatar
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 ...
g491's user avatar
  • 504
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" (...
Hey's user avatar
  • 1,261
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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 "...
Petr's user avatar
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1 vote
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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 ...
KyleMit's user avatar
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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 ...
mariogarcc's user avatar
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 ...
user45623's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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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 ...
William Jockusch's user avatar
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 ...
Phineas's user avatar
  • 11
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 /...
Jim's user avatar
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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 ...
BulletCatcher's user avatar
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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 -...
mvorisek's user avatar
  • 362
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?
Jko's user avatar
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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 ...
DemSec's user avatar
  • 51
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 ...
SKidd's user avatar
  • 132
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 ...
Undistinguished's user avatar
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 ...
NotGaeL's user avatar
  • 577
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?
leeand00's user avatar
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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 ...
Caffeinated's user avatar
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 ...
mohamed mouad's user avatar
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 ...
Salads's user avatar
  • 11
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.....
Mac A.'s user avatar
  • 189
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 ...
Ahmad Sarairah's user avatar
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 ...
political science's user avatar
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++
Greedo's user avatar
  • 807
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 ...
jrdnbnnll's user avatar
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 ...
gparyani's user avatar
  • 1,835
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. ...
kseen's user avatar
  • 143
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) ...
RJo's user avatar
  • 553
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). ...
Elaskanator's user avatar
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 ...
user avatar
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. ...
QuantumMechanic's user avatar
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, ...
Soviet Maple's user avatar
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 ...
Michael Röhrig's user avatar
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 ...
kite's user avatar
  • 187
-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?
Heron's user avatar
  • 131
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?
SearchSpace's user avatar
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 ...
mariogarcc's user avatar
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 ...
serge's user avatar
  • 703
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 "...
oweniverson's user avatar
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?
Hossein Mortazavifar's user avatar
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 ...
Icemanind's user avatar
  • 499
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" ...
cochran_2's user avatar
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 (...
ramcrys's user avatar
  • 111
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 ...
David Chapman's user avatar
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?
Abi's user avatar
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